An article warns the self-tanners not to be very confident with their self-tanning creams and move about being spotty. Therefore, it suggests all the tanning cream users to exfoliate the skin before the application of self-tanning creams.
Exfoliation removes the dead skin cells and allows even browning of the skin on application of self-tanning lotions. The article suggests to follow-up exfoliation with the appication of a mild lotion and then apply the self-tanning creams.