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More Knoxville Magazine - June/July 2009

• From the editor: June issue of Knoxville Magazine
• UT football coach Lane Kiffin and his family get settled in Knoxville
• Luxury Inn Blackberry Farm gets back to its roots

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JoAnna Trego scans the glass shelves in the lobby of Knoxville Dermatology Group's Medi-Spa. She shakes her head and her brunette curls bounce around her shoulders.

"I just sold the last one. And just placed an order."

Trego, a cosmetic representative at Medi-Spa, is talking about Fake Bake, the top selling brand of self-tanning lotion in Europe that's recently made its way into salons across the United States.

"You'll see it in lots of the top magazines. It's one of the best ones. It actually looks like chocolate pudding. But you know everywhere on your body it's been put." Chocolate pudding or not, Fake Bake and other sunless tanning lotions are cravingly being devoured from the shelves of cosmetic stores and beauty salons. A Fake Baker herself, Trego's complexion is clear and smooth, a tinted shade of caramel.

"A tan makes people feel better," Trego says. "Ask anyone, they'll tell you, especially a woman. What woman doesn't feel better about herself with color? It's just having the color that makes them feel 10 times better about anything."

In fact, women have wanted color since the 1920s, when French designer Coco Chanel returned from a cruise with suntanned skin, making a dark complexion fashionable. And while a tan suggests youthful adventures at the beach, it also gives a healthy glow and makes the body appear slimmer.

Tan skin has become so sought after that a recent study by San Diego State University public health researchers published in American Journal of Preventive Medicine found more indoor tanning facilities than Starbucks and McDonalds in some of the nation's big cities. But like most beauty trends, suntanned skin doesn't come without a price, and there seems to be disagreement as to whether it's worth the cost. In fact, 17 states, including Florida and Hawaii, are considering laws to restrict indoor tanning by minors.

Skin cancer has become the most common form of cancer in America, affecting more than 1 million people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So how far will one go to achieve radiant skin?

"Women have always wanted it," Trego says. "They just want it now without the harmful effects."

Enter Fake Bake and other sunless tanning products, which have grown in popularity as a safe alternative to indoor tanning facilities and tanning in the sun.

Achieving and maintaining color from a bottle requires more than simply slathering on lotion. "They're great, but they're maintenance," she says. "Self-tans are a maintenance."

The first and most important step, Trego says, is to shower and exfoliate. "If you don't exfoliate before the tan, a lot of times the solution's not even going to adhere to the skin. You're going to have a blotchy looking tan and you're not getting your money's worth, basically." After exfoliating skin, she says it's best to apply the sunless tanning lotion and let it dry at night.

"Apply it, sleep in it, and then get in the shower and rinse off. A lot of people think, ÔOh my gosh, all this color I've put on is gone.' It's not. Because you look very dirty when you first apply it."

Self-tanner usually gives skin seven full days of color and provides around 10 to 12 applications.

"Most of our clients have one set day of the week they put it on, and it lasts until the next time." But some simple tricks will prolong it.

"The main thing with any self-tanner is to not take hot showers after it," Trego says.

Additionally, be cautious of using lotions containing mineral oil. "Mineral oil will strip a sunless tan quicker than anything." And while a tan can even out skin tone, it will still accentuate dark spots and freckles.

"A lot of women think it's going to hide them," Trego says. "Their spots are going to get darker when they apply sunless tanner, just like they're going to get darker when they're out in the sun." Needless to say, sunless tanning has its advantages. "You only have one body, you know?"