Spray tanning is generally safer than UV tanning beds or prolonged sun exposure, but it’s not without risks. The active ingredient in virtually all spray tans, dihydroxyacetone (DHA), is approved by the FDA only for external skin application. It has not been approved for inhaling or for contact with your eyes, lips, or mucous membranes, which is hard to avoid when you’re standing in a mist booth. The biggest safety concerns aren’t about DHA sitting on your skin. They’re about what happens when you breathe it in, what it does to your skin in sunlight, and what’s lurking in the other ingredients.
How Spray Tans Color Your Skin
DHA is a simple sugar that reacts with amino acids in the outermost layer of your skin, the stratum corneum. This is the same type of chemical reaction that browns bread in a toaster or gives seared meat its crust. In chemistry, it’s called the Maillard reaction. The brown pigments it produces sit only in dead skin cells on the surface, which is why a spray tan fades over roughly a week as those cells naturally shed. DHA doesn’t penetrate to living skin layers in meaningful amounts, and less than 1% is absorbed into the bloodstream when applied topically.
The Inhalation Problem
The most significant safety concern with spray tanning is breathing in the mist. The FDA has explicitly stated that DHA use in spray booths “has not been approved,” because no safety data for this route of exposure has been submitted for review. When you’re enveloped in a fine mist, DHA can reach your lungs, nasal passages, and the lining of your mouth.
Animal research published in Toxicology Reports found that inhaled DHA triggers inflammatory responses in the lungs even at low doses. At moderate and higher doses, mice showed significant damage to the air sacs in their lungs within 24 hours. More concerning, female mice exposed to a low dose over just 14 days developed signs of pulmonary fibrosis, a condition where scar tissue replaces healthy lung tissue and reduces breathing capacity. The exposed animals showed a mix of obstructive and restrictive lung changes, meaning both airflow and lung expansion were impaired.
This doesn’t mean one spray tan will scar your lungs. Mice are not humans, and doses don’t translate directly. But these findings raise real questions for people who get spray tans frequently, especially salon workers who are exposed to DHA mist many times per day, week after week.
Protecting Yourself During a Session
If you choose to get a spray tan, minimizing inhalation and mucous membrane contact makes a meaningful difference. The FDA recommends wearing protective eyewear, using nose filters, sealing your lips with lip balm, wearing ear plugs, and using a protective undergarment. Reputable salons should offer all of these. If a salon doesn’t provide nose filters or eye protection, that’s a red flag.
Holding your breath during each pass of the spray gun or booth nozzle helps but isn’t a complete solution, since fine mist lingers in the air. Airbrush sessions done by a technician with a handheld gun tend to produce less ambient mist than fully enclosed automated booths, giving you slightly more control over what you’re breathing.
DHA Makes Your Skin More Vulnerable to Sun
One of the least-known risks of spray tanning is what happens when you go outside afterward. A spray tan offers little to no UV protection, and DHA-treated skin actually generates more than 180% additional free radicals during sun exposure compared to untreated skin. Free radicals are unstable molecules that damage DNA, collagen, and elastin in your skin.
This matters for two reasons. First, some people skip sunscreen after a spray tan because they assume the darker color provides protection. It doesn’t. Second, even if you do wear sunscreen, the elevated free radical production means DHA-treated skin is under more oxidative stress than usual in sunlight. Wearing broad-spectrum sunscreen every time you go outside is especially important in the days after a spray tan.
Skin Aging and Collagen Damage
The same Maillard reaction that creates your tan also generates reactive oxygen species, a type of free radical. Over time, these free radicals can break down collagen and elastin, the proteins that keep skin firm and elastic. DermNet, a clinical dermatology resource, notes that this process may contribute to skin aging and wrinkle formation, particularly when DHA is combined with UV exposure. For someone getting a spray tan once or twice a year, this is probably negligible. For someone maintaining a year-round spray tan with regular sun exposure, the cumulative effect on skin quality could be more noticeable.
Allergens in Spray Tan Solutions
DHA itself rarely causes allergic reactions, but spray tan solutions contain many other ingredients that can. A cross-sectional review published in the International Journal of Women’s Dermatology found that contact allergens are common in self-tanning products. Fragrance was present in nearly every product analyzed. Beyond fragrance, 61% of products contained propylene glycol (a preservative and solvent), 59% contained vitamin E, 48% contained polysorbate 80, and about 30% contained benzyl alcohol.
Scented botanical extracts were found in 84% of products, with specific compounds like linalool, coumarin, and limonene appearing frequently. If you’ve ever had a skin reaction to perfume, lotion, or cosmetics, you may be sensitive to one of these ingredients. Doing a small patch test on your inner arm 24 hours before a full spray tan is a practical way to check for reactions. If a salon won’t let you see the ingredient list of their solution, consider going elsewhere.
Safety During Pregnancy
There is very little data on spray tanning during pregnancy. No studies have examined whether sunless tanners affect miscarriage risk, birth defects, preterm delivery, or low birth weight. Because DHA absorption through the skin is less than 1%, topical application is generally considered low-risk. The bigger concern during pregnancy is the same as for everyone else: inhalation. When DHA reaches mucous membranes or is breathed in, more of it can enter the bloodstream.
If you’re pregnant and want a sunless tan, lotions or mousses that you apply by hand avoid the inhalation issue entirely. If you’re breastfeeding, keep the product away from your breast area or any skin your baby might contact before it has fully dried.
How It Compares to UV Tanning
For context, indoor tanning beds were classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization in 2009, putting them in the same category as tobacco smoke and asbestos. A consistently higher risk of melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and basal cell carcinoma has been demonstrated in tanning bed users. The number of skin cancer cases linked to tanning beds is comparable to the number of lung cancer cases linked to smoking. The European Commission has stated there is no safe limit for UV radiation from sunbeds.
Spray tanning carries none of this cancer risk from UV radiation. That’s its primary advantage and the reason dermatologists generally recommend it as the lesser harm for people who want darker skin. But “safer than a known carcinogen” is a low bar, and it shouldn’t be confused with “completely safe.” The inhalation risks, increased free radical generation, and potential for allergic reactions are real trade-offs worth understanding.
Reducing Your Overall Risk
If spray tanning is part of your routine, a few practical steps can minimize the downsides. Always use nose filters and eye protection during booth or airbrush sessions. Apply broad-spectrum sunscreen daily, especially in the first few days after a tan. If you tan frequently, consider alternating with self-tanning lotions or mousses applied at home, which eliminate the inhalation exposure entirely. Pay attention to how your skin reacts over time: persistent dryness, irritation, or rashes may signal a sensitivity to one of the solution’s ingredients rather than DHA itself.