Sunless tanning is a way of providing your skin with the color that would typically come from the sun without the time spent outside. It is the ultraviolet radiation from the sun that causes your skin to become darker and tan.
Tanning Salons
The most common place to find the ultraviolet rays that are necessary for you to achieve the tan that you're looking for are tanning salons. Featuring small machines that you lie in that produce small amounts of radiation, these salons are located all throughout the world.
Chemical Treatments
There are certain chemical treatments that will provide a sunless tan as well. These treatments include tanning beauty products, bronzers and more. Many of these products are available without a prescription and at different beauty and health stores around the country. You can apply these products--such as lotions, creams and foams--yourself, or receive a spray-on tan from a professional or booth.
If you plan to use any of these methods of sunless tanning to give yourself a darker, tanner appearance, beware of the risks of doing so before you begin. Overexposure to ultraviolet radiation over the course of your life can lead to extremely increased rates of skin cancer and other problems of this type. Localized overexposure to ultraviolet radiation can leave you with minor chemical and radiation burns that may be unsightly and uncomfortable as well. Some people also have allergic reactions to certain sunless tanning chemical applications as well.