Eye Pro, Inc.

Jim Bivens, Operator of The Islands tanning facility in Pine- hurst, NC reminds his guests to wear eye protection with these words: “If you are blind, you can’t see your tan!” One day, a blind person walked into his salon seeking a tan. Bivens now provides his severely vision-impaired tanner with sessions in a voice-activated Sun Angel tanning system, so the guest’s tanning experience is as simple as possible.

Bivens doesn’t run the only salon that serves a sight-impaired tanner. Renee Flask, Manager at Paradise Tanning in Capitola, CA has a tanner who requires a cane and holds items up to her face to read the labels. Flask enjoys reading la- bels and instructions for her. Her guest can’t drive and uses the bus system to come to the salon. “She says she really likes warming up, taking a nap and get- ting a bit of a break,” Flask shares.

Michelle Norvell, Owner of Bare Necessities Tanning Salon and Day Spa in Graham, WA places her sight-impaired client’s hands on the tanning system controls to remind her where everything is when it’s been a while since her last session.

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FT. WAYNE, IN – 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 even more support to salons to beef up their professional presence on social media. 

“Salons love our personalized ‘Eye Protection Expert’ certificates to display in their salons and show customers each staff member has been trained in all aspects of eye protection,” stated Eye Pro President, Brenda Fishbaugh. “Now, salons can receive a FREE ‘Eye Protection Expert Salon’ badge to post on the salon’s website and social media pages, letting potential and current tanners know the professionalism of the salon before they step foot in the door!” 

“We offer a FREE, award-winning, salon training online – available 24/7,” reminded Jackie DeWald, Eye Pro Office Manager. “Upon completion of this training, which explains both how to become an eyewear expert and a ton of easy ways to earn more on eyewear, salons will receive the ‘Eye Protection Expert Salon’ badge to proudly display on both the salon’s social media channels and website,” she continued. “When you run a professional salon with a highly educated staff, it’s so important to promote that to customers, and we feel our certificates and badge help send that message to salon clientele.”  (more…)

At this season’s trade shows, I heard from several salon operators that very few of their tanners were wearing eye protection, even those who had always worn it in the past. The reason? Smart phones! Everyone is busy texting or Candy Crushing during their tanning sessions. Don’t believe it? Think about how many phone calls you hear from your tanning rooms – your guest’s phones are definitely being used. If a salon owner didn’t believe me, I asked their staff members … yep, you guessed it! They are the worst culprits, catching up on texts and not wearing eye protec- tion so they can see their phones!

Is it dangerous to have your eyes open while tanning indoors? Yes; but only if you are NOT wearing eye protection. All goggles and disposable eye protection shown in major tan- ning product distributors’ catalogs and advertised in IST Magazine provide a complete UV block, and yes, they are all see-through. How can eye protection be see-through AND completely block ultraviolet light (UVA and UVB)? Remember: closing your eyes doesn’t block UV light because your eyelid skin is too thin. And, remember that the UV spectrum is invisible. The sunglasses you wear outdoors block UV and are still see-through, right? Indoor eye protection is exactly the same. They block damaging UV rays, but allow visible light (a completely different spectrum) through. The tint in sun- glasses and goggles is just to make it comfortable in the bright sun and a bright tanning bed. Dark sunglasses don’t block any more UV than very lightly tinted sunglasses.

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December 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, wants to make sure salons and tanners understand the dangers of not wearing proper eye protection when tanning.  Due to popularity, we are keeping with our 2019 training for the 2020 season, as salons found it highly entertaining and really instructive.

“Many salons don’t realize that an average tanning salon has less than 50% of their tanners wearing eye protection,” explained Brenda Fishbaugh, EYE PRO president. “A salon that aggressively sells eyewear and pushes eye protection safety could easily approach 70%! This leaves a lot of room for a salon to increase eyewear sales.”

“Eyewear sales can be quick and easy earnings and a great way to increase revenue – during season or even in slow months,” Fishbaugh continued. “Explaining the importance of wearing eye protection while tanning doesn’t require the same loads of explanation on why this lotion is better than that lotion, or why an EFT is a great idea.”

