Chapter 5
Skincare - Moisturizing

· Oils
· Natural moisturizing factors NMFs
· Vitamins
· SPFs
· Sunless tanners

Tanning salon operators need to understand the role good skincare plays in the overall tanning process. Moisture is essential to good skin health because it helps maintain the integrity of an exceptional skin barrier while enhancing the tanning process.

Moisturizing
Your client’s skin is gasping for moisture like a flower in the desert. All winter, the elements have taken their toll. For at least three months the dry winter wind has sucked moisture from the delicate skin surface, while the cold temperatures blocked the production of natural oils and emollients. Your client’s skin is dry to the touch and tight in appearance. You must come to the rescue with a good moisturizer.

Moisture is critical to good skin health because it helps maintain a good skin barrier and creates a flexible, pliable skin that is soft to touch. Moist skin will tan better and more evenly than dry skin. Your skin knows that moisture is important and uses a variety of methods to retain moisture in its surface.

Moisturize With Oils
Your skin retains water within its natural oils to help them maintain an ordered structure around each skin cell. Each skin cell is surrounded by a variety of different natural oils. Together, the skin cells and the natural oils help form the acid mantle or barrier in the stratum corneum. Water helps increase the flexibility of the oils so the oils can surround the cells to maintain an adequate skin barrier.

During cold winter months, the skin’s ability to make natural oils for the stratum corneum is greatly reduced. We have known for many years that cold weather causes skin to become dry and brittle. Recently, scientists discovered that one of the reasons is a decrease in the production of natural oils when skin is exposed to cold temperatures. If the skin is not producing enough natural oils, then we can help by adding oils.

A good moisturizer not only will add moisture to the skin, but also add some oils to the skin. A client with severe dry skin requires a moisturizer with more oils than a client with slightly dry skin. For your clients with severe dry skin, recommend a moisturizer with a greasy feel. Clients with slightly dry skin can expect improvement with a less greasy moisturizer.

However, be careful to remember that the best moisturizer is one that your clients will use. The moisturizer has to be enjoyed by your client; it has to be used regularly. If your client will not use a greasy moisturizer, then the moisturizer will sit in the bottle and you may lose future sales.

Moisturize with NMFs
Your skin retains water within its natural proteins to keep them flexible. Each stratum corneum cell is a flexible sack of proteins. Without water, the proteins lose their flexibility and become rigid. The skin becomes rough to the touch, even cracking in severe cases. Water helps increase the flexibility of the proteins so the cells can relax to a smooth surface that begs to be touched.

Normally, skin creates natural moisturizing factors (NMFs) to hold moisture in the stratum corneum and increase the water content of the skin. In dry winter conditions, the skin cannot make NMFs because the water content of the skin is too low. Also, NMFs are stripped away by the use of hotter bathing water and stronger detergents.

A good moisturizer will add moisturizing factors back to the skin where they can lock moisture into the skin. Sodium PCA, or sodium pyrollidone carboxylic acid, is one of the most efficient NMFs because it binds lots of water.

Moisturizing lotions also may contain moisturizing factors that are not natural, but moisturize much the same way. Some examples are sodium isethionate, glycerin and panthenol.

Moisturize With Vitamins
The reduced barrier function of the skin caused by the dry cold winter allows a variety of environmental pollutants to enter the skin. These pollutants can deplete the antioxidant system of the skin, making the skin more susceptible to oxidative damage. Vitamins can reduce or eliminate this damage.

A good moisturizer will help replace the vitamins skin needs. Vitamin E, or tocopheryl acetate, is a potent antioxidant that should be found in a good moisturizer. Vitamin C, frequently included as ascorbyl palmitate, acts in concert with vitamin E in a healthy antioxidant system. Scientists have found several situations where these vitamins are more powerful together than alone.

Results
Dry, cold winter prevents skin from maintaining a moist healthy condition due to the loss of natural oils, natural moisturizing factors, and vitamins. A good moisturizer will contain these three items with a low level of AHAs. Your clients need to use a good moisturizer regularly and to apply it generously. Moisturizing skin helps replenish and retain the normal moisture content of the stratum corneum, keeping the skin soft and supple. Moist skin is healthy skin and healthy skin will tan better and more evenly than dry skin.

SPFs
It’s only the middle of March, the winds are still blowing cold, artic air from the north and salons nationwide are filled to capacity with clients seeking solace from Old Man Winter. Yet, before long, those winds will be shifting to the south, and many of your loyal customers will be turning to Mother Nature for a dose of relaxation and nourishment.

