How to Prepare for a Spray Tan: Day-Before & Day-Of Checklist

By Natalie, Intansify tanning artist · 9+ years of mobile tanning in LA

Knowing how to prepare for a spray tan comes down to one sentence: exfoliate the night before, arrive with clean, completely bare skin — no lotion, no deodorant, no makeup — and wear loose, dark clothing afterward. The details inside that sentence, though, are where tans are won and lost, and after thousands of LA house calls we can tell within thirty seconds of spraying whether someone prepped well. Here's the checklist we wish every client had.

Spray Tan Prep: Why the 24 Hours Before Matter Most

Good spray tan prep matters because the solution bonds to the outermost layer of your skin — so whatever is sitting on that layer, from dead cells to body lotion, ends up between you and your color. Prep takes almost no effort — the whole job is giving the solution a clean, even surface.

Think of it like painting a wall. A painter doesn't add skill by sanding and wiping first — they remove everything that would stop the paint from adhering evenly. Your skin works the same way. Freshly exfoliated, product-free skin takes solution uniformly and fades gracefully a week later. Skin with leftover moisturizer or three days of dry-cell buildup takes it in patches, no matter how skilled the artist is.

The best way to prep for spray tan success splits neatly into two phases — the night before and the day of — so we'll take them in order. Nothing on either list takes more than a few minutes.

Night Before Spray Tan Prep

Your night before spray tan prep has four jobs: exfoliate everywhere, do all your hair removal, get any nail work done, and finish every shower-based routine — because after tomorrow's spray you'll be keeping water off your skin for hours. Here's the evening checklist:

That's it. No products to buy, nothing complicated — just sequencing. The Thursday-night routine our Friday clients describe runs twenty minutes flat: shower, mitt, shave, nails, lights out. By the time we arrive the next evening, that skin has had a full day to settle — exactly the surface an artist hopes to spray.

Spray Tan Prep Day Of: The Final Checklist

The rule for spray tan prep day of your appointment is subtraction: clean skin and nothing on it. If your evening prep went well, today is mostly about not undoing it.

• Keep today's shower quick. If you shower at all, rinse gently and skip the exfoliating — that work is done.

• No lotion, oil, or sunscreen. Anything filming the skin creates a barrier and, later, a patch.

• No deodorant or makeup. Both can react with the solution and leave pale or greenish zones. Arrive bare-faced and bare-underarmed; you can reapply after the tan develops.

• Dress for afterward. Loose, dark clothing and loose sandals or slides. Tight waistbands, bra straps, and sneakers press lines into fresh solution.

• Plan your next hours. No workouts, swims, or rain-soaked walks between the spray and your first rinse. Book your evening around staying dry.

One question we hear weekly: "What should I do before spray tan if I'm coming from the gym?" Simple — shower there, rinse thoroughly, skip every product, and come as you are. Sweat and solution don't mix, but clean post-gym skin sprays beautifully.

What to Skip in the Days Before

The short list of things to avoid before your appointment: spray-adjacent skincare actives, fresh waxing, tanning beds, and long sun sessions. Each one changes the surface your color depends on.

Retinoids, glycolic and salicylic acids, and strong scrubs keep skin turning over quickly, which shortens any tan applied on top — pause them a couple of days out and while the tan lives. Sunburn is the bigger saboteur: burned or peeling skin takes color unevenly and sheds it fast. If you caught too much sun over the weekend, give your skin a few days before we spray. This is also, frankly, one more argument for skipping the burn altogether — we made the fuller case in how spray tanning beats the sun.

During the session itself there is very little for you to do, which surprises people who have read too many forums. You'll be asked to move through a set of simple positions, hold still for a few seconds at a time, and keep your hands in a particular shape so the palms stay clean. The face pass uses less product than the rest and takes about twenty seconds. Everything else — distance, angle, how many passes a dry shin needs — is the artist's problem rather than yours. Your only job is showing up with clean skin.

Two small things worth deciding before the artist arrives rather than during the appointment. First, what you wear during the session: most clients go with disposable underwear or something they don't mind marking, and either is completely normal — say which you'd prefer when you book. Second, where the tent goes. It needs about three feet of clearance on every side and a floor you're not precious about, and picking that spot in advance saves the only genuinely awkward minute of the whole visit.

Prepping Your Space for a Mobile Appointment

If we're coming to you, preparation for your home takes about two minutes: clear a small corner of floor space for the pop-up tent, and that's genuinely all we need. We arrive with the tent, the machine, and every shade of solution, and the whole visit runs about 30 minutes with a tanning artist who comes to you.

A few practical touches from experience. Pick a spot away from cream-colored carpet if you're nervous — though the tent contains the spray, and in nine years we've left living rooms from Calabasas to Culver City exactly as we found them. Warm rooms beat cold ones; solution dries faster and you'll be more comfortable standing in the tent. And if you're booking with a partner or friends — Couples from $135, Groups of three or more from $60 per person, depending on location — you all use the same setup back to back, which is why group appointments feel so easy.

How Prep Pays Off Later

Everything above exists for one reason: a well-prepped tan doesn't just look better on day one — it fades evenly all week instead of going patchy by day four. How to prep for a spray tan that lasts and how to prep for one that applies flawlessly turn out to be the same checklist.

Once you're sprayed, the job shifts from prep to care: rinse timing, lukewarm showers, and daily moisture. We covered that full timeline — including what a normal fade looks like — in how long a spray tan lasts and how to stretch it, which is the natural next read once your appointment is booked.

Ready to Put the Checklist to Work?

Booking is the easy part: book your spray tan online, or call or text (818) 856-5769 with your neighborhood and preferred time, and the artist comes to your home, office, or hotel anywhere in our LA service area. Exfoliate tonight, arrive bare tomorrow, dress loose after — we'll handle everything else.