Are Tanning Products Cosmetics? | Cosmetics & Makeup

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Are Tanning Products Cosmetics?

It is important to be aware that there is no such thing as a "healthy tan". Excessive exposure to the sun or to tanning beds can cause skin damage, eye damage and even skin cancer. Certain medications, including antibiotics and diuretics, can increase an individual's sensitivity to the sun.

Tanning lotions, oils or creams are considered cosmetics. They help moisturize the skin during exposure to the sun and thereby increase the opportunity for the user to get a tan. The suitability of a particular product is dependent on the individual's melanin (dark pigment) production.

On the other hand, sun blocks or screens are considered drugs because the product claims to prevent sunburn by shielding the skin from the sun's ultraviolet radiation. They can easily be differentiated from suntan lotions by the SPF or UVA/UVB designations on the label.

Self-tanners are considered cosmetics because these normally contain dyes which are absorbed by the topmost layer of skin. Oral tanning products are drugs since they are ingested. These synthetic colouring agents, often identical to natural ones, are taken in large amounts so that the extra colouring agents become stored in the body's fatty tissue including the tissue under the skin. Both self-tanners and oral products do not provide a "sun" tan nor do they provide any protection from the sun's radiation. The "tan" will fade if the product is discontinued and as the colouring agents are eliminated from the skin or body.

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