How quiet should my spray tan machine be?

Close your eyes. Imagine you’ve just walked into a room. It’s warm. You’re welcomed by a smiling consultant. You are lead into a quiet room, and asked to make yourself comfortable. There is soft music, something you might easily fall asleep to. Your consultant returns, smiling, wielding a roaring, snarling chainsaw. Okay, now open your eyes; I have two questions for you:

1. Would you find something as loud as a chainsaw relaxing when you are being beautified?

2. How did you read any of that with your eyes closed? Were you peaking?

Obviously, nobody wants to listen to a weed whacker when they are getting a massage. No one enjoys listening to construction when they are driving home from work. So why have such a loud noise in your spray tan salon or mobile business?

There are several things to consider when looking for a quiet spray tan machine:

Decibel level

Sound boxes

Reviews

Decibel Level 

This is pretty straight forward. You don’t want to deafen your clients. If your spray tan machine has ever been mistaken for a jet at takeoff: it’s probably time to get a new one. If your spray tan machine has ever set off a car alarm, or been so loud that you couldn’t hear your client talking: it’s probably time to get a new one.

Luckily, spray tan machines can now be made quieter than a vacuum cleaner. While there will always be a little sound (it is a small air compressor after all), it should never be something you should have to scream over.

I’ve included a chart to give you an idea of how many decibels are in common noises we are surrounded by every day. To give you an even more in-depth idea: our smaller machine, the T100X HVLP (High volume low pressure), is 71 decibels, and the Mighty Mist is only 60 decibels. This is not a typo, the larger is quieter.

To give you an idea of what you don't want: the threshold of pain is 130 decibels. 

Sound Boxes 

Sound boxes can be a great addition to a salon or spa professional who wants to make the quietest atmosphere possible. Before you go running off this page to buy one though, you should be careful what you purchase.

If you’re seriously considering this option I would caution you against getting anything too big. What happens if halfway through a spray tan you find out that you are not going to be able to reach all the way around your client? Pretty embarrassing right? Now you have to go all “Arnold Schwarzenegger” on that box, lift it up, and move it to where you need it (and then say to your client in your best impersonation: “I lift things up, and put them down”).

You can get sound boxes on wheels, and this will negate that worry and the need for terrible voice acting, but then you should make sure that you aren’t trying to push it across any carpeted areas or anything that the wheels could get caught up on (wires, cords).

Make sure that whichever box you choose, it comes with intake and exhaust holes—wouldn’t want to overheat your machine and leave someone half-tanned now would we?

In the end it’s a box. So don’t go too crazy when you buy one, alright? It’s not like you’re buying a new car or something…it’s a box. If you are paying 200 dollars for a box, then there is nothing I can do to help you.

Reviews 

Reviews for spray tan machines should be from actual customers. I would love to tell you to buy the Mini Mist, and why not buy 100 liters of solution while you’re at it? But more than that, I want to tell you to do your own independent research and find out for yourself which is best for your company. In the end what matters is if it’s a right fit for you.