[gap height=”15″]
Do you and your team struggle with ways to get your salon guests to wear eye protection for every tanning session? Chicago salon owner, Bruce “Sparky” Wood, came up with a unique solution that he’s used for years.
[gap height=”15″]
When faced with a tanner who says, “I don’t wear eye protection,” Bruce picks up a small flashlight he keeps at the front counter and begins his demonstration “See this?” he asks the guest. “It’s a small flashlight. Close your eyes. Can you see the light from the flashlight through your lids?” The salon guest will squint; the light from a tiny flashlight held a few feet from the eyes is amazingly bright!
[gap height=”15″]
Bruce continues, “Of course you can see the light, you’re squinting! This is a just a little flashlight – you can imagine that the light from the lamps in my sunbeds are much brighter, right?”
[gap height=”15″]
An electrician by trade, the “No Tan Lines” salon owner uses his trusty flashlight in another way to demonstrate his point. “I turn on the flashlight and hold it against the palm of my hand, just like we did as kids, and ask the tanner what they can see when they look at the back of my hand,” he explains. “They admit being able to see the outline of my finger bones and some veins.” It’s not long before the light bulb goes off (excuse the pun) in the tanner’s head. “I tell them that, of course, their eyelids are thinner than my hand and of course, the lamps in my sunbeds put out a lot more power than the five-watt flashlight bulb! A base sunbed has 400-watt lamps near the face and my high-pressure beds or a bed with facial tanners have at least 1,000 watts of light directly above your face.” He concludes with, “You don’t want that kind of UV exposure to ruin your vision because you tanned without eye protection!”
[gap height=”15″]
Sparky also uses a 100-watt light fixture in the ceiling near the counter to demonstrate his point. He asks a skeptical salon guest to close their eyes, point their face upward toward the light and wave their hand in front of their eyes. “Can you see the shadow of your hand pass over your face even though your eyes are closed?” he asks. Of course, the tanner can. “That 100-watt light is 15 feet away and filtered by your hand. The sunbed you will use today has up to 1,000 watts of power and the lamps will be 12-18 inches from your face. Are you sure you don’t want eye protection?”
[gap height=”15″]
Bruce “Sparky” Wood would love it if you’d “steal” his clever demo idea and introduce more of your tanners to eyewear and protected tanning!
