BECOME A CLEANING MACHINE SALON UPKEEP KEY TO SUCCESS by Nikki Brand

Keep clients happy and protect your equipment investment by following a detailed maintenance and cleaning schedule.   

Ever had a sunbed go down on a busy day during peak season? It wasn’t fun, was it? Turns out, dust isn’t just unsightly, it can also affect how your equipment functions. Good maintenance practices can prevent costly repairs while keeping your tanners happy. So, grab a dust cloth and your tools and get your rear in gear!

Don't work Against Yourself

Your best intentions won’t keep improper cleaning supplies from actually ruining your equipment. Don’t use over-the-counter products for convenience or to save a buck. Buy disinfectant cleaners designated for cleaning sunbeds and acrylics from your tanning supply distributor. Store bought products, like glass cleaners, contain ingredients that can cause a chemical reaction and make acrylic shields cloudy – therefore blocking the transmission of UV light. In fact, leaving products like baby wipes in the rooms as a courtesy for tanners can be a bad idea – they might decide to clean the unit themselves and the ingredients in the wipes will also cloud the acrylics. Follow the instructions for mixing your disinfectant solution, if mixing is necessary, and use it between each session to clean everything the tanner comes into contact with – the acrylics, the canopy or booth handle, the pillow, and the chair. Always use a lint-free cloth to clean, as even soft-feeling paper towels are made of wood pulp that can scratch acrylics. Although you’ll probably want to clean the towels your clients use with liquid fabric softener/dryer sheets so they are soft, skip the softener when washing your cleaning towels to increase absorbency. Don’t let your staff get sloppy when the salon is busy – thoroughly clean sunbed acrylics so that tingle lotion doesn’t linger from a previous tanner and irritate the next client’s skin.

First Impressions Count

Clients should be able to tell their tanning room is spic and span as soon as they enter it. Empty trashcans between sessions and make sure the floor is clean. Wipe up tile floors with a cloth and especially watch for lotion spills that could make the floor slippery. If you can’t use a hand vac on carpet or rugs between sessions, use a lint brush or roller to capture sock fuzz, strings and hair. It only takes a few seconds! Wipe door handles if greasy from lotion and check the walls for lotion squirts. Being attentive to the appearance of the entire salon will pay off, too. There should never be a moment when your staff if bored; there’s always something to clean in the lobby, hallways, bathroom, or even just keeping fingerprints off the front door!

Nightly Duties

More time-consuming and heavy duty cleaning can be done at the end of the day. Use a sponge to clean the exterior of the tanning units with a 70/30 mixture of warm water and ammonia to remove dust and dirt that settles on the equipment during the day. Make sure to wring out the sponge well before using, so water doesn’t drip into the electrical circuitry of the equipment. All-purpose cleaner should be used to remove any lotion from the lamp screens in stand-up units, as it will harden and become difficult to clean. Make sure employees know how to remove the lamp screens, as they might need to use some glass cleaner and a soft cloth to wipe lotion off the lamps. Stand-up dressing rooms can be washed down with the ammonia/water solution. Now that there’s more time, thoroughly mop or vacuum the floors of the rooms and use spot cleaner for stains on rugs or carpeting.

Keep A schedule

A good way to keep an equipment maintenance routine is to coordinate it with your lamp schedule. Deep cleaning should take place four times during the life of your lamps: at 100-150 hours (remove and clean/polish the acrylics on both sides, wipe lamps and interior with damp cloth), at 300-350 hours (deep-cleaning and re-install lamps), at 500-550 hours (same procedure as 100-150 hours), and at 600 hours (deep-clean and complete lamp change). A good rule of thumb for changing lamps is to change them at two-thirds of their recommended life. Salon software can track lamp hours and help schedule the next cleaning.

An Inside Job

There are many steps to thoroughly cleaning the inside of equipment. Here are some suggested procedures for keeping tanning systems clean and in peak operating condition:

• Before deep-cleaning any equipment interior, turn off the tanning unit at the circuit breaker box.

• Remove the acrylic shields (or lamp screens, in stand-ups) and sunlamps. The cardboard material used in sunlamp packaging can be saved and used to carefully stack the lamps.

• Clean the acrylics (both sides) with an approved cleaner and then polish them using an acrylic polish and set them aside.

• Remove stand-up lamp screens and clean them with the ammonia/water mixture.

• Using a hand-vacuum and soft bristle brush attachment, clean out dust, dirt and hair from the exhaust fans and reflective materials and carefully vac around the lamp sockets, too.

