How To Avoid Crepey Lines In Elbows, Knees And Neck

Mastering your technique should be a point of focus when it comes to providing the most high level sunless experience for your clients. However, as you may know, everybody’s body composition is different. A client’s body composition or age can affect the way you move forward with providing the best results during a spray tan because of the way the skin lays. Specifically with older clients who have lost some of the elasticity in their skin, you may find they have more folds around their elbows, knees and neck. This can pose difficulty for spray tan artists because if we don’t pay special attention to these areas, we could potentially allow our clients to develop with a tan that leaves crepey white lines in the folds of skin around these areas of the body. This can be a dead giveaway of someone having a spray tan! Our number one goal is to produce a result that is even and natural looking, but if a client bends their knees and elbows to reveal white crepey lines, the results look far more artificial. In order to elevate your technique and client experience, we are going to go over the best way to manage this scenario during your future spray tan appointments with our two step Bending & Blending Technique. 

Step 1: Bending

When spraying your clients, you may notice there are some folds on the elbows, knees or neck, however if you don’t instruct your client to bend this area before while you're spraying, you may not notice the crepey lines that have formed. To reduce the crepey lines from forming in the first place, you will want to instruct your client to bend their elbows and knees while spraying that area. When the client is standing in front of you to spray their legs, make sure to have them slightly bend their knees as you spray over them. You’ll want to instruct them to do the same bend in the elbows when you start spraying the back of the arms. This will stretch the skin to allow the solution to permeate the skin that may be hidden by the folds of the skin to reduce any white lines from forming. In the neck area, you will want to take the same concept with stretching the skin by instructing the client to tilt their chin up slightly so you have better access to the neck and can evenly coat the area.

Step 2: Blending 

Instructing your clients to position in a way that stretches the skin is a great way to reduce the look of crepey lines in the folds of the skin. However, to go above and beyond and create an even more natural result, we recommend to blend out the area! To accomplish this, take a brush, such as the X-Tan Blending Brush, and gently buff the area on the elbows, knees and neck where you see any folding or formation of crepey lines. This will help create a more seamless result once the tan has fully developed. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you’ve noticed the lines of the elbows or knees didn’t get evenly coated even after instructing your client to bend the area, sometimes it can be difficult to blend out the area with just a brush once the solution has started to dry on the skin. In this situation it can be helpful to lightly spray your brush with a small amount of spray tan solution or prep spray in order to get more leverage in blending out the solution that has already started to dry. 

Pro Tip: There may be moments when you have an older client that cannot comfortably bend their knees enough while standing for their spray tan, therefore making it nearly impossible to stretch the skin enough to reduce the appearance of lines. If this is the case, it can be beneficial to have the client sit in a chair after they’ve been sprayed in order to reveal the lines on the knees. This gives you a better opportunity to view the lines that have formed and blend them out more easily and effectively while keeping the client comfortable. 

As spray tan artists, we know that skin to skin contact is not great for the longevity or proper development of a sunless tan. This is something we have to consider when thinking about reducing the appearance of crepey lines on certain areas of the body. The Bending & Blending Technique is great for producing more natural results for your clients, but it can be a concern, depending on the client’s skin, if the area will still develop to look crepey from any movement the client does during their development. Applying finishing powder after blending is a great way to go a step further and help ensure a more flawless result for your clients. Finishing powder helps to set the area after you’ve fully blended it out to decrease the possibility of the solution moving from any friction or skin to skin contact. 

The trickiest part about being a spray tan artist and producing flawless results every time is that everyone’s bodies are different! In order to be successful in offering a service that is inclusive to all different body types, shapes, sizes and ages, we have to be knowledgeable about the techniques that will set us apart. You want to be able to position your sunless biz as the place that can be trusted by all clients to consistently produce five star results. In order to transform your business into the go-to spot for sunless tanning in your town, knowledge and education is key! At Spray Tan Class we offer Spray Tan Certification Courses for sunless artists of all levels. To learn which course is the ultimate fit for you in your journey to growing your business to 5-6 figures, head over to the Courses Tab on the Spray Tan Class website today!

Xoxo,

Kelly