Can you tan with cocoa butter?

What does cocoa butter actually do?

Cocoa butter is a fat from roasted cacao beans that helps keep skin moisturized. Use it for that purpose, rather than choosing it as tanning protection. Avoid cocoa butter if you are allergic to it. Moisturizer, self tanner and sunscreen have different jobs, however ambitious a product name gets.1

Plain cocoa butter and a cocoa butter lotion containing sunscreen are different products. For sun protection, look for an SPF rating, broad spectrum protection and water resistance on the label. A tanning lotion or sunless tanner without sunscreen does not protect against sunburn. Choose by the sunscreen claims, not the moisturizing ingredient.34

Does moisturizing make a UV tan safer?

No. A UV tan is a sign of skin damage, not a sign that your skin has been conditioned for sunlight. UV exposure makes skin produce more melanin, the pigment responsible for the darker color. Darkening can develop over the next 48 hours. Getting a base tan does not protect you from sunburn, and repeated exposure increases skin cancer risk.56

A tan through sunscreen is still skin damage. No sunscreen blocks all UV radiation, so wearing SPF does not turn deliberate sunbathing into a safe activity. Tanning beds also expose skin to harmful UV radiation and are not a safer alternative.67

How to protect your skin outdoors

1. 1Choose a water resistant sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher and broad spectrum protection, meaning protection against both UVA and UVB rays.
2. 2Apply sunscreen to dry skin 15 minutes before going outside. Most adults need at least about 1 ounce to cover skin not covered by clothing. Include your ears, neck and the tops of your feet.
3. 3Reapply approximately every two hours outdoors and after swimming or sweating, following the bottle's directions. Reapply after towel drying or when sunscreen has rubbed off.
4. 4Use shade, protective clothing, a hat and sunglasses as well. Do not stay in the sun longer because you are wearing sunscreen.

For dry skin, look for sunscreen labeled moisturizing or for dry skin. For sensitive skin, choose a fragrance free option labeled for sensitive skin. If sunscreen stings or burns, try a fragrance free sunscreen whose sunscreen ingredients are only zinc oxide and titanium dioxide.3

What if you want color rather than sun exposure?

Sunless tanning lotions commonly use dihydroxyacetone, or DHA, which reacts with amino acids at the skin's surface to create color. Bronzers such as tinted moisturizers and powders give temporary color instead. Bronzer washes off over time, which is a more modest commitment than the word 'tan' suggests.4

Keep DHA products away from the eye area, lips and mucous membranes, such as inside the nose or mouth. Avoid inhaling or swallowing them. Lotions and creams make these exposures easier to avoid than spray booths. Sunless color does not remove the need for sunscreen.4

What if you have already burned?

Leave the sun if skin feels hot, tender or painful; the full effects of sunburn can take 6 to 48 hours to appear. Cool sore skin with cool water or a cool bath or shower, and stay out of the sun until redness has gone. Seek medical help if you feel unwell or skin swells badly or blisters. Extensive blistering with headache, fever or chills needs urgent medical attention.57