Thursday, April 5, 2012

The good, The bad and........ well you be the judge!


The Good, The Bad and possibly, the downright terrible!

How do you tell a good tanning establishment from a bad one? Well, there are many things to consider and to determine all of them would make this the length of a small novel rather than a blog, so we will just take a few vital and important pointers.

The first thing is always instinct. Gut feeling is not just an airy-fairy thing. It is not known as the intelligence of the unconscious for nothing!

Does the place look spotlessly clean and hygienic or do you turn you nose up before you even walk in the door. If you are hesitant about taking that first step because it looks ‘iffy’ don't go in. your intuition will be right 99% of the time. Ask around and see whether other people do find it clean and hey, if you were wrong, who’s going to know what you were thinking, you can always go back and see for yourself.

So, the place looks clean and tidy, it smells fresh an you can see that it is immaculate – that is a great start in itself and first impressions invariably couldn't for a lot, but make sure that you check the cabins and the beds are as clean as reception. I have been to places that have a clean front of house because there’s no trade – and when you get ‘behind the scenes it is a different story altogether. A great salon will always let you look around long before you decide to tan.

You’ve made the decision to give it a go – but is there anything that you should know about what ‘they’ should be doing? Absolutely! Make sure the staff are properly trained and if they have been there for three months or longer that they have a proper, internationally recognised qualification pertaining to the industry. Most good staff are proud of their certification and are only too willing to point out which one is there's on the wall. Some staff may have more than one certificate showing how they have progressed through proper education. As well as the staff being trained – is the studio (sometimes called a salon or solarium) also registered with A) the local authority and have a current, up-to-date Health Licence and B) a proper tanning educational facility or, better still, more than one. Good examples are Smart Tan International, The Indoor Tanning Association, The Vitamin D Council, The European Sunlight Research Forum or The Sunlight Research Association.

The next most vital thing is to make sure that the person who is going to help you with your tanning, as well as being trained, gives you a proper consultation. This is not meant to invade your privacy, it is meant to protect you and your skin and make sure that your tanning regime is personalised for you. You want the time to be accurate based on a host of factors that should be explained to you in a precise but professional manner. Do make sure that your chosen establishment does times that can be calculated down to the minute – It's no good having a place that can only offer say 6, 12 or 18 minutes if you happen to need say 3 minutes or 7 minutes! Burning should always be a 100% no-no and if timing can't be calculated down to one minute increments, then you could very easily, unwittingly be asking for sunburn! The megaSun mantra is never ever sunburn, indoors or out!

There are so many more things that we could add here – for instance making sure you don't get ripped off by a salesperson rather than a tanning consultant/technician trying to see you something totally inappropriate because they have a boss who pays them on a commission basis. There's nothing wrong with commission in the right place and done the right way, but we have found through experience that paying a wage that the team can rely on every week and not having to sell things that are wrong, just to make ends meet, always ends in disaster. However, using the correct product to increase your tan and look after your skin are another blog for another day.

If you do have any questions about tanning or choosing a studio that is right for you, don't hesitate to call megaSun – that is what we are here for and of course we ARE trained! Call into our studios at 41 High Street, Auckland City or 100 College Hill, Ponsonby - and you will see that we are clean and we do know what we are talking about!