Spray Tan Horror Story: How to know it's going to be bad before it even happens

We all know that there are bad spray tans out there. I've seen plenty on TV, in magazines, and it's common to see an Oompa Loompa walking around Wal-Mart in her pj's.

Well today, I got to hear how the actual process went for a poor victim of the orange crime. This woman has been a customer of mine for quite sometime now and always comes to me when she has a special event to go to. Today she admitted that she cheated on me and would never, ever do it again. 

While she is a very loyal customer of mine, her mother bought her a Groupon for an airbrush tan at another place. Who can pass up a good deal, right? Of course I won't mention the place, I'm classier than that. :)

She told me that she showed up for her appointment and that the salon was just dirty. They put her in basically nothing more than a closet. The door to the "spray room" opened directly to the waiting room. So when the girl spraying her opened the door after she got undressed....well, you know what happens next. May as well scream "Hello, everyone. Please excuse my nakedness, I'm going to get a spray tan!" 

Oh, just wait. It gets better.

Now the tanning process begins. The spray tan tech starts to spray the client, and then breaks out a mitten. What's the mitten for, you say? Apparently to rub the solution all over the customer because, "it's the only way to prevent streaks." No, No, No, No, No! That's the whole point of airbrush people: so it goes on flawless. This particular customer tans topless and in a thong. I'm sorry, but I don't like strangers touching my body. Unless you're my doctor or significant other, your hands do not belong on me. 

The worst part is that this salon is using the same mitt (oven mitt, cold weather mitt, who knows) on every single customer. Pretty sure that breaks some health codes. 

I was baffled by all of this. Like I said, we all know that spray tans can be bad when the person doesn't know what they're doing or by using sub-par solution and equipment, but to hear what some people are putting their customers through actually disgusted me. Not only did she say the tan itself was bad, this poor woman stood in a closet for 45 minutes getting stinky solution actually rubbed on to her. If you're going to do all that, why not just buy a cheap self tanning lotion and do it yourself? (Don't really do that.) What if she'd never had an airbrush tan before? She'd think that's just normal and how it's supposed to be. It's not!

So....if you go into a place for an airbrush tan and you notice any of the following things, WALK OUT. Nothing good will come from it.

1.) If you are put into a closet or bathroom. That place obviously isn't serious about spray tanning and probably only do it on the side of whatever other service they offer.Which means they more than likely didn't invest in good equipment and solution either.

2.) Speaking of equipment, look at their machine. If it looks like this, it's legit and meant for spray tanning.

    If it looks like this picture, it's from Home Depot or Lowe's and is meant to spray walls. Not your body.

3.) If you see any kind of mitt, sponge, or roller brush...... run Forest, run! It takes a lot of practice to learn the correct gun and air level settings on an airbrush machine. Once someone is experienced, they know the correct settings and the solution will come out even and flawless. When the levels aren't set right, or the person just isn't experienced enough, the solution will come out in beads and make little pools of brown stuff on your skin. This is when they rub it in. You should never, ever have to rub anything in, or off during or after your airbrush tan.  

One bad experience can scar you for a life time. Don't ignore these signs unless you actually desire to look like a mix between a Zebra and an Oompa Loompa. Which, by the way, isn't a cute look on anyone.

And for the record, Sculpted Tans doesn't use mitts or a painters air gun. And, you're in an actual room set up for tanning, not hanging clothes or using the toilet.