How to Get Fake Tan Off Hands & Fingernails (Quickly)

A sunless tanner, when used properly, can give your skin a healthy faux glow.

But when you go for a dark-self tan, and slather on too much of the bronzing potion, your palms end up looking more like one of Willy Wonka’s Oompa-Loompa sidekicks instead of a golden goddess with glowing skin.

So, how do you get fake tan off hands?

While most “self-tanning products” will turn your porcelain skin from a pale white hue to a sun-kissed golden bronze in a few minutes, no spray tan goddess wants to reveal her orange-streaked palms to the public.

Thankfully, there are a few low-cost home remedies, and fake tan removal hacks, to remove the self-tanning residue from the palms of your hands and keep your self-tanning ritual a secret.

Things You'll Need to Get Fake Tan Off Hands (Quickly) & Naturally:

• Small bowl
• Buttermilk
• Baking soda
• Water
• Loofah sponge
• Scrub brush
• One lemon
• Aloe vera gel
• Salt
• Whitening Toothpaste
• Sunless tan removal wipes and exfoliating scrubs

1 Apply a lemon juice scrub to your tanned and orange-streaked palms.

The juice of one lemon mixed with salt and baking soda acts as an exfoliating scrub to lift the sunless tanner from your skin.

The natural skin lightening properties of lemon juice works to remove the tanner from knees, hands, feet, and elbows, naturally.

Combine the lemon juice, two drops of aloe vera gel and 2 tablespoons of salt in a small bowl. Pour this mixture on a loofah sponge.

Using a circular motion, rub this solution on your palms. Rinse both hands with cold water.

Repeat this process in the morning and before bedtime to lighten your palms and remove any tanning product residue.

Do not mix this lemon juice scrub with whitening toothpaste or any skin lightening creams to avoid any harmful chemical reactions to the mixing of these products.
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2 Scrub-a-dub-dub with a baking soda rub.

How to Get Fake Tan off Hands with Baking Soda

Make a paste of water and baking soda to exfoliate and remove the sunless tanning product from the top layer of your skin.

Pour a teaspoon of baking soda into the palm of one hand.

Add three or four drops of water until you create a thick paste. Cover both hands with this baking soda mixture.

Rub this mixture into your skin gently using a circular motion. After three to four minutes, scrub your hands with a clean loofah or small brush to remove any streaks from the sunless tanner.

This baking soda paste is appropriate for the removal of tanner on all areas of your body including your hands, feet, legs, arms, and décolletage.

3 Dip your streaked palms into a buttermilk soak.

Pour two cups of buttermilk into a large bowl. Immerse each palm in the bowl until you cover both hands completely.

Soak your stained hands into the buttermilk for a minimum of 20 minutes, twice a day.

Once you complete the soak, rinse your hands with soap and water thoroughly.

4 Purchase an over-the-counter sunless tan removal product.

If these DIY tan removers are too slow to remove the orange hue from your hands, there are commercially available tanning products that help fade away any residual pigment from the skin.

I recommend the Bondi Sans Self Tanning Eraser to remove the color from your tanned hands fast. This amazing tan remover fades the fake tan without any scrubbing and irritation to your skin.

Here's how to use:

1. Soak your hands first in your bathroom sink filled with warm water for three to five minute.
2. Smooth the Bondi Sans Self Tanning Eraser  all over your hands.
3. Leave the product on your skin for 10 to 15 minutes, then scrub your hands with a body mitt to remove the fake tanner. If you don't use the inexpensive and best-selling body mitt recommended by Bondi Sans Self Tanning Eraser the product will not work effectively to remove the sunless tanner from your palms or your body.
4. Rinse thoroughly to lift the tan.
5. Reapply the product two to three more times to the skin if the tan eraser does not lift the product entirely during your first tan removal session.

5Remove your sunless tan with a whitening toothpaste.

Massage a dollop of whitening toothpaste into your hands. Let the product sit on your palms for three to five minutes.

Rinse your hands with cold water to lift the self-tanning product from your palms.

6As a last resort, try removing the tanner with an Epsom salt bath and an oatmeal scrub.

If your skin is resistant to the remedies mentioned above, try a dip in a bath filled with Epsom salt.

Add a cupful of the crystals to a tub filled with warm water. Soak your skin for 10 minutes.

Using a white cloth or small towel, scrub your skin gently in a circular motion to start the tan removal process.

As your skin softens in the water, apply an oatmeal scrub using a loofah or body brush to loosen the top layer of your skin and remove the sunless tanner.

How to Remove Self-Tanner From Fingernails

You look down at your gorgeous, glowing, bronzed legs with the satisfaction of knowing you're rocking a delicious faux glow.

It's all good — until you realize that your nails and cuticles are three times darker than your body.

The good news is you don't need to drag out the garden gloves to cover up. Here's how:

Things You'll Need to Get Rid of Fake Tanner from Your Nails:

1. Water
2. Small bowl
3. 2 denture tablets
4. Nail polish remover
5. Nail polish
6. Soap
7. Cuticle brush or toothbrush
8. Cotton swab
9. Lemon juice

1. Add a bit of water and mild soap into a small bowl.

Soak your fingers for 10 minutes or so. Yes, soaking your fingers can do wonders to soften the skin around your cuticles and prep the area for the bit of scrubbing muscle you'll need afterward.

2. Use a brush to help remove the stain underneath your nails.

Scrub away at the base of your cuticles and underneath your nails with a cuticle brush or an old toothbrush. Be gentle– red and ragged will look just as bad as brown.

3. Dissolve 2 denture tablets into a bowl of water.

Plop a couple of denture tablets in the bowl with some warm water and wait for them to dissolve. Soak your hands for five minutes or more and let the fizz take some of the faux glow off your nails.

4. Use lemon juice or acetone-based nail polish remover to lift the spray tan from your nails.

Dab a little nail polish remover on your nails if you're rocking a natural nail; otherwise, you'll ruin your manicure.

Lemon juice also will work to lighten and brighten skin. Add a few drops of lemon juice to a cotton swab and wipe away. Take care not to use too much — you can dry out your cuticles with lemon juice.

If you're still having a hard time removing all the self-tanner from your fingernails, bust out your darkest, fiercest nail polish and give yourself a quick mani.

Final How to Get Fake Tan Off Hands Tips

• Use a small scrub brush to remove the tanning products from your palms, if you do not have a loofah.
• If you need a little extra help to remove the tan, mix lemon juice and crushed dishwasher tablets. The detergent will help bleach out the hard-to-remove orange stains.
• To stop your fake tan from staining the nails on your hands before you use sunless tanner, rub Vaseline on and around your nails to prevent the color from staining your porous nail bed.
• Be gentle with your palms. Do not scrub your hands vigorously to remove the sunless tanner.
• Do not mix homemade tan removal remedies with commercial products. If you buy tan removal wipes for the palms, do not mix with aloe vera, baking soda, lemon juice or buttermilk.
• To remove a fake tan from your feet, you should first, place your feet in a bathtub filled with hot water. Then sub your toes and heels with a pumice stone, and an exfoliating body scrub to lift the color from your feet.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s FDA.gov, the FDA has received reports stating consumers have reported adverse events associated with sunless tanning and sunless tanning products.

To prevent any harmful chemical or allergic reactions during the removal of sunless tanner and dihydroxyacetone (DHA), check with a licensed medical professional for recommended removal procedures.