Sunless Tanners | Fatal Conveniences™

Darin: It’s that time of the week for another fatal convenience. This is a bite-size segment that addresses some of society’s fatal conveniences and the steps you can take to avoid becoming a victim of them. I define fatal conveniences as the things we may be doing because the world we live in makes us believe we have to, tap water, shampoo, sunglasses, food. I dive into the hidden truths behind some of our everyday choices that could not only be harming us but even killing us, so let’s dive in.

Darin: Hey everybody! Welcome to the show. Thanks for tuning in for another installment of fatal conveniences. Hope you start getting the groove and the gist of what I’m talking about.

[00:00:54] Whenever you’re putting anything on your skin, make sure that it’s healthy. Make sure that it’s as healthy as if you opened up your mouth and put it in your mouth, your nose. And this is one of those fatal conveniences that I hope is a no brainer, but the point of all of these fatal conveniences is to raise your awareness to the things that you’re doing in your daily life over and over and over again, that may be automated.

[00:01:26] This one isn’t necessarily something you’re doing on a daily basis. This Fatal Convenience is sunless tanner. Right. So those sprays. You know where I’m going with this whole thing. So obviously the appearance of being tan is associated with health, and it should be in a certain sense because raising the amount of melanin being exposed to sun, allowing the melanin to help produce cholesterol, creating vitamin D in our body increases almost every single function in the body; hormone production, immune system, production, generative balance. 

So, you know that spraying chemicals on your body is not a good idea, but the history here – a little fun stuff- in the twenties, that tan skin was actually the opposite; a sign of poverty.

[00:02:27] So obviously in the twenties or they’re super, super creamy, complexions were some sort of an enemy of beauty. And then quickly after world war II, women started to use teabags. So, you soak a little tea bag and that, so that the bitter pungents of the leaves would come out and then they would put those on their cheeks and would show that there was a tan.

[00:02:54] And then somehow after that, the sign of health sort of popping up. And then less than a decade later, the first quote, unquote fake tan product called ‘Man Tan’ *laughs*, hit the market using DHA not in terms of the omega three fatty acid. This is docosahexaenoic acid. So docosahexaenoic acid is what we’re referring to as DHA.

[00:03:27] So this toxic DHA was somehow approved by the U S drug administration in 1973, but as a color additive for drugs. And cosmetics and is still used in most tanning products today. People use sunless tanners to have this, you know, this appearance of health, et cetera. And. Tropez, one of the leading self-tanning producers in the UK sells three bottles of bronzing moose a minute around the world.

[00:04:04] Right? So realize that the, the skin is an Oregon, even though it’s out in the outer part of your body, it is an Oregon. It’s a lie. It is transdermal. It is needing to be in balanced out of the 28 million people who tan indoors, 2.3 million are teens. Okay. So there you go. Research indicates that more than half of the indoor Tanner’s 52.5% start tanning before the age of 21.

[00:04:40] That’s how intense. The need to look good hits these teenagers while nearly one-third start tanning before the age of 18. That is. Crazy. What makes it convenient while you spray this on and overnight you basically wake up and it looks like you were in the sun. People feel more confident. They feel more attractive at home.

[00:05:05] Tanners are less expensive and it still can look very natural, but there’s also other things. So the. Hydroxyl acetone, which is the DHA. That is the one gnarly thing that we’re going to dive into a little bit. There’s also bronzers that are chemical dyes that you die your skin. And then there’s also tan accelerators, solar rains that are other chemicals that are in those.

[00:05:35] And then of course, The other parts of tanning are the UV sun lamps. And sunbeds. So basically what happens when you spray this synthetic chemical DHA on your body? The body starts reacting to the amino acids present in the top layer of the skin dead cells. And this, uh, part of the skin called strontium Cornum to create a Browning effect.

[00:06:05] So basically starting to react to that top layer, their skin rearranging and effecting and deadening that top layer of skin. And that creates the formation of this brown owning effect. Completely not natural, which is get out in the sun. If you can. And stay away from these chemicals because it’s chemically rearranging the amino acids and the amino acids are the proteins in the skin producing this pigment when you apply it to the skin.

