Press Articles
Les Nouvelles Esthetiques
For Sue Beattie, a resident of South Florida, suntanning was a way of life until she was faced with precancers and molted skin.
"When I was younger, it was cool to have a pink, peeling nose because it meant you were a surfer," says Beattie, who underwent a deep chemical peel last year to undo all of the harm she had done to her skin as a teen. It was during her hospital stay for the chemical peel that she heard about airbrush tanning.
"I was excited to know there finally was a way to get and maintain a natural tan without sun exposure or UVA, UVB rays," she says.
And so her new direction for life began as she set out to create the best equipment, tanning solutions, and training for airbrush tanning. Thus Florida Airbrush Tanning, Inc and F.A.B. Tan products were born.
Airbrush tanning has become the newest trend in spas and day spa salons and as the heat of the summer months makes people show more skin, this type of service is bound to boom this year as more companies hit the market and spas realize the profit potential.
For Beattie, a former elementary school teacher, her business has catapulted the F.A.B. Tan system clear across the nation and even overseas since starting a year ago. And while it's a great feature for a skin care salon, spa or doctor's office, Beattie says the technician doesn't have to have an esthetician's license to perform a treatment.
In the beginning, Beattie did her research at her daughter's college as she airbrushed about 50 students over a four-day period. College kids clamored to be airbrushed each saying, 'I want to be darker-darker than that, spray me more."
The difference between this service and the fancy booth sprayers is that it's custom. With the airbrush wand, the technician can go over areas lightly or make a few more passes over an area that needs a little more tanning solution, like tan lines from bathing suit straps.
Beattie says that her airbrush tans last from 5 to 7 days (depending on exfoliation and moisturization). It takes an experienced technician about 20 minutes to apply a full-body spray (beginners take about 30 minutes), and salons charge anywhere from $25 to $75 (continues)
With the airbrush wand, the technician can go over areas lightly or make a few more passes over an area that needs a little more tanning solution, like tan lines from bathing suit straps
Per treatment depending on the spa's location and clientele. Beattie says that this type of service can be sold as a one-time treatment or works well as a series.
A client can have immediate color with the bronzer solution, which consists of DHA plus a dark brown color, or the client can choose to have the clear solution, which will darken within three to eight hours after application. The brown solution results in streakless golden tans, not orange ones. But if a person's skin tone is not going to work with the golden color the brown solution produces, then the clear solution is the option. Clear is also great for weddings as the brown solution may be sweated out onto the bride's gown.
Airbrush tanning, says Beattie, can be used all over the body including the face and the degree of tanning darkness can be adjusted with DHA drops added to the spray solution.
The airbrush tan treatment, while it's skill related, can save an esthetician's hands as there's no need to rub a self-tanning lotion on the body. It also washes out of cotton towels and sheets, but can stain some fabrics including silk or nylon. With Beattie's system, the client showers and exfoliates with a non-oily home-care scrub and moisturizes with the F.A. B. Tan moisturizer, which contains a small amount of DHA, two hours prior to the tanning appointment. The moisturizer helps prolong the client's tan after the airbrush treatment.
With rising cases of melanoma every year, an alternative to suntanning is a panacea to those who must be brown - not to mention, it saves skin from photoaging.
To be successful, you need to publicize that you have this type of treatment available, says Beattie, and a great way to do that is to let clients sample the spray tan. Use a stencil and spray the clients who are visiting the spa for another service. This does two things, it shows the client what an airbrush tan looks like, and it patch tests them, too. Beattie patch tests anyone who has sensitive skin and she advises that this service should not be used on pregnant clients, even though DHA has been used for 30 years without consequence.
"Don't guess," says Beattie, ask questions about skin sensitivity and conditions. When in doubt,"ask for a doctor's note." Beattie offers a training manual and video with her system.
Palm Beach Magazine
A client can have immediate color with the bronzer solution or the client can choose to have the clear solution, which will darken within three to eight hours of application.
"Healthy tan" has become something of an oxymoron. Rejoice, tan fans: There is a way to get that radiant glow without the harmful effects of the sun or the hassle of self-tanning creams.
Wellingtong-based Florida Air Brush Tanning (aka F.A.B. Tan) can deliver a bronze tan in no time. The secret: airbrushing. The sunless tanning system is a deep-penetrating version of the same formula used in self-tanners and lasts up to a week. It's quick, odorless, natural-looking and, best of all, safe. We wouldn't tan any other way. (www.fabtan.com)