Part One of: What is the best spray tan machine and equipment?

Choosing the best spray tan machine is one of the hardest decisions out there. Your client deserves the best for their money, and so do you. There are so many knockoff brands that sometimes it makes me want to pull out my hair, so I decided to create a list to keep myself from going bald. The question I asked myself was: If I were to open a spray tan salon, could I afford to invest in a machine that was going to break down or not produce the greatest results?

Luckily, I found that there are some pretty easy guidelines to follow on what to look for, and what to avoid.

What you should look for in a spray tan machine

You wouldn’t try to do calligraphy with a crayon; similarly, not all spray machines are designed for tanning. Some are for detailing cars, others for painting houses; you don’t want either of these for your business. What you should be looking for is a machine that offers the smallest margin of error while also giving your client the most even, healthy, natural-looking tan possible.

Any machine that offers you power beyond what you need is simply a waste of money. A good rule of thumb is that if you are paying anything over 1,000 dollars, then you are a overpaying so please don’t go looking for those ridiculously strong machines—they won’t tan your clients faster, but they will tan your walls, your ceiling, and your dog. The thing is you don’t need more power than is necessary: this is for your spray tanning company, not for peeling barnacles off your fishing boat.

You also don’t want a heavy machine. Ask yourself: at the end of the day, how tired are you? Are you going to want to lug some monster of a spray machine into your car or closet? The general rule that I use is to look for anything under 30 pounds: I tend to use my vacuum cleaner as a guideline.

In a perfect world you would never need to worry about dropping your machine, but in the real world things happen: when that day comes you want to make sure that your equipment can take it. Don’t take some foreign knockoff made with thin, cheap plastic, look for a machine that is protected by a thick shell.

Don’t look for the “bargain bin” equipment, but also don’t go all out

I love a good bargain, I fight old ladies at tag sales for the “early bird special”, but even I know that just because something is cheap doesn’t mean that it’s also a good deal—looking at you creepy clown statue—but I also know that not everything that’s expensive is a good deal either. I try to find the middle ground with my purchases, and when looking for a spray tan machine you should too. 

Bells and whistles are fine if you are shopping for bells and whistles, but really you don’t need anything too fancy on your machine. If your spray gun has a laser pointer, a deluxe carrying case, and comes with five sets of colored clip-on covers: yup, you overpaid. If your spray tan machine came from “Bob’s Discount Tanning Supplies”, has a warning on it that it could explode at any moment, and has two settings: stun and kill; you probably should have gone with a higher-end product.

If you would like a demonstration, feel free to come in to Aviva and check out the spray tan machines we have available.