[00:06:39] So a report released by the FDA theorized about 11% of the applied. Chemical form of DHA penetrates into the living cells of the epidermis and dermis layers. So it goes deep into the skin, the use of this chemical form of DHA in quote unquote tanning booths as an overall spray has not been approved by the FDA.

[00:07:07] So again, why are these sunless tanners, uh, harmful? Well, you’re getting it, that spraying chemicals on your skin just to manipulate the amino acids is a really bad idea. Also, they’re putting all kinds of fragrances in to mask the smell. These increase the likelihood of allergic reactions and worsening asthma symptoms.

[00:07:32] Formations also contain parabens. And parabens. You’ve heard me talk about before in other episodes are chemically preservatives. They can easily lead to chemical changes in the skin, allergens dermatitis and endocrine disruption. So if that wasn’t gnarly enough, these also self-tanners are behind the irritations that week.

[00:07:57] The skin barrier is study. They have all this in the show notes of the national institutes of natural sciences found that the regular application of this chemical form DHA caused severe dermatitis and damage this layer of stratum corneum. Plus we know that virtually all cells. Tanner’s containing masking, fragrances and fragrances are the number one cause of skin irritations.

[00:08:27] Also the big culprit here from my point of view, not to mention hormone disruption, manipulating your amino acids on the skin layer. If that wasn’t bad enough, if this interferes. Directly with the vitamin D production. Oh my God. And this is another study we found. So regular use of self tanners can reduce your body’s vitamin D production.

[00:08:52] Holy cow. So now you’re not getting out in the sun. It’s not supporting your immune system. Now you’re spraying this on and it’s harmful. More of your vitamin D production. The study goes on saying that there were melanin pigments. They found in this study that was created by the DHA that were directly inhibiting vitamin D production.

[00:09:14] So in that, of course, vitamin D production, just to recap quickly that supports the immune system. It supports the bones, it supports the muscles, it supports healthy teeth and it reduces. Your cancer risk. So now just disrupted that whole thing, increased your cancer by reducing the amount of vitamin D production by this chemical reaction.

[00:09:41] Also the chemicals that are within this product is increasing your cancer rate using even a 9% DHA spray interferes with vitamin D production. According to this study as well. Now, this is a whole nother side of it, uh, increases free, radical damage. So it’s increasing free, radical damage by the journal of clinical and aesthetic dermatology.

[00:10:10] The DHA in levels of 5% or greater has shown to increase susceptibility to free radical damage from sun. For 24 hours after application. So basically what this is saying. If you spray on these tans, you look good on vacation. It’s increasing your free, radical damage. In the next 24 hours of you having sprays.

[00:10:35] So your skin now is exposed to free radicals and by sun exposure, it’s increasing your overall free radical damage just by using 5% of this DHA for the next 24 hours. When you go outside free, radical damage are highly reactive compounds that attack the cell structure in detail. Collagen and elastin fibers.

[00:11:00] So all of those products that you’re all falling for, trying to increase collagen and elastin and all of that stuff by spraying these self-tanning Tanner’s chemicals on you’re destroying that the whole process. So shockingly, another study by Jim . Test labs in Berlin, Germany. I probably pronounced that wrong, found that in DHA treated skin more than 180% additional free radicals were generated during sun exposure.

[00:11:37] With respect to untreated skin. Here we go. So now that you’ve sprayed yourself with this self-tanning and you go outside, you’ve increased your free, radical damage potentiality by 180%. So you’re damaging your skin just by having a little bit of the self-tanning stuff. Other adverse reactions, medical experts have raised concerns about potential health risk associated to this chemical form of DHA.

[00:12:10] Particularly what happens when it absorbs into the bloodstream studies discussed in time magazine reported in the abs news have looked at whether DHA when you inhale this stuff, because you’re spraying it on you. Of course you can inhale something. So this increases a person’s risk for asthma, chronic obstruction, pulmonary disease and cancer.

[00:12:37] So everything that’s sprayed in the air is going in your skin and in your mouth. And so this study I’ve also put here in the show notes – Chemicals That You Should Be Looking Out For – Hydroxyacetone, DHA – this color, additive that mimics and darkens the skin through manipulation of the amino acids. Super dangerous. 

