Spray tan DHA safety: what FDA has and has not approved, and what it means for your booth

What FDA has approved, and what it has not

Dihydroxyacetone (DHA) is the color additive commonly used in sunless tanners. FDA describes it as an ingredient that darkens the skin by reacting with amino acids in the skin's surface. Apart from color additives (other than coal-tar hair dyes), the law does not let FDA approve cosmetic products or ingredients, so FDA's rules on sunless tanning start with DHA's listing as a color additive.

DHA's listing, 21 CFR 73.2150, allows it "in externally applied cosmetics intended solely or in part to impart a color to the human body." Three more points set the edges of that use:

• Externally applied means applied "only to external parts of the body and not to the lips or any body surface covered by mucous membrane" (21 CFR 70.3(v)).
• A color additive may be used in the area of the eye only if its listing provides for that use (21 CFR 70.5(a)), and FDA says DHA is not permitted there. The area of the eye covers everything within the bony ridges above and below the eye, including the eyebrow, eyelids, lashes and eyeball (21 CFR 70.3(s)).
• FDA says a color additive used in a way its regulation does not allow "is considered unsafe under the law," and that such misuse "causes a cosmetic to be adulterated."

On spray booths, FDA's page on sunless tanners (content current as of October 15, 2024) says "the use of DHA in 'tanning' booths as an all-over spray has not been approved by the FDA, since safety data to support this use has not been submitted to the Agency for review and evaluation." With an all-over spray or mist, FDA adds, "it may be difficult to avoid exposure in a manner for which DHA is not approved, including the area of the eyes, lips, or mucous membrane, or even internally."

Retail creams and lotions sit inside the approved use. FDA says DHA is approved for external application, "which is the way these products are intended to be used," and that consumers can easily avoid inhaling them or applying them to the eye area or mucous membranes.

What this means for your salon

FDA advises consumers to ask three questions about any business that sprays or mists DHA. If the answer to any of them is no, FDA says, "the consumer is not protected from the unapproved use of this color additive":

• Are clients protected from exposure across the entire area of the eyes, not just the eyes themselves?
• Are they protected on the lips and on every part of the body covered by mucous membrane?
• Are they protected from internal exposure caused by inhaling or swallowing the product?

FDA's advice is written for consumers, not as a rule for salons, but your clients may ask the same questions. One way to turn them, and the state and tax rules below, into a routine:

1. Have protection for the eye area, lips and nose ready to hand to every spray client before the session, so no one has to ask. FDA tells consumers to "request measures to protect their eyes and mucous membranes and prevent inhalation," and Ohio's rules already require salons to provide protective eyewear, lip balm and nose filters and to have clients cover areas with mucous membranes during application (Ohio Adm. Code 4713-19-05(B)).
2. Train staff to walk each client through FDA's three questions before their first spray tan.
3. Check your state's rules before you open a booth or sell a spray session to a minor. Age limits, permits and signs differ, as the examples below show.
4. Keep the 10% federal tanning tax off spray tans, and split packages that mix UV and spray correctly.
5. Keep your solution supplier's full ingredient list at the desk, and never describe a spray tan as sun protection.
6. Decide in advance what staff do when a client reports a reaction.

Who regulates the booth

FDA's role is the color additive and the product. "Firms and individuals who market cosmetics are responsible for assuring that the products they market are safe when used under labeled or customary conditions of use and properly labeled," its page says. The salon side is left to others: "The practice of administering such products by professionals, such as in salons, is generally the responsibility of local and state health authorities."

The 2022 cosmetics law, the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act, mostly passes salons by as well. Its registration duty is for facilities that manufacture or process cosmetic products, and its definition of a facility leaves out "beauty shops and salons, unless such establishment manufactures or processes cosmetic products at that location" (21 U.S.C. 364(3) and 364c).

