Eye Pro, Inc.

I receive many emails from tanners concerned about protecting their vision when tanning. Here is one about a common mistake that can easily be avoided.

Dear Brenda:

I had my first sunbed session yesterday and used the gold eye stickers. I did not put them on correctly and just stuck them like a sticker on my eyelid. I was in the tanning bed for eight minutes. My eyes were also closed the whole time – do you think I damaged my eyes?

Thanks for your help,
Rob

I responded:

Hi, Rob:

Thanks for your question – it’s a good one. I appreciate you caring about your eyesight enough to ask. Shame on the salon staff for not explaining how to use dispos-able eye protection!

The display box for every disposable brand has a diagram that shows assembly, as well as a photo of a person properly wearing the product. You’ll also find directions on the back of every pair, regardless of manufacturer. We recommend that salons display the stickers folded into cones placed on top of the box, so tanners see how to use them properly.

Luckily, disposables are a complete UV-block, so wearing the sticker flat on your eyelid protected you reasonably well, but didn’t block all of the ambient light that may reach the sides of your eyes. In addition, it probably created a big, white “raccoon eye” tan line, since the sticker covered more of your eye area than is necessary for vision protection. When folded into cones, the stickers block ambient light and you can see through them, allowing you to adjust sun- bed controls and check the timer without removing the eye protection. In a booth, vision is also critical for a safe exit.

The greatest danger to your eyes during indoor tanning is photokeratitis, or an eye burn, which causes redness, itching and watering.

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April 2019 – EYE PRO, Inc., world leader in disposable eye protection for indoor tanning and makers of Ultra Gold WINK-EASE, Lash Room WINK-EASE and WINK-EASE Dark, is offering fun tanning ads for salons to use to promote their pro-tanning presence on social media.

“With today’s world driven so much by social media, we want to help support the salons and our industry in any way we can,”  stated Brenda Fishbaugh, President of EYE PRO, Inc,. “We have created a ton of fun and positive seasonal tanning memes that are available at no cost to salons to post on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to help promote tanning during the Spring season.”

“Social media has changed the way businesses communicate and interact with their clients, and tanning memes are a way to make a fun, positive, immediate connection,” suggests Jackie DeWald, Office Manager for EYE PRO. “Spring is a perfect time to extend your sales season.  It’s important to still stay in front of tanning clients as they start going outside to tan.”  (more…)

Every day, thousands of tanners think they’re protecting their faces during a UV session by using a hand towel meant for wiping sweat off their bodies. Women who cover their faces with a towel think they are protected from UV rays and getting dreaded wrinkles … WRONG!

A towel provides a sun protection factor (SPF) of 5 – not enough to protect your face and certainly not enough to protect your eyes! For protecting our eyes during a tanning session, the FDA has only approved the use of UV-block goggles and disposable eye protection. But let’s talk about how that towel is also not protecting your SKIN.

Did you know that many clothing manufacturers are now offering UV-Block garments? Why? Simply because the clothes we wear outdoors in sunny weather do not provide protection from UV damage. Yes, the tanning rays are sufficiently blocked, so you aren’t tanning your skin, but all the invisible rays penetrate the fabric, possibly causing damage. “Weave is more important than fabric type,” reports the Skin Cancer Foundation newsletter. “The tighter the weave, the higher the SPF and darker clothes tend to be a higher SPF,” the report asserts.

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March 2019 – EYE PRO, Inc., world leader in disposable eye protection for indoor tanning and makers of Ultra Gold WINK-EASE, Lash Room WINK-EASE and WINK-EASE Dark, loves to support salons by offering social media tips.

Many salons use social media such as Facebook and Instagram to promote tanning salon products and services. “Of the myriad of social media platforms salons use, many skip Pinterest,” observes EYE PRO president Brenda Fishbaugh.  “Pinterest can be used as a ‘storage locker’ for all your tanning memes. In addition to keeping your tanning posts, you can also ‘pin’ interesting items onto ‘Bulletin Boards’ that act as folders to categorize tanning articles, salon decor ideas, beach photos, local events and photos and your before/after captures,” Fishbaugh continues.  

