sunbed acrylic megasun luxura maintenance cyrano

Five tips to keep your sunbed acrylic pristine

Ensuring that you are caring for your acrylic properly is a necessity when considering your sunbed maintenance. Proper care will ensure longevity of your equipment, as well as a comfortable tanning experience and enhanced results for your clients. Acrylics have a lifespan of 5-6 years, but will eventually deteriorate as a reaction to UV exposure. However, when not cared for correctly, these can deteriorate at a much faster rate or even crack.

To slow down the speed of deterioration, ensure you are confident about the care of your acrylic and maintain a great tanning performance, we have compiled five top tips. These cover not only cleanliness and general care, but also what your customers can do to ensure the wellbeing of your acrylic.

1. Encourage your clients to remove their jewellery before tanning

When tanning, tanners should remove all jewellery to avoid scratching the sunbed. Scratching acrylics leads to damage and ultimately your acrylic needing to be replaced sooner than necessary.

Jewellery can also harm your customers. Metal can heat up whilst tanning, leading to skin being burned. Therefore by encouraging your customers to remove their jewellery and watches, you protect both your customers and your machinery.

2. Check what your customers are using before their session – NO MINERAL OILS

During our training sessions, we always advise your staff to ask clients “what lotion are you using today?”. There are many reasons for this.

  1. If customers are bringing in lotions that you don’t stock, this is a great way to research what is popular.
  2. If a client brings in a tingle lotion, you can prepare for after their session. When a tingle lotion has been used, it’s imperative that you clean this bed twice to remove any trace of the tingle before your next tanner uses the sunbed. Otherwise, the lotion could transfer onto the following tanner, affecting their tanning experience.
  3. You will find out if a customer is planning on applying a product which is not suitable for sunbeds.

Acrylics are porous, so when a sunbed warms up, the acrylic will expand and contract. This ability to flex ensures that the acrylic doesn’t crack in the fluctuating temperatures.

Some tanners like to apply mineral oils (oils or lotions which contain petrolatum, petroleum or paraffin such as baby oil). These aren’t for sunbed use and therefore don’t contain the skincare ingredients needed to keep skin nourished whilst tanning. Plus, mineral oils can damage the acrylic. When the sunbed is working and the acrylic expands, it can also lead to the absorption of mineral oils. However, where the acrylic looks to contract at the end of the tanning session, mineral oils can prevent this movement. Over time, mineral oils build up and become visible – the acrylic becomes cloudy and streaky where oils have been absorbed. These products prevent the acrylic’s natural movement, resulting in the acrylic cracking and needing to be replaced prematurely. Plus the cloudiness hinders the your sunbed’s performance, as UV light can’t travel as well.

3. Clean acrylics after every tanning session and at the end of the day

Once a customer has tanned, it is necessary to clean and disinfect your sunbed. As sunbeds get warm, and people perspire whilst tanning, this environment can become a hot spot for bacteria. By cleaning your acrylics, or leaving cleaning materials for your clients to use after every session, this will prevent a build up of bacteria.

At the end of the day, always disinfect the acrylic and give it a deep clean to rid the acrylic of any residue lotion. This also removes any sweat left by customers during their sessions. Not only does this ensure your sunbed is hygienic, it was also prevent your sunbed acrylic from deteriorating prematurely. If you don’t remove sweat, it sometimes builds up on the acrylic, which is not only unhygienic, but also very damaging to your acrylic’s longevity.

4. Periodically clean the underside of your acrylics

Although tanners do not touch this side of the acrylic, dust and dirt can build up. Not only is this unsightly, but it can also prevent UV reaching your customers as well, hindering their tanning results. Although this isn’t necessary after every session like the topside of the acrylic, you should do this frequently to ensure your sunbed is performing to its best ability.

It’s also a good idea to vacuum clean this area when the acrylic is cleaned. This will help to remove any extra dust or debris from the lamps too.

5. Use appropriate cleaning materials

A common misunderstanding many salons have, is that you are able to use household cleaners and disinfectants on your sunbed to clean it. However any products containing alcohol can damage your acrylics, as alcohol and harsh chemicals in household disinfectants can cause the acrylic to deteriorate faster. Household cleaners can also affect your clients as the ingredients aren’t sensitive on skin. When cleaning your sunbed, only cleaning products and disinfectants specifically designed for tanning beds should be used to ensure the longevity of your sunbed, top quality hygiene and the best tanning experience for your customers.

We recommend Smart clean. Always follow the instructions supplied.