sunchick7

I am seriously thinking about getting sunless in my salon. I am a little worried because it seems to have had a decline in interest & it seems to have a lot of issues (ie fading unevenly, coming off on clothing, orange coloring, etc.) What I would like to know from those of you offering sunless is:
1) How often do you face complaints from customers
2) Has it been a good business move overall (Would you do it again)
3) Have profits/interest declined recently
4) If you had 7,000.00 to either get set up with a top of the line airbrush system/overspray booth, etc. or put into a new superbed what would you do?

Thanks for any help with this. I am looking at Fantasy Tan or California Tan.

sunchick7

anyone?

totaleclipse1

well i just started airbrush and I can tell you for our salon .. so far.. it has been OK not great but OK , word is still gettign out hta we do it.. . They are buying the sunless products left and right and loving them and doing regular tanning as well.. If there is a demand it will do well but if the market in your area is saturated dont do it.. If a bed will bring more $ do that ... I know Iwould

__________________
OFFICIALLY MRS. V !!
HOLLA!

tnannie

We have offered the spray tanning for a little over two years now. Understand that spray can be somewhat seasonal also, but for us it "jams" the most right when the tanning is slowing down. I use a HVLP sprayer, and I can honestly say that the machine has paid for itself more times than I can think of right now. If it is new to your area, it might start off a little slow, but the word will spread and you can make some really good money. I would do it all over again in a heart beat! Only thing I would do different would be to add it sooner than I did. Good Luck! :)

club tiki

I've been doing airbrush for about 2 yrs as well.
tnannie is right, it is somewhat seasonal.We do alot of weddings, special events
vacationers, and alot of double dippers
It's been wonderful and I love it. I think it's been a great addition to our salon.
Good Luck!

brit-in-florida

I put in a mystic booth in September because we had so many queiries about sunless spray. I chose a booth because all the other salons in my area do the air brush so I didn't want to compete straight out, I wanted something different. Some customers prefer the privacy and speed, some go back to the precision on being airbrushed at other salons. It covered its repayments for me from month 2, which I was very happy with, and gives me extra from month 3 to date. It hasn't made me rich but I don't regret it so far!

billable

I would add sunless, but you can get in much cheaper than $7,000

I started 3 years ago with an airbrush . HVLP is much better in my opinion. I built a room to spray in just in case it didn't work out. I figured I could always add another bed.

I lined the walls with white fiberglass panels like in a restaurant kitchen, built a platform with a drain so I could hose everything down, installed a high volume bathroom exhaust fan to suck out the overspray and put a filter on it.

After checking into all of the different companies trying to sell a HVLP system, I realized it is the same concept people have been using to spray fine finishes on cabinetry and furniture for years. Wagner makes a fine unit with 5 psi that produces a great pattern and is adjustable for volume of spray and pattern. It costs about $125. I have been using this for about 2 years with excellent results.

I almost bought a booth from Heartland, but when I started getting people coming in wanting me to fix the problems they had with an automatic booth, I couldn't see spending the $20,000+ they were asking.

The only problem I have is keeping qualified people to spray for me. I still spray 80% of the people that come in and my daughter sprays the rest. I have probably trained 10 people or so in the last couple of years, but lose them due to employee turnover. I know that I would have even more customers if I could find a dependable woman to work. Some women are comfortable with me spraying, some aren't. My daughter is good at it but hates to do it.

jlucas

hey brit,
Seriously you paid off your Mystic in 2 months??? Maybe I miss understood, it's the payments of the Mystic you've been able to recover, is that it?
I did HLVP $850 because I couldn't afford to outright by a Mystic at $20-$35K.
Some people want their privacy like you said,
it's easier for my regular clients to let me spray them.
It seems to be used more by spa places who give indivual attention. Hard when only one person working salon in winter,
I got mine after cancer treatments (breast) nothing to do with tanning other than I couldn't tan while on Chemo and Radiation! I bought it in JUne and paid it off in JULY. SO it's been profit every month. Kinda slow, but picking up for PROM, RIng dance you know all those people who come in 2 days before and want color! That's where I'm hoping Ill make the money on this year.
You have to experiment with the types of solution , No one has had real complaints some really don't like it and some LOVE iT!