“In reviewing our WINK-EASE Pinterest ‘Followers’, we noted that salons ‘pinning’ on Pinterest often have ‘Boards’ called ‘Luscious Lotions’, ‘Decor Dreams’, ‘Inspiration’, ‘Sunless Tanning’, ‘Tanning Memes’, ‘Tan Staff Education Info’, ‘Tanning Tips’, ‘Tanning Fun’, and ‘Red Light’, says Jackie DeWald, EYE PRO office manager. “For example, if you had Marketing memes created called, ‘Spring Tanning Deals’, you wouldn’t want your customers or your competitors to be able to see it.  Simply ‘hide’ that Board until you are ready for the big reveal, and then with the click of a single button, the Board is now seen by all of your followers!” exclaims Jackie DeWald, EYE PRO office manager.  (more…)

Whenever I present a seminar to a group of salon operators, nearly a third of the audience tells me they provide “shared” goggles to their tanners. They say that they feel it is the key to eliminating excuses for not wearing eye protection.

Then I ask them, “Okay, you are loaning your guests goggles at no charge – but how many do you sincerely believe are wearing them during their sessions?”

The answer: “Half. Half of my tanners wear eye protection.”

Why would only half of your guests use eyewear that you provide at no cost? The answer is simple.

Salon tanners often express concerns about wearing provided community goggles. They see the leftover “mascara ring” in the eye cups and freak out! They see the soak-tank on your counter with a layer of makeup floating on top, and they are less than comfortable with getting those goggles anywhere near their eyes. They see the “clean” goggles lying on a towel on your counter, but that’s unappealing. Questions cross their mind:

“Were they rinsed?”

“Why are they sitting out in the open and picking up germs from the air?”

“How often do they change that cleaning solution?”

“Is the cleaner so strong it could hurt my eyes?”

Back to my seminar: Now, I address the operators who only sell eye protection and do not loan it to tanners but require them to have their own. Some of these salons provide disposable eyewear, some include a pair of new goggles with a membership. Some merely sell eye protection, but do not provide re useable goggles.

“Why do you insist that tanners have their own eyewear?” I ask this group.

The answers:

“We are worried about spreading disease by not cleaning goggles correctly.” 

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February 2019 – EYE PRO, Inc., world leader in disposable eye protection for indoor tanning and makers of Ultra Gold WINK-EASE, Lash Room WINK-EASE and WINK-EASE Dark, works with salons to keep clients educated about protecting their vision.

“Salons have an uphill battle in educating tanners on the importance of eye protection. Many clients won’t wear eyewear to avoid tan lines around their eyes,” says Brenda Fishbaugh, EYE PRO president. “We work with your staff to provide tips to share so tanners can avoid the dreaded ‘raccoon eyes’ and wear their eye protection every time they tan,” explains Fishbaugh, a 28-year tanning industry veteran.

It’s so important for tanners to tan with a clean face, and remove all lotions and makeup, as SPF products will cause large raccoon eyes.  Even men’s facial moisturizers can contain SPF and prevent their faces from tanning. “One tip we stress is to be sure to remove those products completely BEFORE you tan,” explains Jackie DeWald, EYE PRO Office Manager. “Another quick tip is to move your eye protection slightly during the session, which will diminish any possible tan line.  We also like to suggest applying a dab of bronzing lotion on the eyelid and under the eye after tanning to help minimize any possible lines eye protection might leave,” enthuses DeWald.
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Last month, I wrote about what a state tanning inspector might look for during a visit to your salon. I was astonished to learn that in addition to state or city inspections, tanning insurance coverage now requires an inspection, as well! I asked Natalea Platt of Insurtec, a leading tanning insurance company, to walk us through what an insurance inspection might look like, and how it differs from a regulatory inspection.

