Heated Spray Tan units – The secret for a WARM spray tan ?
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Its winter time, in many areas of the country this means colder temperatures – and COLD spray tans.
Which leads to – “I need to buy a heated air spray tan unit.” Which sounds great- but do they really create a warm spray tanning experience for your client?
I decided to put this to the test, this is a very long article, so if you prefer you may scroll straight to the bottom, and read the conclusion, skipping all the test specifics.
Heating Your solution pre use:
Heating up your spray tanning solution is not normally a recommended option. Depending on the brand, formulation, how you heat it, how warm you heat it and so forth. You can damage the solution, preventing it from working correctly and possibly, accidentally burning a client.
DHA is a heat sensitive ingredient, and if over warmed, can tan less effectively (i.e. tan color will be lighter than expected.) This is not to say every time you warm a solution it is 100% going to cause it to produce “no color”.
Single time exposure to high heat, (storage in a car trunk for example), repeated temperature fluctuations (cycling from cool to warm to cool again) or prolonged room temperature storage seem to be the most common heat related issues seen.
Every solution differs in formulation, so one product may differ from another in tolerance ranges
The exact temperature the product is heated to, how long it is at this temperature, other ingredients in the blend, DHA type used, DHA percentage used, can all effect results.
Standard solutions on the market are not formulated with the plan to allow them to be “warmed” before use without possible damage – so results can vary.
Evaporation is a factor:
When solution – room temperature, warm, or refrigerator cold, is blown onto the skin with high speed air blowing through and over it – evaporation of the solution from the wet skin surface, will cause an added cooling effect. You will feel chilled, and get goosebumps in many cases.
Let’s try heating the air blowing out:
Which leads to the next option most technicians consider – heating the air blowing the solution onto the body, to create a warm cozy spray tan session.
(channeling thoughts of warm fires, cozy blankets to snuggle into, a cup of coco, and kittens purring – queuing soft music in the background )
Doing a quick Google search, reveals a very limited number of heated spray tan units available on the market. Prices range from Just under $200 to about $4000 range.
Now we have a place to start – time to research the available options.
What is your budget?
Systems on the market at the time of this article, consist of two rough price ranges.
The high end, at roughly $5000.00 or so for a spray system kit which includes a warm air flow wall unit/booth. This is not a warming spraytan unit, but rather a “normal” HVLP spray tan unit, with a specialized wall heater add on, which heats the air in the spray area. The spray unit does not warm the solution or the air spraying from the gun. The wall unit heater, heats the area air and collects over spray. Though it appears to be a nice unit, this would not be practical for a mobile tech, as the wall unit is a stationary device, and the key component to this package.
Option two, also in the $5000 price range, is a specialized heated solution unit, this appears to only spray one brand of specialized solution. So you are limited to this solution brand. Since gun adjustments are limited, and professional solution blends on the market come in a range of viscosity and thickness, not all blends will work with the exact same gun adjustments. So, with this spray gun, you may not able to use alternative solution lines of your choice, if you want to explore other spray tan lines.
I did not personally test the two units listed above, due to budgetary issues. But I have spoken to some industry engineers who have used them; so I understand how they work and the technology involved, and some limitations. But I am only commenting on general knowledge, based on marketing material, and information from those who have used the above-mentioned items. Not my personal experience.
What if your budget is not that large, what options are available?
I have personally used several other units currently on the market, and am familiar with most units that have been on the market for the past 25 years or so.
Below are the most popular “heated” spray units on the market within the normal budget ranges of most techs in the industry. These units are roughly $200-$300 range for the spray unit. They are easily portable, making them an option for both stationary and mobile technicians.
So the added promise of a warm spray tanning session, especially in the winter, makes them a very appealing option.
I will put them to the test below, but these are basically the same technology for ether, as the mechanism they use to create a warm spray tan experience is the same with ether.
They both are using a heating element in the base unit, to heat the air blowing out of the hose, rather than heating the solution.
Heated air – why would it NOT work? This is a great idea!
The main argument with this approach boils down to effectiveness of this method. You must always factor in the hose length, (which is not insulated) which allows air to cool as it leaves the heat source in the base. The heat comes from the heating element in the sprayer base unit, blowing high speed air down the entire hose length, to the solution spraying from the gun. (many feet away)
The easiest way to illustrate this in a real use application is by using a hand-held hair blow dryer on high, and blowing the warm air onto your skin. It will feel very warm, even hot against your skin. Which is exactly what you are hoping the spray tanner with heated air will do – right? So, this sounds like a win for your team!
But here’s a possible failure point in the plan:
Move the blow dryer about 10 feet away from your skin, turn it on high heat, and blow it toward your skin – you will find it is now much cooler, though you may feel some warmth, it is not truly “warm”.
The hot air must now travel 10 feet to reach your skin, and is cooled during the process. Even when placed inside an enclosed hose, it still must travel to reach you, which will cool it.
Most heating elements in standard hair dryers range from 400 watts to 1800+ watts. Even doing this test with a higher end blow dryer in the 1800 watt range, shows a significant drop in temperature based on distance. But it is still warm. So It sounds like with correct heating element wattage, this still “could” possibly work.
Current heated air spray tan units on the market have lower watt heaters within the unit – not 1800 watt. So the initial air heating amount will be less then that produced with a High Heat Hair Dryer.
Lets move on to the participants.