Keep it clean
Christmas and New Year are now well and truly over. We’ve all eaten way too much, drunk way too much and are struggling to get motivated as it’s trash weather out there and if you’re like me, have no interest in this time of year!
Now tends to be a quiet time in salons - ALL of them, not just tanning. Nail bars and hair salons will also find themselves less busy than usual as we are all taking the time to recover after Christmas. So what can you do in the salon at this time of year to make the most of this quiet time?
To start off with, now is the time to order new lamps, if you need them that is (unless you have an unhealthy obsession with hoarding lamps in which case, I won’t stop you!). Make the most of the first quiet weeks in January (then again, depending on your shop and area, this may not be a quiet time for you) by doing all the horrible, boring jobs that are tedious and time-consuming. Can you guess what they are? Exactly that - cleaning jobs, woohoo! Clean those filters, vacuum those lamps off (that’s what the fuzzy brush thing was made for after all!), clean the undersides of your acrylics and relamp your beds if needs be. Not everyone will be ready to relamp at this time, but it can be a great time to do so if your lamps are at the end of their useful life.
Now I know how boring and gross it is doing these jobs, but there are huge benefits to doing so. Grab your Marigolds and dive right in!
Fresh lamps - this one is obvious. Who doesn’t love a freshly lamped bed? If your lamps are beginning to struggle to give a good tan, believe me when I say, your clients WILL notice. Once they notice, you only have one opportunity to claw them back before they look elsewhere for sunbeds, so keep those lamps on point to keep your customers happy.
With your lovely new lamps, it would be a shame to stifle them with their almost invisible nemesis… dust!! At the risk of sounding like my overly dramatic Grandmother, dust is just the worst! Not only does it hinder the performance of the lamps as the UV can’t pass freely, but it also ends up affecting the useful life of the lamps and increases energy consumption, costing you more in the long run.
Remember, the underside of the acrylics exists! We all dutifully clean the parts of the acrylic people's bodies touch and we all clean the fingerprints off the inside of the canopy acrylic, but how often do you clean the undersides? In my opinion, this should be done every 2-4 weeks depending on how busy your salon is. The busier it is, the more often you must do this. Again, all a dusty acrylic will do is stop the lovely UV rays from shining through effectively. Yes, they will be bright and whatnot, but you won’t be getting the best results.
After the recent energy price hikes, we want to save as much as possible! The same goes for your vents and dust filters - a dust-ridden filter only hampers you - I’ve said it before and I will say it again, keep your beds clean to keep your clients happy and to save you money overall. It will also stop your competitors from gossiping about your dirty beds behind your back!
You may think I am stating the obvious and to that I say, yes, I am. However, to those new to the industry or those who never received any training, this information can come in handy.
Next week, it’s all about the lotion! Catch you then <3