• To be even more thorough, use a dampened cotton swab to remove lingering dust from crevices and around lamp sockets.

• Check lamp sockets and connections for signs of wear and damage and make replacements as needed.

• Clean filters and ballast trays.

• If the sunbed bench and canopy are separate pieces, turn the bench on its side and thoroughly clean and vacuum the bottom of the bench, fans, and anything that looks dirty.

• While doing all the nitty-gritty cleaning, pull the sunbed away from the wall and vacuum/mop the floors, dust the baseboards and wash the walls at the ends of the bed.

• Spray some glass cleaner on a clean, lint-free cloth and wipe the reflective material until it shines. (Do not spray cleaner directly onto the sunbed, spray it onto the cloth.)

• Clean the gas springs as oil, dust and dirt can settle on and around them.

• Get the clean, lint-free cloth moderately damp with glass cleaner and wipe new or old lamps from end to end – one at a time – before placing them back into the sunbed. (Don’t clean all of them at once because dust could settle on them while waiting to be installed.)

• Run a tanning unit with new lamps for 10 minutes before metering output.

• Before replacing the acrylics, measure the sunlamps’ UV output by holding the meter two inches above the lamp surface at three separate points: at the center, and 10 inches from both ends of each lamp. (The reading should be taken at a position on the lamp that has reflective material behind it. A reading done at a position near a ventilation hole will not be a true one.)

• Reinstall the acrylic shields or lamp screens.

• Measure the output of each sunlamp again. If the UV transmission drops below 10 percent of the reading taken with the acrylics off, then the acrylics need to be replaced.

Be Prepared

It’s best to have a few replacement parts on hand if repairs are needed in a pinch. Having a sunbed down for even a day while waiting for a part to be shipped overnight is costly. Some items to keep in stock are:

•  Ballast(s)

• Lamp socket

• Capacitor

• Contactor

•  Starter

• Ignitor

• Relay

• Terminal block

• Acrylic shield

• Lamps

• Facial glass

• Timer mechanisms

These maintenance routines can keep your equipment and salon in tip-top condition and sparking clean, which means happy tanners…which means more sales…it’s a win-win!

Awesome Acrylics

A Little TLC Helps Acrylics

Without good acrylics, clients will complain they aren’t achieving the tan they desire. And if acrylics aren’t properly maintained, you will be shelling out a lot of money – replacing them more often than you should. Follow these simple tips for maintaining acrylic quality.

Much like a sunlamp, an acrylic shield has a “life span.” After about 2,500-3,000 hours of use, it’s usually time to replace the shield even if it doesn’t appear to be damaged. One easy way to tell if a sunbed’s acrylics need to be replaced is if the cut edge of the shield appears to have a slight yellow tinge.

A UVB light meter can be used to monitor an acrylic shield’s deterioration. Use the meter to take a reading when the acrylic and sunlamps are new. At regular intervals, measure the UVB output with the acrylics both on and off the bed, and compare the results. If there is a difference of 10 percent or more, then it’s time to get new acrylics.

It’s best to use 100-percent cotton cloths for cleaning your acrylic shields between tanners. Paper towels are made from wood pulp, which can scratch the acrylic’s surface. Remember to use a different cloth for each sunbed to avoid the risk of cross-contamination.

Only use disinfectants/cleaners that are designed for sunbed acrylic shields. Store-bought glass cleaners and similar solutions will scratch the shield and produce a chemical reaction that makes it cloudy, which will block UV transmission.  

When cleaning the acrylic shields between tanning sessions, use the “double spray, double wipe” method. Spray the sunbed with the acrylic cleaner, wipe, and repeat. This will insure that all harmful bacteria, fungi, and viruses that could be present are destroyed.  UVA and UVB light kill only some bacteria – but not disease-producing bacteria.

Remember to remove the sunbed pillow and clean it after each session, as well as the place on the shield where the pillow lays. Vinyl sunbed pillows tend to trap heat, which can cause the acrylic directly underneath to overheat and become damaged. Removing the pillow from the bed to clean it will release some of that heat.

If a shield becomes scratched, polish it with a product made specifically for the indoor tanning industry. These polishes can also be used regularly to help strengthen the acrylic, and should be applied using a cloth towel, not a paper towel.

Install sunbed fans correctly and frequently check them. If they aren’t working properly, excess heat could build up inside the sunbed and lead to acrylic degradation, or damage to components inside the bed (not to mention tanner discomfort).

If you believe a bed needs new or extra acrylic supports, order them! The acrylic will experience less stress with the supports in place, and you will have peace of mind.