Thread: Shawn Ray on competition color application...

But make sure you're dark enough. Many competitions these days have spray tan services (and I"m not talking about Mystic Tan - that stuff will NOT be enough) that are fantastic. I've seen Jan Tana's work and its fantastic on a good base tan - one base coat and 1 final coat and its really fantastic. I've also had protan sprayed on by a friend w/a compressor but we did 3 coats. If its not spray on but you're rolling it on manually, I've needed more like 4-6 coats.

BTW There are 3 major tanning product providers that you'll find available or providing services at the shows (usually run around $150 for 2 layers - which will cover you, + touch ups):

Protan
Jan Tana
LiquidSunRayz

I've used all but Jan Tana, but I've seen Jan Tana and all are great products.

For men, they seem to be ok w/ getting the tanning product on their faces - get sprayed on the face at the same time as the body tan if getting sprayed at a show, or putting it on as the last layer before the show.

Personally I prefer to use a matching foundation makeup that matches the tanning product. That way you can put on your makeup over it and its easy to retouch and take off, whereas if you get the tanning product put on, it has the potential to dry out & crack, or if you sweat (very common under the lights on stage), it will show runs. You can also use the foundation (or more of the tanning product) to touch up if any of the tanning product gets runs in it from if water touches it (e.g. like if its raining outside and you have to run into the venue or you scuff it.)

Foundation products:
- MAC NC45 matches Protan (Costs about $18 & will last forever)
- Jan Tana has a matching foundation you can buy from jantana.com
- Not sure about LiquidSunRayz but you can probably contact them & ask.

Also you could bring your tanning product into a dept store makeup counter and have them put together a foundation that will match.

Thank you, Sassy. Great information for competitors and interesting behind the scenes talk for fans.

I do wonder when the tanning products became such a thing. The athletes look amazing, but $150 for competition spraying?

Did Arnold Schwarzenegger ever use anything but natural sunlight and baby oil? Not a serious question, but it's amazing how tanning has become such a major force in bodybuilding.

I remember seeing Bob Paris at one of the early Arnold Classic competitions. He looked unbelievably dark in the expo area, but under the stage lights he appeared just mildly tanned. Evidence that athletes need to be incredibly dark off stage to appear reasonably dark on stage.

I wonder the same thing as Curt. When did it become part of the process to be tanned or get spray tanned for a competition? I suppose a tanned body looks better and can show striations/definition better than non-tanned.