“Is there a difference between pink and blue tanning lamps? Is one type better than the other?”
Good questions!
When it comes to colors, most people perceive pink tones as “warm”’ while blue is considered “cool.” One of the enduring reasons why people enjoy indoor tanning sessions is the feeling of relaxation and restfulness it gives them. Early on, warm tone sunlamps were the preferred choice to enhance this aspect of indoor tanning services. Retail merchandising experts all over the world employ this knowledge, installing warmer lighting in establishments where the owner benefits from more leisurely customer traffic patterns and using cooler lighting when the owner prefers customers to move more quickly about their business. Example: Nordstrom versus an auto supply store.
Today, successful salon operators concentrate on creating a warm and inviting atmosphere for their guests, but not necessarily through the color of their lamps. With current technology, tanning lamps appear light blue in their natural phosphor state; to create a warm or pink lamp, a small amount of strong red phosphor is added during fabrication. This changes the appearance of the lamp only when it is operating. The small percentage of colored phosphor displaces a like amount of UV-generating phosphor, so chemists adjust the phosphor blend during lamp design to compensate. This can be done to deliver any appearance, for example, green or even more blue. This is not as easy as it sounds, because strong color phosphors are not available in every hue, and because the human eye cannot perceive some colors as well as it can others. We “see” yellow and yellow-green very well, but we don’t see blue all that well.
If properly designed, either color lamp will produce a cosmetic tan – it’s the phosphor mix, not the color of the lamp that affects the tanning process. You won’t notice the lamp’s color until you “light” it; even then you may not notice a color variance unless the different lamps are next to each other. Therefore, as the salon operator, you will decide whether you want your beds to emit a warm glow or a cool glow. Once your guests are relaxing in the sunbed, they shouldn’t notice a difference either, since you and your staff make sure that each tanner wears eye protection during every UV session. It is worth noting, however, that if you avoid mixing lamp colors in any given tanning system, you will curtail the inevitable, although unnecessary, questions from your salon guests. ■
