Most people who are nervous about a first spray tan are not worried about the color. They are worried about not knowing what is going to happen. So here is all of it, in order.
Before you arrive
You get prep instructions when you book, and they matter more than most people expect: a spray tan develops in the very top layer of skin, so it can only look as even as the surface it lands on.
The short version: exfoliate 48 hours before and again the night before, shave 12 to 24 hours ahead (or wax 24 to 48), finish your shower at least three hours before the appointment, and then put nothing on your skin. No lotion, no oil, no deodorant, no perfume. The full prep list explains why each one is there.
Wear loose, dark clothes to the appointment and bring flip-flops or open-toe shoes. That is for afterwards.
The conversation comes first
Nothing is sprayed until Seana has read your skin. She looks at your natural tone and your undertone (warm, neutral, olive or cool), asks how deep you want to go, and asks what you are getting ready for and when. That last part decides the solution: an original solution rinses at 8 to 12 hours, a rapid one anywhere from 1 to 8, and the right one depends on your schedule.
If you have had a spray tan somewhere else that went orange, brassy or flat, say so now. A previous bad result narrows down what does not work on you and makes the match faster.
This is the part that most studios skip and the part the whole Sunless Method is named for.
What you wear during
As much or as little as you are comfortable in. Some people wear their own swimsuit or underwear, some use the disposable undergarments that are provided, some wear nothing. It changes nothing about the result except tan lines, and that is a preference, not a problem. If you are going strapless for an event, mention it and the straps get worked around.
The studio is private. It is a backyard studio about a mile from the Brentwood YMCA, not a salon floor, so there is no waiting room and nobody walking past.
The application
Before any color, two things go on. First a pH balancing spray, which brings your skin back to the pH the color develops best on. Then the barrier: lotion worked with a brush or by hand into whichever areas are driest, and a barrier spray over the rest of you. Hands, feet, elbows, knees and ankles are the usual suspects, because the skin there is thicker and drier and takes color faster than everywhere else, which is what “dark hands” and “dark elbows” are. The barrier is what prevents them.
Then the spray. An airbrush, in even passes, contoured to you rather than sprayed flat. It is cool and it is quick; the application itself takes about half an hour for the Experience and about twenty minutes for the Student Glow. You stand, you turn when asked, and it is done.
Then, on the Experience, a moisture seal, which is the step that puts hydration back into skin that has just had color laid on it, and after that a finishing powder so you leave dry and comfortable rather than tacky.
A Student Glow is the short version of all of that: the same color matching, the same barrier spray and the same airbrush work, without the pH spray, the lotion or the finishing steps. In Seana’s words, “younger skin is just really different from adult skin and honestly doesn’t need as much prep.” If you are not a teenager, book the Experience.
What you leave with
An aftercare card, with your rinse window written on it. Which solution you had, exactly when to take the first shower, and how to take it (warm water only, no soap, pat dry). Plus the aftercare that decides whether you get seven days or ten. Every client gets one, a Student Glow included.
Then you put your loose dark clothes back on, and until that first rinse you stay dry: no hand-washing past the wrist, no workout, no rain without a coat.
Afterwards
The first rinse takes off the bronzer and the color keeps developing for the rest of that day, so judge it the next morning rather than the moment you towel off. From there it is moisturizer once or twice a day and avoiding the things that shorten it.
If she comes to you
A mobile appointment is the same appointment in your home, a rental or a getting-ready suite. All it needs is a bathroom or a corner with a little space, and somewhere to change. Everything else, including the conversation, is identical.
Still nervous? Text 615-428-0746 and ask before you book anything. You will get a real answer, not a booking link.