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Sunless tanners have come a very long way from the streaky, smelly options we were stuck with even just a few short years ago—and certainly the ’00s era of the deep Paris Hilton bronze. Often, using self-tanner meant unnatural hues that screamed “this came out of a bottle, not a week off,” thanks to patchy application, uneven wear-off, and that overwhelming tortilla-chip smell (a dead giveaway). If you have rough memories of those dark-orange days, I get it. I was right there with you, folks.
As a natural redhead with a pretty darn pale skin tone, though, I keep track of this corner of the market, and there’s good news: In the last several years, cosmetic chemists finally figured things out. “While dihydroxyacetone (DHA) is still the active ingredient, newer formulations often use lower concentrations combined with other bronzers and color-correcting tints to neutralize that orange hue,” explained Hannah Kopelman, a dermatologist and the chief medical officer at Derm On Demand, in an interview with The Daily Beast. “The smell is also less noticeable now because many brands encapsulate DHA or use odor-masking technology.”
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