I turned my skin golden...

[SarieQ]

I have very pale skin. So pale that it shows the vein coloring and all. I hate it! When I get cold, my skin takes on a nasty bluish/red blotchy tone--much like chicken skin! Being a redhead, it looks terrible to have purplish undertones showing through! In the summer when it's warm, I like my skin because it looks milky white like it's supposed to, but I live in a cool climate where it dips into the fifties on summer nights. I also don't tan one bit, just burn and get more freckles.

Two years ago, I set out to find a way to make my own sunless tanning blend. I don't like the chemicals that are found in the one's on the market and they turn me so dark that it doesn't look right on me anyway. I wanted to "golden" up a bit to hide the redness and blotchiness that plagues my irish skin.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/sunless-tanning-lotions.html I found this black tea recipe a while back, but didn't like it because there is no emulsifier and therefore the oils would not work with the water.

My goal was to make something light and simular to golden my legs so that I could wear dresses and sandal heals with my jeans and not have to wear panty hoes. This is what I made and I really really like the results!

2 cups distilled water
10 tea bags opened and dumped them into the hot water.
I reheated in the microwave for one minute a couple times and stirred frequently. Then I strained through a coffee filter and added:
1/2 tsp irish moss powder (edited later: guar gum would probably work as a better alternative, I just don't have it on hand to try out)
1/2 tsp glycerine
1/4 tsp grape seed extract

The mix smells like seaweed obviously because I used seaweed to thicken it, but the smell faded quickly as my skin absorbed the mix. My skin became instanlty golden and I was sooooo happy. DH said that he couldn't believe how well it worked. I was cold last night while out, but my feet looked nicely golden the whole time. It's nice to get away from wearing hoes! I'm going to apply it everyday to see how it lasts and if I get that nasty "wear off" like what happens from commercial sunless tanners. I am also gunna experiment with brown henna replacing the black tea to see if I like that any better.

Now this mix is not gunna do anything for those who already tan or who have darker skin tones, but it would work for those other people like me.

[OhioSKy]

I have the same problem, gross blue veins all over my body. I tried using the glow lotion that gives you very subtle results over time, I think it was Jergens maybe... but it got all streaky when I shaved and started to look wierd in areas that bend (knee, ankle, etc) and everything else Ive tried is even worse.

I would love an easy way to darken just a bit without trying to tan. Please let me know how your experiment goes! Im very interested.

[justgreen]

This thread bears watching, I'm intriqued!

[Anje]

I'm interested. I hate having gray-purple legs whenever it gets cold.

Let us know if you dare to try it on your face and what the results are. Slightly tanned/tinted skin on my face could cover a lot of blotchiness, if done correctly.

[Islandgrrl]

I'll be watching with interest as well.

SarieQ be careful with adding henna. Pure henna stains RED, (think henna tattoos) and orange skin isn't super attractive, to say the least!

[justgreen]

I'll be checking out the health food store in Boulder to look for the irish moss powder ad grapeseed extract. I have all the other ingredients. Thank you SarieQ for sharing with us!

[Katze]

yes, I would not add henna - I've tried this, and henna goes orange, then fades too fast. Not the ideal use for it!

I'm another dead-fish complection person - I don't even tan like other people - my darkest tan still looks pale and creamy. I love having bare legs, but as soon as they are cold they do that purple-blue thing too. But I'm leery of self-tanners...

Curious to hear what you find out. And it's nice to hear someone else does not like panty hose! :D

[Mary <><]

I will definitely be trying this soon. I have very light skin, and I would love to find something to use this summer instead of those store-bought chemical ones. Any pics of the results? Thanks for sharing and posting the recipe! :whoohoo:

Mary <><

[SarieQ]

I don't have any pics, sorry. I don't know if it would show up. I'll take some and compare to other natural pics of my skin soon.

I did put it on my face the same night I made it--I put it all over. My face looks darker, but not like all uneven or anything. The only place I really see too much is on my toes, so next time I won't put any on them. The color stayed after I showered, which is great! I figured it would wash off too easily.

I'm not sure if I like the irish moss powder in it though my skin didn't seem too happy with it. I'm gunna make some more with just the glycerin and put it in a spray bottle for easier app. DH and I are going out tomorrow night and I'm wearing a very low cut dress--nothing like I've ever wore before so I really want to look golden.

Oh, I almost forgot that I did see an all natural product online that's called "Bio Tan" It's a surgar that reacts with the skin to make it look tan. The review said that it was the most expensive sunless tanner on the market, but being all natural is better. I'm not gunna try it myself because I know it would just turn me too dark and look fake.

Thanks for the heads up about the henna. My thoughts were of using strong coffee to cancel out the red. If not, I'll just use the dark brown as low lights in my hair!

[longhairedfairy]

Good thread. Does it come off on your clothes at all?

[longhairedfairy]

Come to think of it, women used to use coffee/tea to look like panty hose during wartime. One of my grandmothers said that women would sit in a bath of it and rub the backs of the legs in some way that made a line/streak so that it looked like a back seam.

