What Is a Tan Everyone obviously knows what a tan looks like, but it can be helpful to know a bit of the science behind tanning. It allows us to understand why certain things work for extending a tan and why no tan will last forever. Clarisonic co-founder and skin care expert Dr. Robb Akridge explains that suntanned skin is when skin cells produce a dark pigment (melanin) to try and protect skin from the sun's harmful days. A sunburn kills off skin cells, which results in telltale peeling skin.
Skin will have natural flaking of the epidermal layers (the outermost ones) because of skin's cell turnover. As skin sheds, the tan will become less noticeable because the pigment will be dulled. Given that skin's cell turnover is about every four weeks, a natural tan will never last forever.
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