How To Create Your Own DIY Extraction Fan

There’s many many things to consider when starting your spray tan business. There may also be times when you feel overwhelmed by all of the different considerations that you feel you have to make. You have equipment, solution, paperwork, systems, marketing and so much more to think about when getting your business up and running. We know you want things to be absolutely perfect when it comes to your new venture and we know that the fear and doubt that can set in, particularly when it comes to having to invest in your beauty biz can have your palms sweating at times. Today we want to explore why it’s important to have an extraction fan available during your spray tan appointments and how to create an extraction fan in an affordable way, because we know you like to save dat money!

First of all, if you’re just getting into starting your biz, you may be thinking “What the HAIL is an extraction fan!?” Having an extraction fan for your sunless business is basically your ventilation system because it acts in a way that sucks in the extra solution from overspray into a filter so that it doesn’t get into the eyes, nose or mucous membranes of you or your client. There’s two reasons in particular why having an extraction fan is important whether you're a mobile artist or you have a salon.

1. Health 

The extraction fan ensures that extra overspray during your appointment is not inhaled by you or your client. As much as we try to cut down on the amount of overspray that we have by perfecting our technique, it is just the name of the game that some overspray will take place. The goal of having this extraction fan is to increase the protection of you and your clients and keep the overspray out of your respiratory system or from getting into the eyes or mucous membranes. 

2. Cleanliness

Using an extraction fan can help with the cleanliness of you or your client’s space during an appointment. As mentioned above, overspray is something that is inevitable during a spray tan appointment. That means that the overspray has the ability to settle on floors, walls, baseboards and essentially anywhere in the space you’re spraying. Taking into account cleanliness is important for mobile and in studio artists. For mobile artists, you want to try to keep the cleanliness of your client’s homes the same as before you arrived to spray them. For spray tan artists with their own studio, you’re generally doing many spray tans back to back and that can greatly affect the cleanliness of your space because of the build up of overspray. 

Now that we know why having an extraction fan is a MUST, how do you go about actually including them into you business in a way that’s affordable? Many studio artists will have a commonly used stationary extraction system where there are multiple fans built in to suck all the extra overspray in during the appointment. However, for mobile artists, this isn’t an ideal option. Therefore, you have the option to get crafty and make your own DIY version of an extraction fan, how fun! In order to do this you will use a regular 20x20 box fan and a filter. With the box fan it’s important that you have the fan facing backward against the tent so that it is sucking in the overspray instead of working like a normal fan would and blowing the overspray away. Then you will attach a filter to the back of the fan. The great thing about this is that you can get very affordable filters at your local hardware store, some of which can even be washed and reused! When attaching the filter to the fan you can use tape or zip ties so that the filters can be easily removed and changed everyday.

Just like that, you will have your very own ventilation system to bring with you on your appointments and it will most likely cost you less than $30! We love a frugal Glow Boss. If you would like a more in depth explanation of what it looks like to create your own extraction fan, head over to the Spray Tan Class Channel on youtube.com!

Xoxo,

Kelly