The best loking tan is of course a natural one that has been built up gradually over time with short periods of exposure of your skin to the sun's rays. This gives the skin pigment, melanin, time to gradually accumulate and give your skin increased protection along with a healthy looking tan. You should not at any stage, especially the first stages, go overboard and prolong your skin exposure to the point where you burn since that can ultimately do more harm than good, and, even in the short term is likely to result in skin peeling and an uneven tan at the very least.
You should always wear sunscreen when sitting or lying out in the sun since this does help protect you from burning, but the overwhelmingly important fact is to limit your exposure at any one time. You can nowadays get a product called melanotan which helps stimulate your skin's natural production of pigment and this will greatly speed up the process of acquiring a natural suntan with minimal sunlight exposure. You can buy melanotan online quite easiy.
Many people however prefer a fake tan because it avoids any of the worries about long term skin damage from repeated exposure to the sun, and because the products available are so much better than they were a few years ago when they tended to turn you somewhat orange rather than brown. Today's products give a much more natural looking tan and can be applied fairly easily at home although it can be difficult to reach all the areas of your body without assistance, and it is not always easy to get an even spread or the cream or spray that you're using. Certainly you need to use a tinted product so that at least you can see the areas you have covered as you go along. (more...)