Q: How can I spray tan safely?

A: Know what the risks are and be ready for them.

In-Depth

General airbrushing safety always deals with exposure to the material being sprayed.

1. Touching It

    
   For spray tanning this isn't a safety issue.  DHA (the active ingredient) is FDA approved for external use.
   
   Now there might be other allergens in the specific solution being sprayed but that's going to be different for everyone.

2. Breathing It

    
   This is the issue.  It's not an upfront issue.  Breathing the fumes is a long-term exposure risk instead of a short-term thing.
   
   It's like the dentist.  Long-term exposure to NH2 (laughing gas) causes them problems, which is why they're not interested in giving you the stuff if they don't have to.  Short-term exposure won't give you all that much trouble.  X-rays are another good example.
   
   If you'd like to know more about the particular dangers of spray tanning you can read my article called "How Safe is Airbrush Tanning?"
   
   Everything else in this article focuses on breathing the fumes.

Have Great Ventilation

If you're in control of where you spray, then spray in a place with lots of moving air.  The air doesn't need to move fast, but it needs to move.  The best kind of ventilation draws the spray fumes away to be filter out.

• If you're spraying in a bathroom you might want to open the window and turn on the fan, or better yet, put a box fan in the window facing out to draw the fumes away from you.

How Can Customers Spray Tan Safely?

• Wear eye protection

   
  Though they don't cover as much of an area as they should to meet FDA Approval guidelines, tanning booth glasses should work fin at keeping the spray mist out of a customer's eyes.

• Wear nose protection

   
  Swimmer's nose plugs work great and don't leave much of a tan line in any place that people are going to care about.

• Hold your breath when your face gets sprayed

   
  If you're the technician spraying the customer you can tell them when they should hold their breath.

• Keep the pressure low.  

   
  Lower air pressure means a coarser mist (you'll still get an excellent tan since most of the droplets are below your ability to see) and a coarser mist with bigger droplets means fewer free floating particles to breathe.

How Can Technicians Spray Tan Safely?

• Great ventilation

   
  If you have good ventilation breathing isn't going to be as much of an issue for you.  You're spraying away from yourself after all.  Try to keep the spray headed toward the ventilation duct where the air goes in to be filtered.  Have the customer turn.

• Wear your mask

  
  If you don't have good ventilation you'll need a mask.  A dust mask will probably do, but a respirator would be better.
  
  Of course, masks and respirators are scary to the customer being sprayed.  Great ventilation is the best solution.

• Wear protective clothing

   
  You don't want to get tan right?  Wear clothing to keep the solution off of you.  If you want a tan, then do it right and have your coworker spray you.

Machine Spray Tanning Tips

Machines tend to fail the safety thing miserably.  Mostly because safety is left up to a posted placard.  Yes it meets legal requirements, but lets think about it for a moment.  If the booths and their exempted status get abused the FDA rewrites the rules.  Got it?

• Hold your breath

  
  Yeah, I know.  I can't hold my breath that long either, I'm  not a swimmer.  Remember it shouldn't harm you too much in the short-term if you breath the spray.

• Avoid the machine and get a tan from a real technician

   
  They'll give you a better tan than the machine (though it does cost more).  They take care of the safety requirements.  If they don't, don't use them again.  The technician should also tell you when to hold your breath.