Bronzed is back, and this time it's not just a summer thing for women. GQ recently profiled the resurgence of tanning in men's style, from actors keeping their glow through a full press tour to a J.Crew campaign built entirely around sun-kissed, off-duty models. The magazine's writer went as far as booking a $500 celebrity spray tan session to understand the appeal firsthand, and what he found says a lot about where grooming culture is headed.
The pendulum is swinging back
For the better part of a decade, sun protection has dominated the conversation. Daily SPF became as routine as brushing your teeth, and for good reason. Dermatologists have spent years warning against UV exposure, and that message landed. But somewhere along the way, a tan started to mean something again. Men interviewed for the piece described it as a signal, almost a form of rebellion against a culture that had gotten a little too careful.
One spray tan artist who counts several A-list names among his clients put it simply: he's tanning more men today than at any point in his career, and roughly half his current celebrity roster is male, up from nearly none when he started two decades ago.
Why a tan still means something
Ask the people chasing this look and the reasoning is consistent. A tan reads as health, leisure, and time spent outside, the kind of signal that's hard to fake with a filter. It suggests you were somewhere good, doing something good, and you had the time to enjoy it. In a culture where everyone's presenting a curated version of their life, that's a hard thing to compete with if you're pale from a winter spent indoors.
The catch is obvious. Getting that look the old-fashioned way means real UV exposure, real skin damage, and real long-term risk. The GQ piece even touched on some genuinely alarming workarounds people are trying, from unregulated injectable tanning peptides to sunning body parts that were never meant to see daylight. None of that is worth it.
The smarter route
This is exactly why sunless tanning has moved from niche to mainstream, and why it's no longer seen as a women's-only service. A professional spray tan gets you the same visual signal, defined color, an even tone, that healthy just-back-from-vacation look, without touching a UV ray. Done well, it's not detectable as artificial. It's just you, slightly more sun-kissed than usual.
At Bare&Sol, our Custom Airbrush Spray Tan is built around that exact idea: a natural, controlled result with none of the guesswork or damage. Where a celebrity tanner might spend twenty minutes hand-painting definition into someone's arms before a red carpet appearance, our technicians bring that same attention to detail to every appointment, working with your skin tone to build a finish that looks like it happened outside, not in a booth.
A few things worth knowing if you're curious:
- Custom Airbrush Spray Tan is available at select Bare&Sol locations. Not every studio offers it, so check [Studio Name]'s service menu or give us a call before booking.
- Prep matters. Clean, dry, freshly exfoliated skin holds color evenly. Shaving the day before your appointment gives your skin time to settle.
- Aftercare extends the life of your tan. Skip hot showers and heavy scrubbing for the first several hours, and moisturize daily to help it fade evenly instead of blotchy.
Whether you're prepping for an event, coming back from a pale winter, or just want to look a little more like you spent the weekend outside, a spray tan is one of the lowest-effort, lowest-risk ways to get there. And unlike the real thing, it doesn't come with a five-day expiration on your skin's health.
Ready to see what a Custom Airbrush Spray Tan looks like on you? Book an appointment at Bare&Sol today.