Cape Cod's favorite place
for a golden glow.

Sunless spray tanning has come a long way since it began decades ago. People who either can't tan naturally, or choose not to tan for a variety of reasons, still want to have glowing tan skin. Whether they want to look good for an upcoming event, or just to cheer themselves up, a sunless spray tan can give a perfect, flawless, natural-looking tan — instantly.

The DHA solution causes the proteins in the outside layer of your skin to react with the oxygen in the air, resulting in a bronzing effect. The best way to understand this is an analogy: when you take a bite out of an apple and set it down, the fruit begins to turn brown after it's exposed to the air for a while. This is a very similar chemical reaction to what takes place with the DHA and your skin after an airbrush session.

So you're not applying a dye or color to your skin — you're creating a situation where your skin develops a beautiful natural bronze color on its own, through a natural chemical enhancement.

The airbrushed sunless tanning process uses an ingredient called dihydroxyacetone (DHA) to react with the skin's amino acids. The reaction is like that of the sun, but is not damaging to the skin. The process results in a golden tan appearance that can last up to 10 days. It appeals to both people who already like tanning beds and those who don't.

Anahata Tan's sunless airbrush solution has only pink and brown undertones, so you will not be orange at all. The color is very natural-looking — most of our customers' friends think they went on vacation, not got a spray tan.

If you currently have fair skin, your color will be light and natural-looking. If you try to go too dark when you have fair skin, you will look fake and people will notice. You want a natural-looking tan, and that's what we try to achieve here. If you're already tan, you'll get dramatically darker — the darker you are coming in, the darker your spray tan will be.

We have the ability to make your color lighter or darker depending on your preference, but we start each new customer at the same color level, as the majority of our customers are very satisfied with it.

As we're spraying you, we're also applying a cosmetic bronzer. This helps us as technicians see where we've sprayed you and ensure even color, and it gives you some instant color.

The real sunless process, however, takes up to 8 hours to develop. You'll leave our salon with some color, but the real color develops darker and darker as the day goes on, peaking at around 8 to 10 hours.

This depends on several factors. The airbrushed sunless process only affects the epidermis layer of skin, and since cells are constantly being naturally discarded, we recommend you exfoliate with some type of scrub (like our Hempz Pomegranate Sugar Scrub or Norvell Exfoliator) before you have the DHA solution applied.

Just like with a UV tan, using a moisturizer designed specifically for sunless maintenance will prolong the life of your tan. Results can still be seen up to 10 days after application with a good tan-extending lotion, but average life is 5 to 7 days.

If you've used a self tanner from the drug store, then you know some of the problems associated with the process: orange color, streaking, blotches, tanned palms. The airbrushed sunless tanning process virtually eliminates most of them. After being sprayed you need to avoid perspiration and showering for at least 8 hours.

Women can wear as little or as much clothing as you like. Men do need to wear briefs or boxer-briefs. Keep in mind that whatever you wear while getting sprayed will leave you with tan lines, and any garments worn may get stained. We can provide a bikini top if you don't want to wear your own.

Making our customers feel comfortable during the sunless process is our number one goal. You'll be in a private room where you can get dressed and undressed privately. A technician will help you apply a barrier cream on your hands and feet to avoid over-application on these sensitive areas — barrier cream on the elbows and knees is not necessary with our solution. You'll wear a hair covering to protect your hair. Nose plugs are available, but because of the minimal overspray, most customers don't feel the need to use them.

Technicians use a hand-held sprayer, much like a paint sprayer, and spray air mixed with a light solution onto your skin. The process can be cold to the skin, but we keep the room warm with a heater to help (and if you can be really warm when you get here, that helps too).

The solution dries almost instantly, so there's no need to wait. Technicians will wipe excess color off your hands and feet for you. Your skin may feel a little sticky for an hour or two, but that eases as the day goes on.

It's important to keep skin moisturized after sunless tanning, as dry, flaky skin will slough off faster and color will fade sooner. Sunless tan-extending products with a light self-tanning bronzer — like Hempz Touch of Summer, Designer Skin's Tinted Love, and Black Tan Extender — help hydrate skin and maintain even, natural-looking color longer.

The frequency depends on your skin cell turnover and your preference for color intensity. People with quick cell turnover may want to get sprayed once a week to keep color fresh, while others may wait and get sprayed every other week. It's important to fully exfoliate before your next session to prevent layering of old color.

Our airbrush solution does not require back-to-back application — one session will give you perfect color.

Absolutely. In fact, sunless tanning results are phenomenal over a nice base tan. If you want to combine both in a single visit, we recommend using the tanning bed first, then the sunless spray. We call it a cocktail.

Some of the bronze color may rub off on clothing or bed sheets. This is most likely to happen when you get dressed immediately after tanning. To minimize the chance of transfer, we recommend you wear loose-fitting, darker clothes after your session. The cosmetic tint is water-soluble, so in most cases the color will come out of cotton clothing in the wash.

If you prefer, we can use a clear solution without cosmetic bronzers instead. The results are exactly the same once the sunless has developed, but your tan will take about 8 to 12 hours to fully develop and you'll leave the salon without any immediate color.

The solution will not discolor nail polish. However, it can cause unnatural coloration of cuticles and nails, so we recommend applying a barrier cream to nails and cuticles before your session to avoid any discoloration.

DHA reacts with proteins, and as hair is a protein, it can discolor some hair types if it penetrates the hair follicles. Those with light hair — blonde, white, or grey — should take extra precautions. We provide a protective hair cap to ensure protection from discoloration. Make sure the forehead, ears, and hairline are exposed.

Yes. Although you may feel and look like you have a real tan, a sunless tan is only the temporary appearance of a tan and provides your skin with no real sunburn protection. It is absolutely necessary to wear sunscreen when outdoors to protect your skin from burning.