Ah, the dreaded “orange” spray tan! If you’ve been spray tanning for any length of time you’ve most likely had a client (or multiple) tell you that their tan goals are to not look orange or unnatural. There’s been plenty of times that we’ve had first time spray tan clients that when asked what their tan goals are, they reply with something along the lines of, “I just don't want to be orange!” Of course, as professional spray tan artists, we already know that this is a major fear of clients! That’s why it’s our job to be knowledgeable about sunless science and our technique in order to deliver a result that is far from unnatural or orange. 

Spray Tanning and sunless tanning products in general have come a long way from the days of those dreadful Jersey Shore tans. However, even with a massive elevation in quality of products in the sunless industry there will always be this looming stigma around spray tans that have unfortunately stuck inside people’s minds. It’s inevitable that you will come across certain people that automatically correlate spray tanning with looking orange. It’s just something we can’t really get around no matter how many beautiful, bronze, natural looking spray tans we produce and promote from our businesses. As a highly skilled Glow Boss, you know for a fact that creating an orange spray tan result isn’t in the cards for the clients that you service, but you still need to do the work to reassure those clients that they will NOT be orange. 

As service providers, it's not only our job to give your clients the most natural looking sunless glow they’ve ever experienced, but it’s also our responsibility to reassure them of the process and results that are expected while answering any questions or concerns they have. By taking the initiative to have open communication and educate your clients on WHY an orange spray tan could happen, you have the opportunity to calm these fears and ease your clients mind about the process as a whole.

When educating your clients on why spray tans turn people orange, make sure to go over all of the following contributors to this result taking place:

1. Over Saturation of Solution

2. DHA Percent is too high for skin tone

3. Dry Skin

When a client comes in and expresses their concern for looking orange during their pre-tan consultation, you can go over the three possible scenarios that would create these results and explain what measures you will take to ensure that this will not happen.

Over Saturation of Solution

When spray tanning a client, we always try to spray light, even coats of solution over the entire body in order to give a seamless application. Having knowledge on adjusting your spray tan gun and the level of solution that each client should receive during their tan (about 2oz) is crucial to avoiding any oversaturation of product on the skin. A client could potentially turn orange if there is too much product being sprayed onto them during the appointment. When we don’t take initiative to control the amount of solution that is being applied to the skin, over saturation can take place. This happens when too many heavy passes are applied to the body while spraying or if your gun is put on a setting that allows for too much solution to spray at one time. To avoid this, make sure that the spray tan gun is set to spray an adequate amount and that you are positioned to spray about 6 inches away from the body at all times. 

DHA Percentage

Offering a luxury spray tan service that provides an individualized experience through customization is a great benefit for your clients. Creating a customized service allows you to give the most natural looking results to each client based on their own unique skin type. When going through the pre-consultation with your clients before you start spraying them, your goal should be to match up their tan goals with the solution mixture that will make them look the most natural. For example, if you have a very fair skinned client who would be considered a Fitzpatrick Skin Type 1, choosing a solution with a DHA percent that is too high could cause too much of a contrast to their skin tone and appear orange. We all know those clients that want to be really dark, no matter what their skin tone. However, as the professional, you should always advise your clients on what is going to be best suited for their skin type in order to achieve the most natural looking result. 

Dry Skin

Client’s with dry skin tend to have a similar  issue with over saturation of solution that we mentioned earlier. In our pre-tan and post-tan instructions we always advise clients to stay hydrated and moisturized! Hydration is incredibly important for creating a natural looking result from a spray tan. If a client is tanned while having dry skin, there’s more of a possibility that the solution will seep more heavily into the skin and pull an orange tint. This is why spray tan artists use barrier cream on perpetually dry areas of the body, such as the elbows, knees, wrists, ankles and feet. Applying barrier cream to these areas and following up with pre-tan prep spray can mitigate the risk of a spray tan appearing orange.

I hope you feel more equipped to navigate the number one spray tan fear of most clients, especially if they’re a newbie to the sunless world! To learn more sunless tips and tricks on creating a five star spray tan service, make sure to subscribe to the Beauty Babes Podcast on iTunes or Spotify!

Xoxo,

Kelly