[justgreen]

I'll be trying this soon. I tan easily, but since the onset of illness, cannot be out in the sun for very long, especially since we are at 6000 sea level. Plus one of the meds I take cautions against it.

[angelthadiva]

Very interesting thread...Did you just use regular tea?

[Anje]

Had to look up this "Bio Tan" stuff. It contains erythrulose (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythrulose), melanin, and phospholipids. No idea whether topically applied melanin would accomplish anything, and the wikipedia entry on erytrulose suggests that it targets the top surface of the skin, same as anything else, so I'm wondering if the phospholipids are being used to make liposomes containing the erythrulose.

(Incidentally, the MSDS for erythrulose looks pretty good. I may have to look into trying something like this. Seriously expensive, though.)
---------------------------------------------

What's the function of the irish moss powder? I may have to dig out the pound of cheap black loose tea in the back of my cupboard...

[kwaniesiam]

That's really interesting! I'm super pale and like it that way though, regardless of if I turn blue. Tan just doesn't work on me. Do you have pictures of the results by chance?

[Áine]

SarieQ, I am also watching this thread in interest. I'm not very pale skinned at all, but I would still love to be able to make my own natural skin tanners.

[SarieQ]

That war time history is pretty interesting. If I remember right hose were invented right before WWII and were not manufactured during the war because all industrial effort went to the war. It's interesting that women were doing this to give the look of wearing hose! I didn't know that.

I used just plain black tea. I think my brand was Lipton.

The irish moss powder was simply added to thicken the mix. It went on feeling kind of like an aloe gel. I didn't like the feel of it because I don't like gels, but it worked pretty good. It did add a seaweed smell that wasn't so wonderful, but it went away as soon as it soaked into my skin and my perfume took over.

I didn't know before if it would stain clothes because I wore brown with blue jeans. Today, I put it on pretty thick and waited for it to dry. Then I put on a cream colored shirt--it now has some rub off tea staining. So, yes, be careful with what you wear right after applying. I would suggest applying it a couple hours before, then taking a rinse off shower to get rid of the residue before wearing anything light colored. It stains the skin so it won't go away.

I made a new mix today. I'm trying to find a way to thicken and emulsify a bit of oil into it, but I have to order some things first. I don't like the way the emusifiers I have on hand work--they thicken the mix too much and I don't want this to turn into mayonaise. This time I tried some of the consentrated CO I have left from when I was COing. I was hoping the vitamins would be nice and the cetearyl alcohol would make it emolient. I feels really nice, but I'm gunna get plain cetearyl alcohol to see how I like that (this mix has parabens that I'm trying to stay away from, plus a chemical I couldn't find on the net to research). Anyway, I like how my skin feels with this mix and am wondering if that was a part of the cause of the rub off effect, but I'd have to try my first mix with an old Tshirt to see if the same result happens.

I also put the newer mix on one leg and took a bath an hour later. I even used my hemp bath mitt to exfoliate a bit. I could still see the golden spot on my leg when I got out. It works and I like it! I also didn't notice any wear off occuring in patchiness like what happens with the commercial products--maybe because this is lighter. It faded a bit over the course of two days, but was still there. I was excited today after applying it and found that my skin toned bra that's usually much darker than my own skin tone--actually matched me today!

I have a pic on my camera compairing my arms to show just how much one app will work. I'll get it on here soon!

[snowbear]

Psst! It's "pantyhose". Unfortunately, "hoes" are something else, entirely. :uhh:

[SarieQ]

OOPS! My spelling is not so great! Thank you for bringing that to my attention!

Here is the pic I got of my arms. The arm closest to the camera had no tea on it. There was some wash out in this pic even though I didn't use a flash because the results were even more obviouse between the two arms than what is showing up. However, you can see the purplish tones I have in the un-tea'd arm as compared to the golden look of the other arm.
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/6917/concertsciencefair010ov3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[SarieQ]

So, we went out last night! I put two coats of the tea/CO mix on and let it soak in before putting my dress on. It really worked for what I set out to make this for. I didn't look one bit bluish purple while out. Plus, being a redhead, I have to wear colors in the "autumn" scheme. I ordered this dress from VS and it was more of a winter type blue than what it showed up on the screen (called "ink blot" and is the same color as a blue ball point pin). Normally if I wear that color, it brings out all the nasty blueish purple undertones in my skin. I was sooooo happy that the blue set off the golden color and looked really nice on me. Instead of making the blue show up under my eyes (where I did three coats on my face) it made my blue eyes just pop! I was so golden that my facial powder had to be put on really lightly or it would have been way too light.

I'm not the type of person who needs compliments to feel good about myself or anything, but I got a ton of compliments last night on how nice I looked and my hair (which I wore down!). I've never gotten compliments like that just when going out with my normal skin tone. With all the positive feedback IRL, I'm convinced that this stuff works!

Also, we spent a while in the hot tub at the hotel and I'm still just as golden this morning.

[Celebrian7]

Hmmm, this tea bag thing sounds interesting to me...

BTW, on the subject of using henna on skin for a sunlit glow - I remembered that last year there was a thread at hennaforhair on this very topic.

