Going, going, GREEN!

Unless it’s Halloween, nobody wants to be green. Solutions come in lots of different bases, but even if your solution is ‘green based’ it should never throw shades of green. To avoid being green with envy over someone else’s perfect spray, it is important to prep the skin properly and store your solution in the right way.

Skin Prep

Prepping for a spray tan is a step that you just cannot skip. If you want to defuzz, it’s recommended doing this at least 24 hours before your tan to allow your pores time to close. Before your appointment, you need to exfoliate away any dead skin cells as well as any leftover moisturiser, deodorant, makeup or perfumes you may have on your skin. If you are going to wash your hair, do this before exfoliating to make sure you scrub away any shampoo and conditioner residues from your skin.

After your shower, don’t apply anything to your skin or before your appointment. Chemicals in things such as moisturiser, deodorant and perfume can react with the active ingredients in tanning solutions and this is what can cause the skin to turn green. Even if it doesn’t turn your skin green, it can still prevent the DHA from developing properly which can leave you with a patchy tan, or a tan that isn’t as dark as you desire.

Storage Solutions

As a spray tan technician, storing your solution in the correct way is so important. Bottles of solution usually have an expiry date on them. It’s useful to note that this expiry is only for an unopened bottle of solution. Once opened, most solutions have about a 6 month life until the bronzers start to break down resulting in the solution changing colour. As your solution is nearing the end of it useable life, the solution will start to turn a Khaki colour and then it will eventually turn green. If you only do the occasional spray tan, you should make a note of the date you opened the solution on the bottle so you know when it’s time to grab a new bottle. If you have a bottle of solution sitting in your stock at the moment that you’re not sure about, check the lid. Solution that is past its use by will generally have a green ring around the inside of the lid.

It’s also a good idea to give our solutions a nice place to sleep. Never store your solutions in the direct sunlight. Just as rays from the sun can be bad for our skin, the heat from the sun can be bad for your spray tan solution. It likes to be kept in a cool, dark environment at least 20 degrees Celsius or below. Once you have poured solution out of the bottle, don’t pour it back into the bottle. Consider purchasing extra storage cups for your chosen machine to store any leftover solution at the end of your spray tans. Less is more, and remember you can always add more to the cup if you run out.