A private label changes that. The "responsible person" for a cosmetic is the manufacturer, packer or distributor whose name appears on its label (21 U.S.C. 364(4)). If your salon's name is on a solution or lotion in that role, the reporting duties described under reactions below are yours.

Spray tanning under state law: four examples

State tanning laws are mostly written around ultraviolet devices, but not all of them stop there. Here is how four states handle spray, taken from each state's own code or health department and checked on September 29, 2026.

Other states differ, and a state that leaves spray out of its tanning law may still reach it through a cosmetology or health rule. Check your own state at tanning laws by state, and see the New Jersey page for its spray sign. Permits are covered in tanning salon license requirements by state.

The 10% tanning tax does not apply to spray

The IRS says the indoor tanning tax "does not apply to spray-on tanning services, topical creams and lotions" (IRS indoor tanning services tax center, last reviewed November 24, 2025). The regulation defines an indoor tanning service as one that uses an electronic product with one or more ultraviolet lamps to induce skin tanning (26 CFR 49.5000B-1(c)(1)).

Packages that mix UV sessions and spray tans need care. When one payment covers UV tanning and other goods and services, which the regulation says include cosmetic treatments, the other charges can be left out of the taxed amount if they are separable, no higher than fair market value and shown in exact amounts in your records. Otherwise the package counts as bundled, and the tax applies to the part "reasonably attributable to indoor tanning services" (26 CFR 49.5000B-1(d)(2) and (d)(3)). See the tanning excise tax and tax on bundles and exemptions.

Ingredient lists, labels and sun protection

Professional booth solution may reach you without an ingredient list. FDA requires ingredient declarations on cosmetics sold at retail, but the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act "does not apply to products used exclusively by professionals, such as those used in spray tanning booths." Ask your supplier for the full list and keep it at the desk, so staff can answer a client who asks about an ingredient.

Do not sell a spray tan as sun protection. FDA says sunless tanners and bronzers "may or may not" protect from the sun, and only those that contain sunscreen ingredients and carry an SPF number may do so. A suntanning product without sunscreen, which the rule says includes products that color the skin with DHA, must carry a label warning that it "does not contain a sunscreen and does not protect against sunburn" (21 CFR 740.19). If you sell lotions without sunscreen under your own label, check that the warning is on them. Ohio also requires any facility that offers spray-on, mist-on or sunless tanning to post the same warning where clients can see it (Ohio Adm. Code 4713-19-04(B)(2)).

When a client reports a reaction

FDA has received consumer reports of adverse events linked to sunless tanning, "including rashes and, primarily in the case of spray tanning booths, coughing, dizziness, and fainting." FDA says it is uncertain whether an ingredient, an allergic reaction or something unrelated to the product, such as a pre-existing medical condition, was involved.

Write down what staff do if a client says they feel unwell during or after a session, and who records it. Consumers and health professionals can report a reaction to FDA. The responsible person named on the product's label receives adverse event reports through the contact details printed there, must send FDA any serious adverse event report it receives within 15 business days, with a copy of the label, and must keep adverse event records for six years, or three for some small businesses (21 U.S.C. 364a). A salon named on the label as the product's distributor is that responsible person.

How TanVision handles spray rooms

TanVision applies its UV rules only to rooms whose room type is marked as emitting UV. In a room whose type is marked as not emitting UV, such as the built-in spray type, no skin type is asked for, no build-up time is worked out from the client's tanning history, and the skin-type level ceiling does not apply.

The paperwork and age checks run in every room. A spray session will not start without a signed warning statement and a date of birth on file, and a client under the minimum age, 18 by default, needs guardian consent on file. That one age applies in every room, so a limit written only for spray, such as New Jersey's under-14 rule, stays a check for the desk. A note on a client's record, such as a past reaction, can pop up at check-in.

Each package can carry its own excise rate, stored apart from sales tax, so you can set it to zero on spray packages and keep it on UV packages. Salons can also write their own consent-form questions. See spray tan and red light rooms, consent forms and tax and excise, or book a demo.