Natalea surprised me by telling me that the inspectors aren’t there to inspect your beds and electrical setup, per se. The electrical service will be checked to make sure the supply to each tanning system is correct. Inspectors will also check the cords and cables around the tanning beds for trip hazards and normal wear and tear, such as an exposed wire on a power cord. Although the inspectors probably won’t check sunbed fans, it’s a good idea for you to inspect them; they could start a fire if they overheat due to being dirty and not properly lubricated. “Our insurance inspectors want to prevent the most common causes of damage and lawsuits,” explains this insurance veteran. “Inspectors will check your furnace and water heater area to see if you are storing combustible materials next to the furnace, water heater or washers and dryers. That’s a huge cause of fires, so the safe choice is to not have anything in your utility room.”

Another no-no is taping a breaker in your electrical box. “That’s a fire waiting to happen,” Platt informs. “And, are your fire extinguishers up to date?Do you know your city and state law on fire extinguishers? They may need to be inspected by the fire department. But we really want you to evacuate in the case of a fire and not mess around trying to find and operate a fire extinguisher.”

I was astounded to learn that water damage is another big insurance claim. “We insist that every spray-tan booth has a water shut-off valve,” Platt adds. “It is important to shut off the water valve to each spray-tan booth and your washing machine, every night. This way, if a pipe breaks, your salon isn’t flooded. Pedicure chairs also have to have a shut-off valve, as a leak can flood a salon overnight.”

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January 2018 – EYE PRO, Inc., world leader in disposable eye protection for indoor tanning and makers of Ultra Gold WINK-EASE, Lash Room WINK-EASE and WINK-EASE Dark, is offering salons an easy and effective way to help SHOW tanners why eye protection is critical.   

“Salon owners have expressed their frustration about how tanners don’t seem to understand the importance of eye protection,” says Brenda Fishbaugh, EYE PRO president. “While many salon staff learn about the importance of wearing eye protection as part of a certification such as ‘Sun Is Life’, salon owners still look for ways to help staff translate those hours of study into a quick 30-second message when the tanner walks through the door,” continued Fishbaugh.   (more…)

State inspections are usually a surprise, and planned to catch you and your team off-guard. I asked Diane Hannig, Owner of Sinfully Good Body and Soul in Ohio, what inspectors have looked for in her dozen salon inspections. “Ohio is a very tough state,” explains Hannig. “The first thing they want to see are your equipment manuals, along with your lamp-compatibility chart. This is a Federal law, so you need to have the manual where your staff can find it if you aren’t at the salon.” 

Hannig says that after she shows inspectors her well-organized three-ring binders with all her electrical and bed technical info, they always walk around the salon and poke into every nook and cranny, spending extra care in the bathroom to ensure it is sanitary. During their visit, the inspectors will not allow the salon staff to follow them. They want to see towels stored away, not out in the open where they pick up airborne contaminants. This was new to me! “They do not want to see bed-cleaning solution left in the room,” Hannig adds. “They want to see clean towels every time for wiping down each bed, so that sweat and body fluids aren’t being shared with the next tanner.” She says the inspectors want to see a log of when we made up each batch of cleaning solution. Each bed cleaner brand requires fresh solution to be mixed every 24 hours, so inspectors want to see your log and who is mixing it. “They will test it with litmus strips and expect you to have litmus strips in your mixing station,” Hannig shares. In addition, inspectors may ask to see your Standard Procedures Manual and Staff Training Manual. What are your policies for pregnant tanners, people under-18,tanners who won’t wear eyewear, and what to do in an emergency? This all needs to be in a manual for staff reference after they are trained.

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December 2018, MANCHESTER, UK – Brenda Fishbaugh, President of Eye Pro, Inc., world leader in disposable eye protection for indoor tanning and makers of Ultra Gold WINK-EASE, Lash Room WINK- EASE and WINK-EASE Dark, had the recent privilege of being the featured speaker on the importance of protective eyewear at SHINE2018 in Manchester, United Kingdom in November.

“Presented by The Sunbed Association (TSA), SHINE2018 brings together industry experts from around the world to offer the latest trends, developments and insights,” explained Brenda Fishbaugh, Eye Pro President. “It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to meet with so many tanning studios throughout the UK and Ireland, because the approach to eyewear, internationally, is very different than it is in the U.S.,” Fishbaugh continued. “Speaking directly with the salon owners provides me a better understanding of how to best create eye protection educational materials to suit their learning style and customer base. (more…)