Mastering your technique can be what takes you from being a good artist to a great artist! It’s also what will allow you to provide the most high level sunless experience for your clients. As a spray tan artist, it’s no secret that we have to be knowledgeable about dealing with all different body types. A client’s body composition or age can affect the way you move forward in offering a high quality experience and what strategies you use to flawlessly tan different areas of the skin and body. When working with older clients who have lost some of the elasticity in their skin, it’s not uncommon to see that the skin has folds or additional wrinkles around their elbows, knees and neck. This can pose difficulty for spray tan artists because if we don’t pay special attention to these areas, we could potentially produce a tan for our clients that develops with crepey white lines in the folds of skin. Our number one goal is to create an even and natural looking results at every appointment! However, if we don’t pay special attention to certain areas of the body and a client bends their knees and elbows to reveal white crepey lines, the results look far more artificial. Luckily, we have a special Bending and Blending Technique that will help you manage future appointments with a higher level of knowledge and skill to elevate your client experience overall! 

Bending

As spray tan professionals, it’s our job to be aware of the type of skin we are working with when each client comes into our business. You may have noticed that white crepey lines will be left while spray tanning when clients have folds and wrinkles around the neck, knees and elbows. If we don’t put special effort into dealing with this outcome while we are spraying, our client will be left with a tan that develops with white lines around these areas whenever they bend certain parts of their body. To reduce the crepey lines from forming in the first place, you will want to instruct your client to bend their elbows and knees while spraying that area. For example, when the client is facing forward for you to spray the front of their body, instruct them to bend at the knee slightly. When you get to the client’s arms,  you’ll then want to instruct them to do the same bend in the elbows before spraying the back of the arms. This will stretch the skin to allow the solution to reach the skin that may be hidden by the folds to reduce any white lines from forming. You’ll want to take the same concept with stretching the skin on the neck area by instructing your client to slightly tilt their chin up so you have better access to evenly coat the area. After each section it’s also important to remember to dry between sprays, especially where you see folds in order to reduce the solution from moving during the rest of the appointment. 

Blending 

The process of getting a flawless bronze doesn’t stop with instructing your client to bend while you spray. The second part of the Bending & Blending technique is the blending! Instructing your clients to position in a way that stretches the skin is a great way to reduce the look of crepey lines in the folds of the skin, but to go above and beyond and create an even more natural result, blending the area will help achieve a more seamless development! To put this part into action, take a brush, such as the X-Tan Blending Brush, and gently buff the area on the elbows, knees and neck where you see any folding or the possibility of crepey lines taking form. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you’ve noticed the lines of the elbows or knees didn’t get evenly coated even after instructing your client to bend in that area, you may need to go in an do some spot correction so the tan still develops nicely. However, it can be difficult to blend out the area with just a brush once the solution has started to dry on the skin. In this situation it can be helpful to lightly spray your brush with a small amount of the spray tan solution or some prep spray to activate the solution again and allow it to blend easier. 

Spray Tan Pro Tip: Depending on the client, we may find that we need to get creative in the way we go about delivering the best results. For example, having an older client that cannot comfortably bend their knees enough while standing for their spray tan will make it nearly impossible to stretch the skin enough to reduce the appearance of lines. If you find yourself in this situation, it can be beneficial to have the client sit in a chair once they’ve been sprayed. This will help keep the client comfortable while also allowing you to blend the tricky areas on the knees and reduce the appearance of crepey lines.  

The experience our client has with our business doesn’t just stop once their appointment is over. To provide the best client experience we have to think about what the results will be once the client leaves their appointment and the tan continues to develop. When considering this, we know that skin to skin contact and moisture on the skin from perspiration can cause the solution to move and affect the way the tan lays in folds of the skin. The Bending & Blending technique is great for producing more natural results for your clients, but it can be a concern, depending on the client’s skin, if the area will still develop to look crepey from any movement the client does during their development. Applying finishing powder after blending out the areas of the skin where you see crepey lines form is a great way to go a step further to create a flawless finish. When using  finishing powder, you’re essentially setting the area to reduce any movement of solution before the client rinses.

Understanding how to best work with different body types can be the trickiest part of being a spray tan artist! In order to be successful in offering a service that is inclusive to all different body types, shapes, sizes and ages, we have to be knowledgeable about the techniques and tools we can include in our service to deliver excellent results every time. The first step in offering this type of experience is through choosing high quality professional tools and products that will work well with all clients. At X-Tan Sunless we provide luxury sunless products made by professionals for professionals so that you can ensure to deliver a sunless experience that stands out amongst the crowd. To elevate your sunless kit today, make sure to explore the X-Tan Sunless Pro Shop! 

Xoxo,

Kelly