I got an interesting email the other day from a lovely Love Vitamin reader.

In this email, she said something that I can safely say has never crossed my mind, probably because I have never considered getting a fake tan before. I have been turned off anything to do with the stuff since I experimented with the bottled kind in grade 5 and had my friend point out all the massive streaks all over my face! lol!

However, I admit, that I do love when summer comes around and I get a nice bit of glow on my face. It does make my skin look really nice and gives me a little boost of confidence (ps – doing the caveman no-wash regimen has an unexpected benefit – you aren’t constantly washing away the tan on your face! I always remember before the caveman, my face would always be a different, paler colour than the rest of my body).

She said that getting a fake spray tan done that used natural and organic ingredients not only looked very real and natural (I’m sure the technology has advanced since I was in Grade 5!), but completely covered up all the little pimples, marks, scars, blackheads, and other imperfections on her skin. As a result, her acne related stress went way downhill and she stopped constantly obsessing over it!

She even said that much needed break from obsessing about the little skin imperfections has actually broken the habit of obsessing about her skin in general. Her skin is now getting in tons of healing due to her not touching it.

Personally, I think that’s wonderful.

Thought I’d share her experience with you:

Hi Tracy,

I have been reading your blog for quite a long time now and follow you on Twitter. I also signed up to your Candida Cleanse a few months ago and assisted with your Vitex Agnus Castus article (hope it has helped people).

Doing the candida cleanse was amazing. The forum side of things really assisted with keeping loyal to the cleanse. Well done for setting all this up, please know your hard work is worth it and assisting people all over the world. Although I have not been as strict as I had been, I have been continuing to follow the principles of the candida cleanse and my skin has made a marked improvement.

I have also made my skin care routine super simple following your caveman principles to a point. I now leave my skin, occasionally allowing water to run over it in the shower and gentle wipe dry skin with a muslin cloth to “exfoliate” it.

The main reason for my email was to say that a couple of weeks ago I had my first ever whole body spray tan, as I had an event to go to and my dress would have shown some interesting white and naturally tanned patches without it!

I just wanted to drop you a line to say that I found an unexpected benefit in having my fake tan. Not only did having a “tan” really boost how I felt (relaxed and confident as if it was a real tan) it also covered up the tiny blemishes, marks, scars and tiny blackheads that I usually obsess about.

Although my “tan” was subtle and natural looking I found that, when looking in the mirror or at my skin, I could not see the flaws I usually saw that I become driven to resolve. The result was for a week or more I did not touch my skin. This allowed my skin to heal and gave my mind a break. I felt happier that I and others could not see the imperfections which normally stress me out!

I also found that the week or so break from obsessing about my skin has kind of broken a habit of obsessing about my skin.

I am keen these days to use more natural products on my skin. The tan I had used natural and organic ingredients and left my skin super soft and healthy looking pre and post tan. I live in the UK and found the “tan” on this website Organictantastic.co.uk. I am sure that around the country and across the world there are similar products and different brands. Having my skin darkened by the fake tan assisted me to relax about my skin as I could not see the imperfections and allowed it to heal … unexpected benefits 🙂

The tan has worn off now, but here in the UK we have had the odd sunny day to help me build a more gentle natural tan. However, keen to retain the benefits of the fake tan, whereby I could not see the imperfections, I have been topping up my natural tan with Johnson and Johnson Holiday Skin. I know that this goes against my desire to use more natural products on my skin, but at the moment by skin does not mind its application (I really think the candida cleanse has made a huge impact on my skin).

I am keen to find a more natural self tanner that I can use every day …. wonder if any of your readers has any experience or recommendations 🙂

I just wanted to drop this email to you as I found a fake tan helped me and the idea may benefit some of your other readers.

Keep up the good work Tracy 🙂

Please note that while I know tans can look pretty, I’m not an advocate of extensive real sun tanning or tanning beds due to the skin cancer risk (and increased chance of wrinkles!). Sun on bare skin is good in small doses (around 15 to 20 minutes per day), but don’t overdo it!

Also, check out this awesome series of articles about safe, natural sunscreens for the face and body 🙂

What do you think about fake tan to help you get your mind off little skin imperfections?