Providing your customers with anything but a flawless spray tan and a pleasant tanning experience is simply unacceptable. Receiving that notorious and rather dreaded “something’s wrong with my tan” phone call from a customer is never a positive experience, which is why we at Artesian Tan wanted to make sure this never happens to you.
Here we have 7 most common spray tanning problems technicians often have to face, and how to avoid them!
Spray Tan Cup Leakage
A leaky spray tan cup can be a big pain in the neck and the cause of bad spray tan results. If you have a spray tan cup that leaks, that probably means the air seal on it is not working properly. This can result in decreased airflow which almost always leads to problems like:
- speckling
- dripping
- spotting
- uneven fading
- overall badly developed tan
SOLUTION: Make sure your spray tan gun is working properly before each session. Good maintenance of your equipment is key.
Visible Knee And Elbow Lines After A Spray Tan Session
These lines usually appear because the client wasn’t positioned the right way during that particular part of the spray tan session.
SOLUTION: When spray tanning the knees and elbows (also knuckles) of your customer, make sure their joints are bent.
Green Armpits
Remember, if your client’s armpits turn green after a spray tan session at your salon – it is not your fault. This happens when the client doesn’t do a thorough enough job with removing all the deodorant prior to a spray tan session.
SOLUTION: Always remind your customers to wash off all the deodorant from their armpits before the session in your salon.
Hair Cap/Hair Net Tan Line
Some clients will insist on wearing a hair cap (or net) during a session, even though this is not always necessary, especially during personalized spray tan sessions. The problem is that wearing a hair cap can result in a visible tan line in the hairline area.
SOLUTION: Make sure the customer pulls the hair cap back so that the spray tan solution can cover the entire forehead and blend in with his/her hairline properly.
Discolored Feet
The reason why your client’s feet may be discolored after a seemingly successful spray tan session is that sometimes feet (and palms for that matter) tend to be much more tan-friendly, and thus they tan faster than the rest of the body. However, this also means that feet and palms can be discolored just as easily (which is perfectly normal). Another reason for this occurrence is that you might be using too much spray tan solution per session.
SOLUTION: The recommended dose is two ounces of solution per one full body spray tan session.
Runny Results During Spray Tan
If you notice that your tanning solution is running down in streaks all over your customer’s arms and legs, then (again) it probably means you are oversaturating your client’s skin.
SOLUTION: 2 ounces per one full body session.
Spray Tan Doesn’t Develop
If the spray tan doesn’t develop after a seemingly successful tanning session (and you’ve used a quality spray tan solution), that probably means your client is merely being impatient and not enough time has passed for their tan to develop.
Another reason might be that they took a bath and washed off the tanning solution too early. Traditional spray tan solutions require anywhere from 8 to 12 hours to properly and fully develop, and if the customer rinses their body off during this time frame, the tan simply won’t catch on.
SOLUTION: Talk to your clients and make sure they allow their tan to sit for at least 8 hours.
We hope this article was helpful. Should you have more questions about spray tanning, or you are interested in buying quality spray tanning equipment and solutions, feel free to contact our team at Artesian Tan.