|
Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL) July 6,
2003 Spraying
on color Author:
JEANNINE GAGE - STAFF WRITER Section:
Section E Estimated
printed pages: 4 Article
Text: The
latest trend in tanning is covering some business owners in green. Spray-on
tans are the newest way to get that "healthy glow." But it's not
just a fashion trend. It's a rising business trend. Ask Steve
Wilson. Two years ago, he and his wife, B.A., owned a struggling body-wrap
salon in Winter Park to which he was contributing $2,000 a month just to keep
open. They discovered airbrush tanning at a conference, decided it was
something they could do and haven't looked back since. "My
wife just got the fever," Wilson said. "It absolutely turned things
around for us."
Unhappy with the quality of products available on the market, Wilson
worked with a chemist to develop a tanning solution superior in color,
consistency and length of tan to anything else available. Today,
Wilson's company, Airbrush Tanning Florida, is in eight Orlando locations
and, Wilson said, will be in 60 to 70 throughout the state, including Volusia
County, in the next two years. The companyÕs own premier products are selling
around the world. Wilson said the original salon is doing 700 tans and
netting $12,000 to $13,000 a month. The average price of an airbrush tan is
between $30 and $40 an application. "This
is going to last," he said. "In several years, do to the dangers of
UV exposure and the wonderful results experienced with airbrushed tans,
tanning beds are going to be a thing of the past." Well, not
so fast. At least one tanning salon owner doesn't expect to go away. Tammy
Hugo, owner of Ashley's Tanning Salon in DeLand, averages 80 clients a day
during the summer and 160 to 180 a day during the winter. "I
have people asking about (spray tans) all the time, but I don't feel
threatened by it," Hugo said. "I do well with what I have." She isn't
sold on the quality of sprayed-on tans, Hugo said. "I have seen people
orange, streaked, there's so many different products and people doing it, you
just don't know what you're going to look like. And the color fades, so you
have to keep getting it redone." Still,
Deltona resident Christy King is benefiting from airbrush tanning. A single
mother of three and former nail technician, King first heard about airbrush
tanning a year ago when she won a gift certificate for a spray tan. She never
went. "I
was skeptical," she said. Then
about three months ago, she tagged along with a friend to New Smyrna Beach
for a training session. "I
decided right then I wanted to do it," King said. "I knew it would
be something that people would like and I could do but still have time to
spend with my kids." Since then,
King, 28, has developed a Web site and is applying tans at the Fitness Pit, a
Deltona gym. She is not making the kind of money Wilson is, but thinks, once
word gets around, she will do well. She has done about 25 tans so far, many
on friends and family. "It's
great," said Vikki Miller, one of King's friends and clients. "I
work outside all day, but I'm really careful about protecting myself. With
this, I can look like I sat in the sun all day." So, what
is an airbrush tan? It's basically the same products people have been using
at home for years, but, instead of being smeared on with hands, it is applied
with an airbrush gun powered by a compressor. Most of them come with a
bronzer, so color can be seen immediately, but the true color develops within
four to six hours. It can last anywhere from 5 to 10 days. Just like at home,
there is a risk of streaking and/or turning the color of a pumpkin with poor
applications or inferior products. "You
can really make somebody a mess," King said. "You have to know what
you're doing. It's 90 percent how it is applied." King took
a two-hour training session from the company she buys her product from and
has spent countless hours practicing on any guinea pig she can find. Wilson
requires people who buy his products train for two days. "We
want to set the standard.
Helping people establish successful airbrush tanning businesses is our
commitment," Wilson said. Right
now, no one else is setting a standard. There is no licensing or
certification required from the state or federal government. Last week, the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in response to a large number of recent
inquiries, released a report on spray tanning booths. "It
is something we will be looking into," FDA spokesperson Veronica Castro
said. The
reason, she said, is one of the products used for airbrush tanning is
dihydroxyacetone, a regulated substance. DHA is approved for external use,
but when you start pushing it through an airbrush gun with compressed air in
the confined environment of a booth, external use may become compromised. The
lips, eyes and any other part of the body covered by mucous membrane is not
considered external, according to the report. The report cites the Òspray tanning boothsÓ rather than
the personalized applications in a salon environment. "You
do have to be careful around the face," King said. She has her clients
hold their breath and close their eyes when the gun is anywhere near their
face. The
majority of her clients, "unless they're shy," are naked during the
application. While trying to give an overall tan, King said, she does her
best to avoid any sensitive nooks and crannies. The FDA
report suggests consumers considering an airbrush tan ask what protection is
used against getting the product on their lips, eyes or in their lungs. Wilson
said his products are derived from natural products, contain no known
carcinogens having been approved by the FDA since 1973. Getting a
tan the natural, UV way is much more dangerous than a little DHA around the
face, said Lisa Selden of Ormond Beach. Selden,
the owner of a mobile spa service called Nori, was recently diagnosed with
skin cancer. "That's
all from being silly in the sun," Selden, 41, said. "Now I'm paying
for it." Selden
said she wanted to start doing airbrush tanning about seven months ago to
help her clients with their self-esteem. She applies a lot of tans to people
with severe acne or those who have just completed chemotherapy. "It
makes people feel better about themselves," she said. "Safely."
For Wilson,
airbrush tanning is also about making people happy - including himself. "It's
like a fairytale," he said. "It's just been unbelievable for
us." Copyright,
2003, The News-Journal Corporation |