Fishbaugh has found that some salon staff don’t even wear eye protection. “A salon team won’t push eyewear if they don’t believe in it, or understand it’s the federal law for EVERY state,”  says Fishbaugh. She agrees it’s a battle for salon owners to educate tanners on the importance of eye protection. “Consider having your employees complete the Eye Protection Module in the online ‘Sun Is Life’ program,” she suggests.  “The fun, inexpensive and youth-oriented training involves role-playing situations of what to do when a customer says they don’t want eye protection or won’t spend money on goggles.”   (more…)

1.How did you get into the tanning industry?

Someone I previously worked with had been a college intern for (Eye Pro President) Brenda Fishbaugh and thought I would be a great fit for Eye Pro. I met with Brenda and 21 years later, we are still working together!

2.What do you like most about your job?

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November 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, encourages salons to look for opportunities to become involved in supporting their local community.

“Supporting small businesses within your community shows you care and support your local economy,” explained Brenda Fishbaugh, EYE PRO president. “You can choose from a variety of efforts and activities and pick one to do during the upcoming holidays — ‘Tans for Cans’, ‘Toys for Tots’, ‘Charity Tree’, or the support of a local family having a hard time, etc. (just to name a few) — the opportunities to give back are endless,” Fishbaugh continued. “It never hurts to ask your business contacts to help support a good cause too. You may find other manufacturers supporting your salon with lotions, eyewear or a variety of accessories who are more than willing to help.” 

EYE PRO loves working with salons to help support planned events. EYE PRO’s Celebration Pack with educational materials on why eye protection is important, as well as samples for the salon is available to provide to tanners who participate in a planned event. (more…)

Got a dry-erase board and a Facebook page? That’s all you need to offer “25 Days of Savings.” Every day leading up to Christmas, write a different special offer on your dry-erase board and post it on your Facebook page. Keep all the upcoming specials a secret, so customers have to come into your salon or look on Facebook to see what each day’s offer is. This is a great way to have fun and keep your customers focused on tanning during the distracting holidays!

Try offering spray-tans for a dis- counted price, free disposable eyewear with any purchase, teeth-whitening specials, free lotion packettes with every upgrade and “Buy 5 Tans, Get 1 FREE.” Don’t have 25 days until Christmas? Offer “12 Days of Savings,” instead.

Energize holiday sales by offering “Red Tag Lotion Specials.” On each lotion bottle is a sticker that offers discounted upgrades, free goggles, sun- less, moisturizers and the like – NOT a discounted lotion price! This encourages guests to buy the lotion to get the great deal; perhaps they will give the “special” item as a holiday gift. When the lotion is sold out, the Red Tag Sale is over. This creates an immediate need for your salon guests to buy and allows them to enjoy some savings!

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1. How did you get into the tanning industry?

I was at dinner with friends and they were trying to get me to leave the corporate world and work at one of their dozen companies. When they told me about Wink-Ease, I thought it was perfect. They made me president, gave me stock in the company, and that was 27 years ago.

2. What do you like most about your job?

First, I love the tanning industry. Secondly, I love the variety. I work on patents, international business, trade shows, social media, creating memes and contests, writing a column for IST Magazine, and I work with great tanning product distributors and individual salons worldwide. Jackie DeWald, my right-hand woman for over two decades, does all the heavy lifting and I get to do the fun stuff.

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October 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 helping make social media efforts easier for all salons with a simple “click” and a download — and it’s all for FREE!

“Social media is a constantly moving target,” explained Brenda Fishbaugh, EYE PRO president. “With so many options for social media, it can be hard to determine which is best for your salon. Finding social media ads, or ‘memes’, and promoting positive and responsible tanning can be a  time-consuming challenge,” Fishbaugh continued. “Memes offer a subtle and fun way to educate your clients on the importance of eyewear, lotions, and tanning tips, while helping you stay in front of clients on an on-going basis.”

To assist tanning salons with this challenge, EYE PRO has put over a thousand tanning memes on Pinterest for salons to use — for FREE — on any social media.  Just head out to “Wink-Ease” on Pinterest and download or share as many tanning memes you’d like. (more…)