My Tanning Lady Is Now Tanning Thursdays Only

A new chapter, the same glow.

After more than 15 years of spray tans, thousands of beautiful bodies and more conversations in my tanning room than I could ever count, My Tanning Lady is entering a slightly different season.

From now on, My Tanning Lady will be open for spray tanning on Thursdays only, from 10am–9pm.

It feels like a big change for a business that has been such a huge part of my life for so long, but it also feels like the right one.

Why Thursdays only?

After my near-death experience last year, something in me shifted.

It gave me a very real reminder that life is short, and for the first time in a very long time, I've been learning how to slow down.

For more than 15 years, I've poured so much of myself into My Tanning Lady. I've built my life around my business, worked ridiculous hours, said yes when I probably should have said no, and somehow convinced myself that slowing down meant I wasn't working hard enough.

This year, I'm choosing differently.

I'm prioritising myself, creating more space in my life and allowing myself to explore another part of the beauty industry I've always been deeply passionate about: skin.

I'm stepping into an exciting new chapter within the skincare industry, where I'll have the opportunity to learn, grow and immerse myself in skin science in a whole new way.

And for once, I don't want to do everything at once.

That doesn't mean I'm saying goodbye to My Tanning Lady.

Absolutely not.

I'm just giving her one really good day a week. 🤎

So… when should I book my spray tan?

Thursday actually works beautifully for weekend events; you just need to choose your appointment time based on when you're heading out.

If your event is Friday:
Book Thursday morning or early afternoon.

If your event is Saturday:
Anytime Thursday is perfect.

If your event is Sunday:
Book Thursday afternoon or evening.

And if you've always been nervous about having your spray tan "too early", don't be. A professionally applied tan that's properly cared for will continue to look beautiful over the following days.

In fact, your Thursday glow will be very happily living its best life all weekend.

Will anything else change?

Nope.

You'll still get the same personalised colour selection, attention to detail, skin preparation advice, ridiculous conversations, safe space and very particular Bec-level obsession with making sure your tan looks like it belongs on your body.

I'm not interested in squeezing more people into fewer hours or rushing appointments just because I'm only tanning one day a week.

The experience stays the experience.

The only difference is that Thursday is now our day.

Please book ahead

Because all appointments are now condensed into one day each week, Thursdays will book out earlier than they used to.

If you know you have a wedding, birthday, holiday, photoshoot or event coming up, I strongly recommend booking your tan as soon as you know the date rather than waiting until that week.

I want my regulars to still be able to get their favourite appointment times, particularly those coveted Thursday evening spots.

My Tanning Lady isn't going anywhere.

She's just making a little room for me to grow alongside her.

I'm incredibly grateful that after all these years, women still walk through my door and trust me with their skin, their bodies, their stories and their big moments.

So this isn't goodbye.

It's simply...

See you Thursday 🤎

Bec x
My Tanning Lady

Your Spray Tan Is Only as Good as the Skin Underneath It

Great tans don't start in the tanning room.

One of the biggest misconceptions about spray tanning is that the final result comes down entirely to the solution being sprayed onto your body.

It doesn't.

I can use a beautiful solution, customise your colour perfectly and apply it meticulously, but your skin is the canvas I'm working with.

And if that canvas is dry, uneven, coated in product residue or has been aggressively exfoliated within an inch of its life, your tan is going to behave differently.

Beautiful spray tans start with well-prepared skin.

Why does skin prep matter so much?

The tanning ingredient DHA works by reacting with amino acids in the outermost layer of your skin to create that gorgeous bronzed colour.

This means we're not really "colouring" your skin in the way makeup would.

We're creating a reaction within the very top layer of it.

So the condition of that layer matters.

If you have areas of excess dry or dead skin, they can grab more colour and develop darker than the surrounding skin. That's why knees, elbows, ankles and other dry areas are often the first places you'll notice an uneven tan.

On the other hand, anything sitting between your skin and the tanning solution can interfere with how evenly that solution makes contact with your skin.

Which brings us to something I'm mildly obsessed with...

What you put on your body matters.

Not every body wash, moisturiser, scrub or body oil is ideal when you're preparing for a spray tan.

Some products are designed to leave a rich, moisturising or occlusive layer behind on the skin — which can be lovely for everyday body care, but not necessarily immediately before tanning.

Heavy oils, rich butters and product residue can create a barrier between your skin and your tanning solution.

And this is why I don't recommend simply grabbing the harshest scrub you can find the night before your appointment either.

We want balanced, properly prepared skin! Not stripped skin!

Over-exfoliating can leave your skin feeling irritated, sensitised and compromised. More scrubbing does not automatically equal a better tan.

The goal is to remove excess dead skin cells and old tan gently and evenly, while keeping your skin barrier happy.

Your shower before your tan matters too.

On the day of your appointment, think:

Clean. Bare. Product-free.

Avoid arriving with moisturiser, body oil, perfume or deodorant sitting on the areas we're tanning.

And be mindful of what you're washing with beforehand.

Some very rich or oil-heavy cleansers are specifically designed to leave conditioning ingredients behind on the skin. Again, beautiful at the right time, but potentially not what we want immediately before applying DHA.

Your pre-tan shower isn't the time for a luxurious coating of body oil.

We want beautifully clean skin ready to receive your tan evenly.

Hydration still matters, enormously.

Here's where people get confused.

You don't want heavy moisturiser sitting on your skin immediately before your spray tan, but consistently hydrated skin is one of the secrets to a beautiful tan.

There's a big difference between maintaining healthy, hydrated skin in the days leading up to your appointment and slathering yourself in body butter an hour before you arrive.

Dry skin tends to shed unevenly.

And because your spray tan lives within those outer skin cells, how evenly they shed has a huge impact on how your tan fades.

Well-cared-for skin doesn't just help your tan look better on day one.

It helps it fade better too.

My ideal spray tan prep

In the days leading up to your appointment, keep your skin consistently hydrated and treat it gently.

Complete any significant exfoliation and old-tan removal before your appointment rather than frantically scrubbing your skin immediately beforehand.

On tanning day, shower using a gentle cleanser and arrive with clean, dry, product-free skin.

No moisturiser.
No body oil.
No perfume on the body.
No deodorant where possible.

Then let me do my thing.

Aftercare is half the equation.

The work doesn't stop once you've had your first shower.

If you want your tan to stay even, believable and beautiful, how you care for your skin over the following week matters enormously.

Keep showers gentle, avoid unnecessarily harsh exfoliation while you're trying to preserve your colour and moisturise your body consistently.

Your skin is constantly renewing itself, so eventually those beautifully bronzed skin cells are going to leave us.

Rude, but biologically unavoidable.

Our job is to encourage them to do it gradually and evenly, rather than abandoning ship in random patches.

It's skincare, with a tan attached.

After more than 15 years of spray tanning, one thing has become incredibly clear to me:

The best spray tans aren't simply about finding the darkest solution or leaving your tan on for the longest amount of time.

They're about understanding skin.

Preparing it properly.
Choosing products thoughtfully.
Applying the right colour for the person in front of me.
And caring for that skin afterwards.

Because ultimately, I'm not tanning a mannequin.

I'm tanning your skin.

And when we look after the skin underneath your glow, everything on top of it looks better.

Bec x
My Tanning Lady