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Eric Kaisner, 38
Owner
Sun Buns Air Brushing and Tanning Salon
1155 Pasadena Ave. S
South Pasadena
How long have you been in the tanning business?Five years.
What is your professional background?I was a paramedic for eight years with SunStar, so I have a medical background. I just got into this part time in the beginning, just for extra income. After about 21/2 years, Ginger and I bought our partners out.
How did you get started?I had a relative who worked in this complex and this place was empty, and it was a tanning place before, so we just did some research and asking around and decided to see if we could do it part time. My partners and I all had fulltime jobs, so we figured if we all did this part time, then we would each put in enough hours to make it successful, which it was.
What hours do you work now?Seven days a week, 12 hours a day, except on weekends when we're only open six hours on Saturdays and four hours on Sundays. I put in a lot of hours.
What are your primary responsibilities here?Everything. From the minor details of ordering supplies, dusting, vacuuming, to fixing (tanning) beds, to answering phones and talking to customers.
Who are your customers?The computer program I have is actually real informative. Seventy-five percent of the customers are female, and the average age is 32 to 34.
What's the procedure for first-time customers?You would fill out a card, and it's kind of detailed. It tells me if you tanned before, how long you were in the tanning bed. It gives me your skin type; like do you always burn, usually burn, minimally burn. Exposure times, allergies, skin disorders. So the card gives us a lot of information to use in determining how much time you should tan.
What is a tanning bed?It's just sunlight, but it's in bulbs. The sun produces UVA and UVB rays; so does the tanning bed. But the main difference between the sun and the tanning beds, is that the beds are a lot safer. ... In here the UVA and UVB rays are in an exact amount, for an exact amount of time, and it's a very controlled environment.
Are your customers mostly visitors or residents?Most of them are people that live here, yes. I would say probably about 15 to 18 percent are vacationers. ... We do have a busy season and a slow season. My busy season is starting now, but it only runs a good five to seven months.
Do customers wear clothing or bathing suits to tan?That's up to them. We supply goggles and we tell them it is suggested they wear them. But they are behind closed doors, and they can do what they want.
What is the difference between the stand-up bed and the regular horizontal beds?The standup superbed is 160 watts with 42 lights, so it's pretty intense. The max time on that is 11 minutes. All our regular beds are 100 watts and the max time in them is 15 minutes.
How sanitary are the tanning beds?After everybody tans, Ginger or I come in right away and we clean the bed with certain cleaning supplies.
What is the difference between bed tanning and an air-brush tan?Traditional tanning uses UVA and UVB rays and produces melanin. Air brushing is a solution that mixes with amino acids and proteins within the skin, and tans you that way. A lot of women worry about wrinkles with traditional tanning - well airbrushing is not going to give you wrinkles.
So is this a dye or solution you spray on people?It's not a dye; it's DHA, which is dextra, hydroxy acetone, and that's one of the main ingredients in tanning accelerant. So it's more of a chemical reaction.
Is there a difference in the resulting tan?What is weird about this, is that, what I have found is the way people tan (color) in the bed is usually the tan they get with the airbrushing.
Who is the best candidate for an airbrush tan?It would be someone that has good skin, as far as moisture goes, and is actually able to tan easy. The people who are able to get color the old-fashioned way are the best people for the airbrushing.
Is it weird having people disrobe for the airbrush tan?Nine out of 10 times it's not a big deal. And if it is, then they can request female only to do the airbrush. I have a lot of repeat female business, so I have to believe they trust me and must feel comfortable.
Is airbrush more expensive than traditional tan beds?Yeah, because with tanning (beds) most of the time you don't see results as soon as you tan. It's like the sun; you see them later. With airbrushing, you will see results before you leave, and then it gets darker within the next two, to three to four hours.
What is your favorite thing about your job?Well, I get to meet a lot of nice people and I like the fact that Garrett (his son) and Ginger are in here right now, and I don't have some boss breathing down my back.
Any perks of the job?Yeah, being able to throw the ball around when it's a little bit slow. Instead of sitting behind a desk doing busywork 'cause your boss is there, I can walk outside with my son and throw the football around.
Do you use your tanning facilities much yourself?My wife tans more than I do. ... I do tan every once in a while.
How much money do you make?Well, because we only bought out our partners about two years ago, I'm still having to pay off a lot of bills and loans. So we make okay money, but we put about 80 percent of what we make back in the business.
What would your dream job be?To be a paramedic, full time again. But I hurt my back; herniated a disk. I would like to get a couple of girls to run this place, and have a good back, so I could be back on the street being a paramedic.