I went to take a look, and people were getting favourable results! I was quite suprised. I suggest you try going to have a look at the thread entitled henna for sunless tanning before you dismiss it entirely...

It's a fairly long thread, and people get distracted along the way, but it keeps coming back to the idea and quite a few of the people who posted tried it and were impressed by their results!

I think I'll give it a go at some point.

[SarieQ]

Thank you for the info! I was thinking of trying it anyway just to see for myself how it'd do, then I got to wondering if it would color my body hair too. I am blessed with light blond/not easily seen body hair and the idea of coloring it along with my skin is scary! The black tea doesn't stain the body hair at all.

Oh, I keep forgetting to post for those wanting to try the first recipe. If you can't get irish moss or don't like the idea of the seaweed smell, a good alternative would be guar gum. I don't have any on hand to try myself, but I used to use it as the thickener in lotions before joining LHC.

Another plus to darkening my skin is that my teeth look way whiter!

[SarieQ]

I have a pic to post from our night out to post soon with a comparison pic of my normal skin tone. I'll get it on here soon! I just got it downloaded onto my computer and I'm amazed at how tan my legs looked!

[SarieQ]

This is my natural skin tone. Note that I am wearing hose in this pic, but I always had to get the "cream" or "oatmeal" colored ones. The "natural" or "tanned" ones always look rediculous on me!
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/1784/scan0007jl8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

This is me the night we went out and I had two apps of the tea mix on my legs and three on my face. I had wanted to have the pic in natural lighting as the one above, but we didn't go out until after dark. (don't ya hate it when ya have to walk in the rain and you're hair frizzes! I had used a silk peptide powder in my final rinse to make my hair sleek and shiny--it worked until it began raining!)
http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/39/daddyweek084ld0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Yay! No more having to buy hose! It actually looks like I'm wearing the "tanned" color hose! I also like how the latest mix I made with the cetyl alcohol and vitamins gives my skin emoliency and imparted a nice shiny look!

I have found that my skin loves the tea. It's astringent and makes my pores small. My skin really cleared up the days prior to going out as I was testing this stuff. I am definetely going to make this whenever I wear a skirt or have have a nice evening out!

[justgreen]

Wonderful! And you are so gorgeous! I can't wait to mix up a batch, I have my list ready for the health food store. Did you get any specific black tea?

[SarieQ]

I used the plain black tea bags from Lipton. I want to get organic next, but that's all I had on hand. 10 tea bags for 2 cups of distilled water. The second time I made it, I left the bags intact. It made it easier to keep the mix strained.

[SarieQ]

I keep forgetting to add that there is a way to get rid of the unwanted palm coloring that occurs when applying this. Mix some lemon juice in peppermint tea. I have gotten herb stains off my hands countless times with this remedy! It also helps to scrub with a nail brush during the soak too to get the color out of the nail beds.

The tea coloring on my face made my teeth look so much whiter! I guess all along my natural purplish skin tone has been clashing with my teeth! :geek:

[Anje]

Looks like it made a real difference. I think I'm going to have to whip up a batch of this, once I find a good thickening agent. I don't suppose corn starch would work, would it?

[Celebrian7]

I can't get the pics, SarieQ. Have I got to join Imageshack first?

[SarieQ]

Celebrian7--You shouldn't have to join imageshack. They should be showing up directly in the post #24. I don't know why you'd be having a problem. I am so sorry that you're not able to see them.

[OhioSKy]

That is amazing! It really does look like you're wearing tan hose in that picture. Thanks for sharing!

[SarieQ]

Looks like it made a real difference. I think I'm going to have to whip up a batch of this, once I find a good thickening agent. I don't suppose corn starch would work, would it?

I don't know if it would work or not. I've never tried cornstarch. I would worry it would leave a colored powder residue on my skin once it dried, it's worth a try to find out. If you don't have any thickeners on hand, you could add a little bit of CO to it to give it some consistency that's how I've been making mine lately. I don't know if using the tea plain would streak or not, but that's worth a try too.

[longhairedfairy]

Cornstarch might work. Just mix it in a small amount of cold water first before you put it into the hot tea/coffee mix, otherwise it'll thicken too soon and you'll get dumplings, lol.

[longhairedfairy]

SarieQ, that's really a neat effect and I'll have to try it some time, though I have to say that I think your natural color looks beautiful as well.

[SarieQ]

For anyone interested, I made a new batch of this stuff last night. This time, I made the normal two cups with ten tea bags. Then I added 1/2 T jojoba oil and 1/2 tsp liquid lecithin while the tea was still warm. I mixed it up really good with my stick blender.

I don't know if this mix will get me as dark as the last one with the conditioner added, but it gives my skin more moisture and holds it in better. I'm wearing this mix for a day get-together and so I don't mind it being lighter and look less obvious. The last one that I wore at night, it didn't matter if I piled it on because it was night and I wasn't being looked at under natural lighting if it didn't look right. These mixes seem to go on pretty even though and doing two or three apps covers anywhere that I've put it on too thin with a prior app.

[stargurl84]

SarieQ....the pictures show quite a difference. Thanks for the post, and let us know how the new mix turns out.