Tan overspray

SalonGeek

Help Support SalonGeek:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Emilie1

Active Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2011
Messages
28
Reaction score
2
Location
Ireland
Hi all, I wonder if anyone has found an effective way of dealing with tan overspray that doesn't break the bank? I am refurbishing my salon and I'm looking for the best way to deal with overspray. I have had the usual problems of tan stained walls, equipment and products. My space is limited, so I can't afford to have a separate spray tan room.I'm trying to find an inexpensive but effective option for a corner of one of my treatment rooms. What would you guys recommend?

1. Build a small tan room within a treatment room [including a roof] and paint it brown with a washable paint
2. Invest in an overspray booth to put in corner of treatment room [do they really work??]
3. Install a wet room style shower in treatment room [I think this option would be very expensive]
4. Just give up doing spray tans :(
Any suggestions would be very welcome. Thank you in advance.
 
I have the same problem! There are things that help, like keeping the machine as far away from the gun as you can, cleaning the filter each time and keeping the pressure low but I still find a fine film of tan all over my shelves with my skincare and nail products etc, which makes cleaning a nightmare! It's not always noticeable straight away either, so it shows it's just in the air and takes time to settle. My beauty room is currently in my house with an old conservatory off it, so during the warmer weather This year I started to do the Tanning in there as there's nothing of value to get spoilt in there, but it's starting to get colder now so that won't be an option for much longer. We are planning on converting my double garage and putting a "wet room" in there with beige/taupe tiled walls and a shower on the wall, but you're right, it's going to be expensive so I don't know how soon I can do that. I will be interested to see what other people recommend!
 
I dont think there is anything you can do to stop it completely. You could use an extractor but once you turn that off the very fine particles still in the air are going to settle. Also making sure your gun is turned down will help a bit but, you will still find a small amount of overspray on things xx
 
I would go with option 1 by the way, then at least you can keep it cleaned xx
 
Overspray can be a problem and as one of the ladies so rightly said you can minimise the effects by keeping your spray gun away from your machine (this is because they suck and below) and also keeping your spray gun turned right down (this actually gives you a better tan as a couple of coats is much better than a thick blast of solution). You will however never totally eliminate overspray.
Probably option 1 would be the best bet, though do make sure that you have adequate ventilation and use a small extractor as well (put the extractor beside you so that it captures the overspray between you and the client. The ventilation/extractor is obviously so your present a clean and professional atmosphere for your clients but mainly for the spray tan technician who is constantly breathing in the overspray.
Good luck.
 
When I spray hair spray it sticks to my mirror lol just an example that any spray will go in the air.

I never really have any overspray, keep your gun down low and use a tent. I think machines are a waste of money.
 
I have the same problem as I spray tan from home in my open plan living room and found when I started that the tan would go EVERYWHERE and create a light film over furniture quite far away from where my tent was set up, despite keeping my gun settings down low. I bought a load of dust sheets from Amazon and now put them over all my furniture, as much floor space as possible and all around my kitchen to minimise the mess it causes. It's a hassle laying them all out and then tidying up afterwards, and still doesn't solve the problem of overspray on my all-white walls but there's not much else I can do as I don't have another suitable room/space to spray tan in. With the colder days now it's more of a problem as I can't have the patio doors open for ventilation as it makes it so cold for my clients, and I can't afford an extractor fan, so I feel your pain!!

It's annoying as on training courses they never warn you about this problem in advance, and really the only way to avoid it is to have a dedicated room/space at home or in a salon where it doesn't matter if it gets ruined.
 
I have the same problem as I spray tan from home in my open plan living room and found when I started that the tan would go EVERYWHERE and create a light film over furniture quite far away from where my tent was set up, despite keeping my gun settings down low. I bought a load of dust sheets from Amazon and now put them over all my furniture, as much floor space as possible and all around my kitchen to minimise the mess it causes. It's a hassle laying them all out and then tidying up afterwards, and still doesn't solve the problem of overspray on my all-white walls but there's not much else I can do as I don't have another suitable room/space to spray tan in. With the colder days now it's more of a problem as I can't have the patio doors open for ventilation as it makes it so cold for my clients, and I can't afford an extractor fan, so I feel your pain!!