While many salon owners believe that the summer doldrums brings a dramatic decrease in their tanning business, this is not true for marketing savvy operators. By marketing your facility as a one-stop shop for clients’ skincare needs such as outdoor lotions and oils, you will keep your cash ringing throughout the summer months.

The sun is responsible for our very existence here on earth. Its light is the fuel for photosynthesis, which is the process by which plants create their energy, and we, in turn, depend on the plants for food and oxygen. The sun’s infrared rays keep us warm and its visible rays give us light to see by. The sun’s ultraviolet radiation also is useful; however, at the same time, it is dangerous to us.

As you know, ultraviolet radiation is divided into three different bands - UVA, UVB and UVC. Virtually all of the UVC is filtered out by our atmosphere so that none actually reaches the earth’s surface. However, both UVB and UVA reach the earth in significant amounts.

The summer months of June, July and August bring heat and discomfort as well as dry, thirsty skin in need of nourishment and care. By offering a complete array of moisturizers and SPFs, your clients will turn to your salon as their complete skincare source instead of spending money at the drug or department store down the street.

With the public becoming more aware of the dangers of overexposure to sunlight, SPFs are a natural fit into your retailing sector. Not only can you promoted sunscreens for outdoor use to your faithful tanners, but also word-of-mouth advertising from these clients may attract additional customers who don’t tan indoors. Just because you are a tanning facility, doesn’t mean that non-tanners can’t turn to you for skincare education.

In addition, it is important to promote responsible tanning whether it occurs indoors or outdoors. By taking a proactive approach and acting as an ambassador to this industry, you as a salon owner and educator can squelch bad publicity about tanning as well as secure additional sales of sunscreens.

Anyone who has had the experience of being burned by the sun knows the value of sunscreens and sunblocks. However, most people do not understand how they work to protect the skin.

Sunburn is caused by overexposure to ultraviolet rays, mostly UVB. In fact, sunburn almost is exclusively a UVB phenomenon; however, research continues on the different effects of UVB and UVA rays. This is important because the SPF system measures UVB protection and not UVA. During a sunburn the skin turns red, swells and, in some severe cases, blisters. A sunburn continues to develop for 12 to 24 hours after the exposure.

Sunscreens are chemicals that, when applied topically, keep ultraviolet rays from penetrating the skin. They work either by absorbing or reflecting solar energy. The absorbed energy excites the sunscreen temporarily; then, as the chemical relaxes back into its original state, it transforms that entry into something harmless (usually heat). This process is repeated countless times per second.

In addition, every sunscreen has a characteristic absorption spectrum that is capable of absorbing only certain wavelengths of ultraviolet light energy. High SPF sunscreen formulas contain blends of more than one sunscreen because no single-chemical is capable of absorbing all UVB radiation.

High SPF products contain Oxybenzone (or Benzophenone-3), a UVA absorber. In 1986 (the last year data was published) Padimate (or Octyl Dimethyl PABA) was found to be the most widely used UVA absorber in the United States. Contrary to consumer belief, this is not the same as PABA, which rarely is used anymore because a small percentage of people are known to be sensitive to it.

One of the newest ingredients to hit the SPF market is Parsol® 1789, a highly effective filter against the sun’s UVA rays. Many of the leading SPF manufacturers have begun using Parson 1789 because currently it is the only sunscreen that also contains skincare properties.

Another new property that has been incorporated in SPF formulas is zinc oxide. Most people associate zinc oxide with the white thick paste lifeguards used in the past. It was known to be the best sunblock available, but it was cosmetically unacceptable and therefore not used by the mainstream population. Fortunately, things have changed, and you now can get the physical sunscreens that are transparent. For example, zinco oxide is now manufactured so that the particles are so small that you cannot see them. These space age physical sunscreens are referred to as microfine powders and Z-CODE (microfine zinc oxide) is an example that has been incorporated into one manufacturer’s higher block SPFs in the past year.

Additionally, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate (Octyl Methoxycinnamate) is becoming an increasingly popular UVB absorber, especially in PABA-free and sensitive skin sun products. Use of a broad-spectrum sunscreen product that block UVA and UVB is much safer than UVB blocks alone.

Make sure to inform clients to apply sunscreen approximately 20 minutes before being exposed to the sun. This allows the sunscreen time to “set up” on the skin so that it can do its job correctly. Remember, an SPF 2 blocks out approximately 50 percent of ultraviolet rays; an SPF 10 blocks out about 85 percent of ultraviolet rays; and, an SPF 15 blocks out approximately 95 percent of ultraviolet rays and is the reason that most health professionals suggest an SPF of 15 or above.

It is useful to have an assortment of products with varying SPF numbers. The suntan lotion that is desired in the early days of summer may have too great an SPF for the last days of August.

