Listen up Lovely! If you’re a current student or interested in our training this is for you! I’m about to drop some hot tea that you do not want to miss because it’ll take your spray tan technique to the next level! Have you ever heard the term, “Spray Tan Hands?” Of course you have! It’s one of the most obvious tell-tale signs of a sunless tan. Leaving your clients to walk around with uneven or oversaturated hands from a sunless tan is right up there with turning a client “orange” as a big NO-NO for spray tanning. Our goal as rockstar sunless artists is to be able to create a faux glow that even the most proficient sunless tanner thinks is natural.

Unfortunately, the hands can be a tricky area to master because the skin on the hands is different from the rest of the body. Particularly, the hands can cause a spray tan “oopsie” because the skin can be extra dry, especially during months where the air itself is a little more cool and dry. The reason this makes the hands more difficult to get right is because dry skin absorbs DHA more than hydrated skin. This can cause the hands to develop too dark or even pull an orange tint. 

So, how do we go about creating a flawless tan, even on the hands!? Here’s a few sunless tips to follow:

Use a Barrier Cream

Babe, listen up! Barrier cream is a must when it comes to protecting the hands from over saturation during the spray tanning process. This cream should be applied to the nails and, especially on clients with dry hands, to the knuckles and on the inside of the wrists. These are the areas on the hands that will most likely pull more color and cause the hands to look unnatural. As it says in the name, barrier cream creates a barrier between the spray tan solution and the skin, while also adding moisture to those dry areas. 

Buff the Hands

I got a pro tip for you because that’s what sunless besties are for, amiright?! One reason spray tan hands are a dead giveaway for a sunless tan is due to unevenness in color. Having a blotchy or uneven tan anywhere on the body is the opposite of what we try to accomplish as a spray tan artist. In order to make sure this doesn’t happen on a difficult area, such as the hands, is by buffing them out after spraying! Taking a brush or a makeup puff and buffing out the hands and wrists will allow excess solution to be removed from the skin and smooth out the tan for a seamless application.

Use a Baby Wipe

One thing we do NOT want is for the spray tan to stain the palms or the nails. In our pre-tan instructions we always advise clients to make their spray tan the last beauty service they do. Which means, if your clients are following directions, they will come to you with their nails already done. You may have even gotten asked by a client if the spray tan will affect their fresh manicure. Obviously we don’t want to do anything that will change the color of the client’s nails whether they have them done or not! Additionally, no matter how careful we are, the palms can sometimes catch overspray through the duration of the appointment causing them to develop darker than they should. Luckily, we can easily stop both of these issues from happening by using a baby wipe to carefully wipe the nails and palms at the end of the service.

Bear Claws

Another reason that the hands can be tricky to spray has to do with the creases throughout the fingers and knuckles. If you were to spray your client’s hands with straight fingers, the solution would not get into the creases of the knuckles, which means every time they bend their fingers there would be tiny little white lines on the knuckles. Not a cute look, girlfriend! To mitigate this issue, you can instruct your clients to slightly bend their fingers, making a “bear claw” formation so that all parts of the hand are covered. 

This tan tip is extremely useful for all artists wanting to provide the most premier, high quality service to their clients! Our clients come to us with the trust that we will give them a fresh bronze that could be mistaken for a natural tan and that’s exactly what the technique we put into place should accomplish! If you’re interested in leveling up your artistry with a more in-depth education, reach out to us at 321-323-9603 for the details on our Spray Tan Training Courses today!