Spray Tanning: The Update

So in one of my earlier posts I mentioned my pretty distinctive tan lines due to cycling and my desire to minimize them for the Big Day.

Well, upon my mom's consultation with some friends of hers, she recommended I go with airbrush spray tanning. She found some local options thanks to Yelp and I called up to make a reservation at one in the Marina (SF neighborhood).

The whole process was painless. I showed up, stripped down and went into a shower type stall and was spray-tanned all over by a personal air-brusher. She aimed for the whiter areas, but sprayed all over. Afterwards, I stood in front of a fan to dry faster and then changed into black clothes and headed out.

I met up with my best friend Leila afterwards for dinner. Nothing was very obvious, but I felt sticky and optimistic. We caught up, chowed down and I headed home -- trying to dodge the light rain since I was told this was no good for the spray tan.

I couldn't take a shower for at least 6 hours so I just headed to bed with visions of an all body consistent tan as I drifted to sleep.


I guess it takes 2 days for the tan to absorb completely. But, it just didn't work. Not the day after or 2 or more (the photo above is at work 2 days later). My tan lines were just as clear, though I had an overall bronze-y glow.

Needless to say, I'm glad I gave it a trial run. But I'm bummed. I want a one-stop solve. Now it's back to square one. I'm going to explore the rub-in tan that gradually deepens. I'll also work on moving my jersey and short lengths around to blend the transition from tan to white a bit more (right now I have very distinctive linear lines). And in the end, if nothing really works, well -- the two-tone complexion will always be a reminder of how much fun we have together on our bikes (awwwww).