It's annoying as on training courses they never warn you about this problem in advance, and really the only way to avoid it is to have a dedicated room/space at home or in a salon where it doesn't matter if it gets ruined.
Why aren't you using a tent?
 
Of course I’m using a tent! Still get overspray though.
 
Of course I’m using a tent! Still get overspray though.

Well I am spraying over 7 years and don't get overspray, is your gun turned down low, is your client standing at the back of the tent?
 
Well I am spraying over 7 years and don't get overspray, is your gun turned down low, is your client standing at the back of the tent?

You're mobile aren't you Ash? I don't think the overspray is going to be as noticeable if you are just doing one or two sprays at a time in one place, then moving on to the next house. When you are doing spray tans in the same small space all the time you are bound to get more build up. Also, your clients may not even notice straight away because I only ever notice it a while after doing a tan, when it's had a chance to settle. We're not talking huge great brown streaks of tan everywhere though, just a very fine mist that settles and is usually only noticeable when I pick one of my products up off my white shelves and there's a white patch underneath! I honestly don't know anyone who does spray tans in the same place that doesn't get this, no matter what precautions they take (I can't comment on an extractor fan as I don't know anyone that uses one).
 
You're mobile aren't you Ash? I don't think the overspray is going to be as noticeable if you are just doing one or two sprays at a time in one place, then moving on to the next house. When you are doing spray tans in the same small space all the time you are bound to get more build up. Also, your clients may not even notice straight away because I only ever notice it a while after doing a tan, when it's had a chance to settle. We're not talking huge great brown streaks of tan everywhere though, just a very fine mist that settles and is usually only noticeable when I pick one of my products up off my white shelves and there's a white patch underneath! I honestly don't know anyone who does spray tans in the same place that doesn't get this, no matter what precautions they take (I can't comment on an extractor fan as I don't know anyone that uses one).

I am yes, but I also do it from home and when I did it in the salon it wasn't a big problem, but it did exist. There is no way to completely remove it.
 
I am yes, but I also do it from home and when I did it in the salon it wasn't a big problem, but it did exist. There is no way to completely remove it.

It's an occupational hazard of spray tanning I think! Which is why I dream of having the space and money to build a dedicated tanning room!
 
Hi, In my opinion and after over 14 years experience in the spray tanning industry there is no such thing as "no" overspray from a spray tan. I have seen and worked with some of the best spray tanning technicians and also some of the worst, and they all create overspray to some extent. The spray tanning mist, especially from a HVLP machine as opposed to an airbrush comes out at 360 degrees and unless you are actually standing in a tent with your client then some overspray will go over and around a tent. It is a good idea to have the client stand further back in a tent, as has already been suggested, as however low you set your gun, whatever make, you will get a certain amount of solution "hit" the client and bounce back into the room. It will not all immediately stick to the client and stay there especially if the gun is up too high. This is easily proved by blowing your nose after a spray tanning session.
It is also a complete misconception that a spray tanning extractor has to fit in the back of a tent. One spray tanning company director actually told me it was "law"! It was thought, many years ago, when the first pop up tents were made, that this would be a good idea as it would hold all the spray tanning solution in the tent. Ambermist agreed with this and were probably the first company to invent a mobile extractor especially for spray tanning, (2005). The first spray tanning machines were compressors with an airbrush and as an airbrush can be turned down low enough to do nails and make up, this was proved effective. The problem was it took too long to spray tan a person.
HVLP machines were introduced to speed the spray tanning process up but contrary to popular belief, and a lot of propaganda, they make more overspray than an airbrush and compressor. The idea that an extractor in the back of a tent, usually at the bottom, can pull spray tanning solution from in front of a tent, past the client, and down into the extractor and leave no overspray in a room is frankly ridiculous. If it could do this it would be so noisy and so powerful it would suck most of the tan into the extractor before it could settle properly on the client.
In our opinion, and has been proven, an extractor should stand in front of the tent to the right or left of the opening depending on which hand the therapist is spraying with, (as some airborne solution will drop). It should be on low speed whilst spraying, (I am referring to the Ambermist spray tanning extractor here as I don't know how powerful others may be), and then turned up for a few minutes when the session is finished and the client has left the tent, to catch any overspray before it can settle in the room. This method will catch any overspray caused when spraying, from the bounce factor, and also the overspray that has missed the tent completely. It would probably be better to have a closable flap on the front of a pop up tent so that the airborne solution in the tent would drop to the floor when the session is finished, rather than drift back into the room,or immediately pack up the tent As we don't sell these type of tents and spray tanning solution overspray actually sticks to the inside of our inflatable tents we have never tried this out.
Another thing to remember if you are spray tanning regularly is that you are breathing this solution into your lungs. Whist there is no proof that this will cause health problems later in life, there is no proof that it won't, yet. Whilst most companies make claims that their solutions are healthier than others, that fact is they all use water and colourings and that makes most of these claims untrue.
Ambermist
 
