We live and breathe the safe tanning advocacy, and there are many ways to tan safely these days. However, there’s a tanning product that experts frown upon despite its virality on TikTok: tanning nasal sprays. Yes, you read that right. Nasal.
While these products don’t actually claim to be self-tanners, they do encourage the idea that inhaling them will give you a glow boost when you’re out basking in the sun or when you’re on a tanning bed. Some of them have melanotan or melanotan II in their ingredients list – synthetic ingredients that claim to behave like naturally-bred hormones in the body. Health experts raise an eyebrow at this claim, countering that these products may have severe side effects.
The idea behind the synthetic hormone is that it “drives the increase in our melanocytes both in number and in their ability to produce pigment,” according to Dr. Teo Soleymani, who is a dermatologist and skin cancer surgeon with UCLA Health. The viral tanning products are apparently not FDA approved and have no records of receiving approval in any other country outside of the United States as an over-the-counter or prescription drug.
Take the gradual tanner. We promise you’ll be better off for it.
Apparently, TikTok has taken down the videos. As told by TikTok through TODAY, “Our community guidelines make clear what content is allowed on TikTok. Our policy on illegal activities and regulated goods prohibits the promotion of nasal tanning sprays, and we have removed the videos that you have shared with us.”
The Australian Department of Health issued a warning back in 2019 against melanotan-type products because of their potentially far-reaching side effects. Melanotan is a hormone produced in the brain, which when tampered with may produce complications tied to different functions of the body. This includes side effects from vomiting, nausea, and permanent darkening of the skin to more complicated issues such as kidney malfunction, blood pressure issues, and unwanted sexual arousal.
Put that nasal tanning spray down. Go for safe self-tanners instead.
How to Tan Safely
Our take on this? There’s no need to complicate tanning (or your health, for that matter). One, why inhale something when you can just lather it on your skin without fuss or pain? Two, we would die for a beautiful bronzed glow – but we don’t mean that literally. Health is wealth, and no sunkissed glow will get priority over that.
Our verdict still remains: quality self-tanners made with healthy, natural ingredients are still king. The self-tanning advocacy still stands. Our tanning lotions and gradual self-tanners won’t be leaving our beauty shelves yet in the foreseeable future.
If you’re new to self-tanners, put that nasal tanning spray down. Instead, pick up these amazing gradual tanners that we ourselves are obsessed with: the Afterglow Tanning Drops and the Skinsation. If you want to go hard, we also have a beautiful line of tanning lotions that come in three hues: Choc Coconut, Bronze Bliss, and Decadently Dark. The Bondi Bodz line is made from only the best ingredients that will leave your skin feeling better than it was before.
I guess you won’t be seeing nasal tanning sprays on our product line anytime soon.
Article reference: TODAY