The Benefit Of Using Barrier Cream During A Spray Tan

Let’s talk Barrier Cream! Barrier Cream is one of the prep items that you should keep on deck in your spray tan kit to improve the overall experience your client has at their appointment and the results they get once their tan develops. When starting up your sunless biz, there’s a lot to consider. When mapping out everything you need for your business, you may think, “is barrier cream really even necessary?” Of course, having another product in your kit means an additional business expense. Especially at the beginning of your business journey, you want to try to be frugal and invest in must-have items. That’s why we are here to tell you that using barrier cream on your clients when prepping their skin for a spray tan can be a game changer in the result they receive from their service. The goal is to always create a natural looking tan that has your clients falling more in love with their results every time they look in the mirror. With that being said, let’s discuss the benefits of barrier cream and how you can incorporate it into appointment prep to help create the most flawless spray tan ever!

What is it?

Barrier cream is exactly what the name sounds like - it’s a thick lotion that is meant to act as a “barrier” between the spray tan solution and the skin. The reason barrier cream is different from your regular day-to-day lotion, is because it is made to have a thicker viscosity so that it doesn’t allow as much of the solution to penetrate into the skin.

Why to Use It?

We use barrier cream, as stated above, to create a barrier between the spray tan solution and the skin. You may be thinking, “isn’t that the opposite of what we are trying to accomplish!?” The reason behind doing this is so that we can create the most natural results possible. Since there are some areas on the body that tend to have more dryness than others, it’s important that we create a barrier and moisturize those areas extra in order to allow the solution to develop on the skin evenly. Using barrier cream on specific areas ensures that the solution doesn’t oversaturate areas that are notorious for being dry.

How to Use It?

Barrier Cream is a holy grail product for making sure those hands, feet and wrists look super natural. If we were to not apply barrier cream on the areas of the skin that tend to be more dry, we take the risk of producing a tan that pulls an “orange” tint on those specific areas. This is not a good look, friend! Here are the areas to apply barrier cream on your client:

Hands & Palms

Sides of feet

Ankles

Nails on hands and feet

Birthmarks

Dark spots

Elbows

Knees

Any other dry spots

Although we do recommend that clients come to an appointment without ANYTHING on their skin, as the spray tan artist, barrier cream is an important product to use for skin prep. When prepping your client’s skin before you start spraying them, it’s important to remember that barrier cream should be applied to any area of the skin that could pull too much solution or create any unevenness in color. Essentially this would be any area that is more dry or is shown to have hyperpigmentation, such as age spots and birthmarks, that will darken up even more once the spray tan is developed. Applying a light layer of barrier cream on these areas will allow the spray tan to develop looking natural and help even out the overall skin tone of the client. 

Understanding which items to have in your kit and what role they play in creating the results that you and your clients are after can set you apart as an artist and expert in your industry! If you’re ready to step up your education so you can be the most sought after spray tan artist in your town, head over to spraytanclass.com to explore all of our Spray Tan Certification Courses!

Xoxo,

Kelly