Another point to consider is that different parts of the body require special care in the sun. Because of their prominence, noses, cheeks and lips often require a product with a stronger SPF than needed for arms and legs. Educate your customers that regular use of suntan products and common sense about how long to spend in the sun is extremely important.

Sunless Tanners
Imagine this dilemma: One of your customers is leaving on a cruise in less than one week, and she has been so busy that she has not had time to tan. What to do? Being the knowledgeable salon operator, have the perfect solution-suggest a sunless tanner.

Afraid that offering a sunless tanner is counterproductive to selling indoor tanning? Think again. What better way to secure customer confidence than by showing them how to even out those unsightly pressure points and uneven tan lines? You already offer a complete line of skincare products to keep your customers’ skin moisturized and provide darker, more beautiful tans. So round out that skincare promotion by offering sunless tanners and you will find it will shed new light on your profits.

Self-tanners have gained popularity in the past few years for a number of reasons. The medical community’s condemnation of UV light has caused some sun worshippers to seek refuge indoors. And while indoor tanning offers a controlled environment and all the comforts one could want, the media’s incisive industry bashing has caused some fear to getting in a tanning bed.

Another reason self-tanners are gaining favor is the ease of application and upkeep. In the past, a lot of people thought self-tanners were messy and difficult to apply. Today, self-tanner application has been refined and products have gained a respectable place in the industry.

In addition, many salon owners are noticing a trend toward their clients covering their faces with towels to avoid premature wrinkling. Sunless tanners are the perfect remedies for those telltale towel lines on their faces and necks. In addition, it is a great product for those people who have problems tanning or for those difficult areas to tan such as the feet and hands. Sunless tanners also can be used to fill in pressure points and even out tan lines. And, for some fair skin people, sunless tanners can be used to augment the tanning process.

In days past, sunless tanners didn’t live up to their promise of deep, golden tans. Instead, they left the skin streaked and splotched with a distinctive orange cast. Today’s sunless tanning products are far more sophisticated than those introduced nearly 30 years ago. In fact, in the last few years, these products have undergone a sort of metamorphosis-streaks, splotches and orange; smooth, bronze and beautiful are in.

The key ingredient to the products’ evolution is Dihydroxyacetone, or DHA, which is an extract of sugar cane. DHA reacts with proteins in the skin to produce a bronze coloration on the top layer of skin-in essence, a cosmetic effect that does not saturate the skin.

Over the years, the formulation technology has been greatly improved to provide better application and coloration. Many of the earlier products were formulated using higher DHA concentrations; today, sunless tanners use lower concentrations because of the improved technology.

The majority of self-tanners on the market are a medium grade of color. How dark they tan really depends on the individual’s skin type and the condition of the skin. It is important to remind your clients that what works on one person may not necessarily look the same on another.

The first step to ensuring a great sunless tan is to exfoliate the skin. The skin needs to be clean and free from dead skin cells in order to alleviate uneven distribution. Clients also need to exfoliate well and then dry off completely before applying a sunless tanner. For example, if a client is young and has soft, supple skin, he or she probably doesn’t need to exfoliate as much. If he or she has naturally dry skin or are in a place with a lot of humidity, exfoliation is the key to getting an even, all-over tan.

The second, and probably the most important step, is application. Some experts suggest spot testing the product to see what shade of bronze will result. The key to obtaining an even tan is to apply a smooth, thin layer of the self-tanner. Avoid using too much self-tanner in one application; you can always go back and apply another layer if the color isn’t dark enough.

When applying the self-tanner, special attention should be paid to the knee, elbow, ankle and eye areas. The reason? Color is proportional to the surface area of the skin, and these areas are likely to become darker because there is a higher concentration of self-tanner in the fine lines.

Additionally, it is important to wait for the product to dry completely before getting dressed, since DHA interacts with proteins and can cause fabrics to stain. Also, avoiding the hairline is crucial since hair is protein and self-tanners will cause it to discolor.

Once the color has fully developed, another coat of self-tanner may be added to darken the tan. Mistakes and uneven patches can be fixed easily by exfoliating the area or by adding more self-tanner. Make sure to tell clients to allow self-tanners to dry before beginning any activity, as sweat during application can cause an uneven or streaked tan.

Since self-tanners work on the top layer of skin, the average tan only will last for approximately three to four days, gradually fading as the top layer dries and flakes off. Salon operators need to remind customers that self-tanners don’t contain any sunscreen and even though their skin is tan, they still can get sunburned.

In addition, because DHA often is associated with skin dryness, it is important to suggest a moisturizer to complement self-tanners.