Uh oh. You just got a gorgeous, glistening spray tan but now it’s time to hit the beach. If you’re worried your spray tan will come out a streaky, orange mess after taking a dip, fear not.  The answer is yes…if you’re careful.

If you’re the safe sun type (and I hope you are), then you’ve likely experimented with spray tanning. Spray tans are an easy, safe alternative to tanning beds, and definitely a healthier alternative to rubbing yourself with baby oil and spending hours in direct sunlight. However, sunless tanning requires some upkeep, which is necessary to help it stay on through sweaty gym sessions and yes, sunny pool days.

You can swim with a spray tan, but chlorine does have lightening properties and strips away skin cells which will break down your tan more quickly. To make your tan last longer you need to moisturize and re-apply self-tanner more frequently. If you are swimming in the ocean the same rules apply because salt water will dry out your skin and cause your tan to fade more quickly.

As if we needed another reason to stay moisturized! The moral of the story, ladies and gents: Along with proper exfoliation before your spray tan for even coverage, consistently applying moisturizer can help protect and extend your tan.

Planning to get a wax and a spray tan close together in the near future? Before you make an appointment, be sure to read up on a few important dos and don’ts for tanning after waxing.

Were you planning to spray tan soon after waxing your legs or another part of your body? That would be a tanning do. Waxing your body before tanning is a great way to exfoliate your skin which is an extremely important step to take to do before getting a tan. Why is this? Because tanning solution sticks much better to skin that’s been exfoliated than not. By getting a wax you are killing two birds with one stone – taking care of the exfoliation process as well as ridding yourself of unwanted body hair. Basically, you will be getting a longer lasting and more striking tan by exfoliating first.

However getting a spray tan the same day as waxing is a serious don’t. You will want to give your skin about 24 hours to recover before having your tan done to avoid an uneven look. Giving you skin time to bounce back from bumps and irritation without waiting long enough that the exfoliation has worn off will allow you to get the perfectly even and totally bronzed look you crave. When you get a spray tan directly after waxing, say in the same appointment time, you will end up with a tan that looks a bit patchy and uneven – far from ideal. In other words, just don’t do it!

No matter what you do, you will want to be sure that your skin is exfoliated before getting that spray tan done. If you aren’t planning to get a wax shortly before your tanning session, there are a couple of other ways to get that exfoliation done. One method is scrubbing with a body sponge or brush in the bath. This removes dead skin cells and exposes the freshest skin cells which tanning color sticks to the easiest and the longest. A wash cloth or exfoliating body wash will also do the trick – be sure to look at the bottle and check to make sure that you’re getting one with exfoliating beads. However, the easiest method is simply to schedule your waxing appointment within a day of your tanning appointment to get the most out of your for the littlest amount of effort and stress.