Your skin isn't going to get tanned unless you know what you're doing. Before you go out in the sun, you should exfoliate your skin. You should be exfoliating and moisturizing every single day anyway, so it shouldn't alter your routine all that much.

Make sure you apply sunscreen a half hour before you go out in the sun. Some people skip the lotion, because they think it'll help them get tan faster. However, all it's going to do is increase your chances of getting burnt.

You don't want to spend the first day of summer out in the sun for five hours. You should stay out for a few minutes the first day, then a few more minutes the next. Gradually work up your tolerance to the sun. It's much healthier for your skin than staying out in the sun for an entire day after months of being in the cold.

It's typically the hottest between noon and three, which means you shouldn't go outside during that time. If you do, then you're automatically increasing your chances of getting burnt. Since you don't want that, try to go outside either earlier or later in the day when your skin won't suffer.

Even though the water will cool you off after you've been sunbathing for a while, you have to remember that the water will increase your chances of getting sunburn. That's why you should probably go tanning and swimming on different days. The last thing you want to do is ruin your skin.

You have to use your brain when you're out in the sun. If you lay on your back for too long, not only will you get a sunburn, but your skin color will be uneven. You need to know when to turn over so that you tan evenly and don't end up soaking up all the sun rays in one specific area of your body.

When you get out of the sun, don't take a hot shower. Take a cold one instead. After all, it makes the most sense. Why would you want to jump from the hot outdoors to a hot shower, anyway? As soon as you give yourself a few minutes to adjust to the room temperature of your house (because it's dangerous to jump from one extreme temperature to the next), you should take a cold shower.

You don't want to end up with cancer, all because you were trying to get a tan. That's why you need to be careful about how often you expose your body to the sun. What other tanning tips do you have?