@Ambermist You said in your piece above that airbrush sprays are better than HVLP machines. I am surprised by this as airbrush systems use more solution than a HVLP machine? HVLP machines use 50ml per full body airbrush systems use 100ml or more. So what do you mean?
 
Hi, In my opinion and after over 14 years experience in the spray tanning industry there is no such thing as "no" overspray from a spray tan. I have seen and worked with some of the best spray tanning technicians and also some of the worst, and they all create overspray to some extent. The spray tanning mist, especially from a HVLP machine as opposed to an airbrush comes out at 360 degrees and unless you are actually standing in a tent with your client then some overspray will go over and around a tent. It is a good idea to have the client stand further back in a tent, as has already been suggested, as however low you set your gun, whatever make, you will get a certain amount of solution "hit" the client and bounce back into the room. It will not all immediately stick to the client and stay there especially if the gun is up too high. This is easily proved by blowing your nose after a spray tanning session.
It is also a complete misconception that a spray tanning extractor has to fit in the back of a tent. One spray tanning company director actually told me it was "law"! It was thought, many years ago, when the first pop up tents were made, that this would be a good idea as it would hold all the spray tanning solution in the tent. Ambermist agreed with this and were probably the first company to invent a mobile extractor especially for spray tanning, (2005). The first spray tanning machines were compressors with an airbrush and as an airbrush can be turned down low enough to do nails and make up, this was proved effective. The problem was it took too long to spray tan a person.
HVLP machines were introduced to speed the spray tanning process up but contrary to popular belief, and a lot of propaganda, they make more overspray than an airbrush and compressor. The idea that an extractor in the back of a tent, usually at the bottom, can pull spray tanning solution from in front of a tent, past the client, and down into the extractor and leave no overspray in a room is frankly ridiculous. If it could do this it would be so noisy and so powerful it would suck most of the tan into the extractor before it could settle properly on the client.
In our opinion, and has been proven, an extractor should stand in front of the tent to the right or left of the opening depending on which hand the therapist is spraying with, (as some airborne solution will drop). It should be on low speed whilst spraying, (I am referring to the Ambermist spray tanning extractor here as I don't know how powerful others may be), and then turned up for a few minutes when the session is finished and the client has left the tent, to catch any overspray before it can settle in the room. This method will catch any overspray caused when spraying, from the bounce factor, and also the overspray that has missed the tent completely. It would probably be better to have a closable flap on the front of a pop up tent so that the airborne solution in the tent would drop to the floor when the session is finished, rather than drift back into the room,or immediately pack up the tent As we don't sell these type of tents and spray tanning solution overspray actually sticks to the inside of our inflatable tents we have never tried this out.
Another thing to remember if you are spray tanning regularly is that you are breathing this solution into your lungs. Whist there is no proof that this will cause health problems later in life, there is no proof that it won't, yet. Whilst most companies make claims that their solutions are healthier than others, that fact is they all use water and colourings and that makes most of these claims untrue.
Ambermist

Thank you for such an informative and sensible reply! What you have said makes perfect sense.
 
I used to do spray tanning from home but gave up as I couldn't completely eradicate the overspray problem and didn't feel comfortable taking it into other people's homes knowing there was a problem
 
I used to do spray tanning from home but gave up as I couldn't completely eradicate the overspray problem and didn't feel comfortable taking it into other people's homes knowing there was a problem

I felt exactly the same about taking it into other people's homes. I've only ever once taken my kit to someone else's house and that was a friend who has a huge kitchen with dark floors and units but even then I covered everything with dust sheets! Way too time consuming and stressful doing mobile spray tans if you ask me!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top