Our competition solution is back in stock--read on to see what we suggest including in your "Competitive Beauty Bag of Tricks"!
For those technicians who aren’t familiar with our competition solutions, here’s a brief summary of their awesomeness:
Competition solution is specially engineered for Competitive Body Building or Pageant clients. This solution—Deadly or Intervention—is designed to hold up under bright lights and sweaty scenarios of the competitive world. It may be used for pageants or body building events. It does not have DHA in it, so it will wash off in the shower. Many people use our competition solutions for weekend events because they have regular jobs Monday through Friday and do not want to sport an “extreme tan” all week.
Let's say you’ve decided your niche will be tanning tiny beauty queens on your local pageant circuit. Now what? Time to create your Beauty Bag of Tricks.
First, start with time.
Never, I repeat, never use new solutions on the day of a major event. If you’ve never used it before, you’re likely in for a treat. Will it be the same color as you expect? Will it dry like expected? Will it be sticky? Even if you have used it and ordered the same bottle 100 times, still be sure to check the solution. What if the formula was changed? What if the bottle is mislabeled? What if…? What if…? What if…?
Give yourself a day or two to experiment with the solution. Test a few people or test a few spots on your body.
Next, grab a watch—your watch. Because competition solutions do not have DHA in them (and will wash off), they begin to oxidize after several hours. When solutions oxidize, you may notice the color fading from that gorgeous tan to a lighter mocha, or you may notice the fading tan has a tinge of green (similar to a healing ‘black and blue’ mark).
Note the time when you apply the solution and continually check the time. Monitor the solution to see at what point it begins to oxidize.* In general, this takes a few hours. However, it will always vary depending on your surrounding atmosphere.
One of the many fabulous features of competition solution is the ability to reapply layer after layer without removing the previous coat. When you notice the tan beginning to fade, simply apply another coat to revive your tan.
If you are between events during a pageant, take a few minutes to give your girls a boost. Spray tanning tykes takes only minutes, so squeeze in a second coat between the talent and swim suit events.
While most people would think all you need is time and solution in your bag of tricks, there are several other products we suggest. Aside from the obvious Undercover: Pop Up Tent and Competition solutions throw in the following:
□ Client Disposables
□ A Back Up Plan
□ Clean Up Supplies
Here’s why:
Client Disposables like Sole Patrols: Sole Shields, Over It: Hair Caps and Nobody Nose: Nose Filters cover the most important parts of the body. While we offer many other disposables to choose from, in a fast-paced competition setting there is usually not much time to redress head to toe in disposables. Hit the main ones and hit the floor running!
A Back Up Plan is great to have. What happens if you run out of competition solution? What if the bottle leaked and it's all gone? What if you grabbed the wrong solution? I recommend tossing a 0% training solution—Superficial or Withdrawal— in your bag to have on hand. This solution will not hold up as well as the competition solution, but it is dark (and can be darkened) and washes off. Keep Killer Envy on hand to darken the bronzer in the training solution. In the event that you should need a “real tan” in a hurry, keep an Interested: Solution Sampler Kit on hand. The small bottles are easy to carry and you have several options on hand for an emergency.
Cleaning Up is a breeze with products like Erased, On Location, Clean Up Crew. Erased: Clean Up Cup with Lid allows you to wash away any messes and you can wipe up with On Location: Black Floor Towels or Clean Up Crew: Black Hand Towels.
But you only have two hands—how to carry it all?
Check out our travel bags. You can easily fit solutions, disposables and an HVLP gun into our Loaded: Organizer Bag. Simply drop the Loaded bag into our Entourage: Rolling Duffel and add your favorite piece of HVLP equipment and roll on your way.
Good luck in your new market! Go for Gold!
*While a lot of competitive events begin (almost) before the sun comes up, it is not recommended to tan clients with competition the night before a big event. You will not like the results. The tan will look fabulous immediately after the applications, but the solution will oxidize after 6-8 hours...and that’s no good! Because the competition solution is specially engineered for these events (and to be washed off after), there is no DHA present and it will begin to change after it is exposed to air for several hours. The ideal way to use competition solution is to apply two coats to the client’s skin, once about 2 hours prior to an event and once about an hour before. This will give the client a wonderfully dark color! And the best part is that you can keep reapplying the solution every few hours (or as it starts to oxidize)…no shower needed! Competition solutions are available for purchase starting at $30 for a 16 ounce bottle.
