Why I Love Tan Towels Self Tanning Towelettes

I come from a long line of dark-circled, ivory-skinned individuals. Having a naturally ghost-like complexion has fueled my passion for tanning. Whether I’m outside, enjoying a sunny day by the pool, or self-tanning because I’m in a rush (or it’s cold as heck outside), getting a little color makes me so much more confident!

Obviously when you’re pale and want to be tan, you find yourself with a ton of products in your Amazon cart! Yeah, that’s me. I look and look for only the products with the best reviews and the best price, but with so many amazing products out there, it’s really hard to narrow it down to just one or two.

A Different Way to Get Tan

In my quest to be tan, I’ve tried countless indoor tanning lotions, self-tanning lotions, and even a bottle of spray tan or two. However, there’s one tanning product that has always stood out to me.

Among all the lotion bottles sitting under my bathroom sink are these packets of self-tanning wipes, more specifically Tan Towel Self Tanning Towelettes.

What are Tan Towels?

Tan Towels are self-tanning wipes that are infused with a clear self-tanning formula, free of dyes or stains. These moist towelettes work with the proteins and amino acids in your skin to develop a tan within hours of application.

They come in two different colors: Classic – which is intended for fair to medium skin tones, and Plus – which is intended for medium to dark skin tones.

They also come in different sizes, half-body, and full-body applications.

Things I Liked About Tan Towels

So if you haven’t figured it out already, I like these things. But I don’t just like a product because the marketing on the package sounded good or because I got it for free (which I didn’t, I totally bought these myself!). Here’s why I genuinely liked using Tan Towels…

Will Tan Towels Turn You Orange?

It’s not going to turn you orange, if that’s what you think! Turning you orange is pretty much the primary complaint anyone can have of a self-tanning product, I mean, we’ve all seen and laughed at those pictures on Pinterest!

Nope, I have never turned some silly shade of orange, red-orange, brown-orange using Tan Towels. They leave me with a nice, just been to the beach for the day, natural-looking tan.

Are Tan Towels Easy to Use?

Application is so easy! Tan towels are individually packaged self-tanning wipes that you simply wipe all over skin and wait for it to dry.

You do want to make sure you do a couple of things before you use these self-tanning wipes.

• Shower – Because you’ll want to avoid showering after application.
• Exfoliate – Make sure you scrub all the dead skin off your legs and arms!
• Shave – A must before any self-tanning session.

And once you’ve finished wiping yourself down, you should immediately wash your hands. Tan palms are an obvious sign of self-tanners! Check out tan removal creams and scrubs for my favorite ways to remove self-tanner, in case you do get tan palms.

Can You Get Dark Using Tan Towels?

Tan Towels can give you either a soft, subtle tan, or a deep, dark tan, based on how many applications you use. With my pale complexion, I’m pretty happy with a subtle tan, as I always fear the dreaded orange hue! So for me, I’ve found that a single application leaves me with a nice, natural-looking tan.

Now if you’re someone who prefers to get as dark as possible, once your first application is dry, layer on another! Then reapply every 2-3 days to maintain your tan and gradually darken it.

Things I Didn’t Like About Tan Towels

So trying to be completely impartial here, I want to explain some things I think I didn’t totally love about the product.

Not Knowing If You’ve Missed an Area

One of the benefits of this product is that it has no dyes or stains, but that comes with one big drawback: you can’t see where you’ve applied tanner.

Now this isn’t a deal-breaker for me, because try to be pretty aware of the areas I’ve wiped already and where I haven’t. But that’s not to say a little instant color action couldn’t make that a whole lot easier. Plus, I don’t like seeing that I missed my left ankle – 4 hours later!

I’ve Experienced the Occasional Streak

To be fair, the streaking probably happened during my first few times using the product. But as I mentioned before, it’s impossible to see if you’ve missed a spot until hours later.

Streaking happened most likely because the towel was more damp with the self-tanning formula when I applied it to one area, and had already starting drying up by the time I wiped passed a nearby area.

How I’ve Avoided Streaks Since

Through my numerous self-tanning sessions with Tan Towels, I’ve learned a few tricks to help me avoid the streaks.

• Use new, damp towels on legs first. When you rip open the little packet, your tanning towelette is pretty wet. I’ve found that doing a fast wipe down of each leg with the towel while its still super damp helps focus the color on that area first.
• Blend back over with drier towels. After I’ve tried to get the larger areas, the Tan Towel is starting to dry a little bit. This is when I’ll go pack over the first places I’ve been and try to blend the ‘damp’ feeling in better.
• Wipe face with drier towels. They do have Tan Towels for the face, but I have never purchased them so I don’t have much to say about that. What I can say though is that using the regular Tan Towels, after they’ve started to dry up slightly, is the best way to keep streaks off your face.

Should You Try Tan Towels?

If you’re a fan of self-tanning, or just looking to try a self-tanner for the first time, then I would definitely say Tan Towels are worth a try.

They don’t leave you feeling greasy like many self-tanning lotions can. They don’t really have an unpleasant smell, which again, many self-tanning products have. Based on the different types of tanning lotions and sprays I’ve tried, I thought application was pretty simple once you got into it, and for the most part, fool-proof.

In my opinion, getting a natural-looking tan from a self-tanner has really never been easier.