Mineral oil is a derivative of petroleum. It’s a whole nother, fatal convenience, cheap, but carcinogenic and another Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate, these masquerade as natural preservatives, very detrimental, and a form of formaldehyde that penetrates in the skin – hormone disruption, and cancer causing. Amyl Acetate.

[00:13:26] Octyl Stearate, Isopropyl, methyl tosylate and artificial fragrances and colors. All of these are endocrine disrupting. I really hope that you just hear this and you’re just like, ‘I’m not going to ever spray this stuff on my skin’. 

So that’s the number one. Don’t spray it on your skin. If you want to do old school or, you know, on your face, a little self-tanning tea from the tea leaves, a black tea, and just use that as a natural form of makeup.

[00:13:57] You can certainly increase your antioxidant capacity. I’m just going to leave it at that. Listen, you can increase your antioxidant capacity that will help your skin. You can increase your vitamin D production. I would absolutely do that by ingesting vitamin D and K one.

[00:14:17] Uh, you can do that for sure, but please don’t even, I’m just going to cut the solution part right now, the point is don’t spray yourself with self-tanning toxins. It’s insane. Okay. So here’s the point when you can get out in the sun, get out in the sun, I’ve done a fatal convenience on the sun. Uh, don’t be afraid of the sun.

[00:14:42] We need it. Don’t burn your skin ever, but increasing vitamin D get out in the sun. Uh, if it is the winter right now, increase your vitamin D levels. Period. Don’t spray yourself with self-tanning. Solutions of any kind, there’s nothing I’ve found that safe increases your antioxidants. These are natural skin foods.

[00:15:03] Anyway, carrots, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and cantaloupes are very potent antioxidants with carotene in them. So there’s all kinds of different things you can do essentially with, you know, cold and flu season. Increasing vitamin D, like crazy. These are powerful things that you can do to increase your levels of vitamin D and immune system response, but here’s the deal –

[00:15:29] Stay away from anything that’s spraying on your skin that you haven’t done your own research on. I’m just going to cut it. This is a tough fatal convenience because I just, honestly, I don’t even want to do them. When I think that seriously – where are people’s brains sometimes? When you think that a chemical spraying on your skin is any sort of a good idea… You’re going to have some massive chemical reactions in the skin that is an organ.

[00:16:01] Okay. So. Use your common sense. I love you all very much. I want you to be happy and healthy and stay away from companies that don’t care about you. You vote with your dollars. Don’t buy this stuff. Use your common sense. Stay away from chemicals that are harming you. Peace and happiness. Eat your plants.

Darin: Thanks for tuning in everyone. I hope that left you feeling inspired to take a closer look at the everyday choices you’re making and how they could be impacting your health and even the planet. If you want to learn more about life’s fatal conveniences, head over to fatalconveniences.com. You can sign up for the exclusive access to Fatal Conveniences episodes, news, insights, and more. And all this great stuff gets sent each week straight to your inbox, making it really easy. Now, that’s a convenience without the negative side effects. It only takes a few seconds to join. Just fill in the form and take that amazing step towards making better choices. Remember, small changes can have big impact. So, keep diving my friends, keep diving. And if you haven’t had a chance to check out the interview, I released earlier on the week, here’s what you missed:

What was so unique about where I spent almost that last year and a half of my military career was in a unit with people in the same boat as me, and definitely far worse than me, men and women coming back from theater that had to tow or completely unrecognizable wrapped in gauze. Third degree, burns missing arms legs, or both all four.

[00:17:50] And so while when I went through really, really sucked, I was almost daily reminded of that. Yeah, but you have your arms, you have your legs, you’re most likely doing a heal and get back to some kind of resemblance of your life before it’s going to look different, but look at how grateful you should be based on what could have been.

[00:18:10] And so that always stuck with me. And so I feel like that time in there really ingrained that in me. And honestly, as we’re talking out loud, now it takes me back to a lot of the lessons that my father instilled in me. It was just be grateful. Just show up, do the work. And somebody’s always got it worse than.