Spray-on tanning booth may be the solution for those seeking a safe and quick bronzing

The e-mail headlined "Summer Color, Less than 60 Seconds," gets my full attention when it pops from a spam-studded list promising low mortgage rates and porn.

Dermatologists' scoldings have made me careful, and lotions with SPFs of 15 and up line an entire shelf in the bathroom cabinet. But love of that well-tanned look is hard to shake. And as my friend Peggy says, "Tanned fat looks better than white fat."


		Wendy Wahman / P-I

When the new, improved self-tanners hit the stores about 1990, my money was on the counter ... even when they smelled funny. They had improved, but they sometimes cause rashes and rarely look flawless and natural as promised.

Could a quick, machine-made tan be the solution?

This spray-on tanning system already had hit my trend radar. Gossip columnists have reported that Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt were using it to keep their California color glowing without endangering their skin.

It sounded like a perfect solution for my lard-white legs. I couldn't wait to try it. After assurances that it was definitely UV-free, I made an appointment at an "electric beach" in the University District.

Owner Adam Cobb says he had the Mystic Tan system installed about nine months ago. It's already popular with UW coeds who use it before special events.

When he discovers I know next to nothing about the process, he plugs in a video cassette showing a bikini-clad model going through it. She enters a showerlike stall and a waist-high cylinder with three nozzles rotates to spray her up and down with moisturizer and tanning ingredients.

It looks easy, and the results are impressive. My usually cautious self is overruled. I'm ready to tan.

The showerlike tanning booth is inside a dressing room. I grab a towel, step in, lock the door, strip and pull a blue surgical-style cap over my hair -- remembering to pull it up against the hairline so my forehead won't be striped. Lotion goes on feet, toenails, fingernails and backs of hands to prevent discoloring.

Ready to tan! Into the booth, take a deep breath, hold it, assume an arms out, knees apart stance, punch a button and close my eyes. A cool mist sprays head to toe for 14 seconds.

It feels part car wash, part kid running through sprinkler.

The machine shuts off and, following Cobb's advice, I open the door, take a deep breath, duck back in, turn around and tan my backside. Eleven seconds later, it's over.

Step out, look in the mirror and grin. Wow!

Stand around and air-dry for about 20 seconds, towel off the excess moisture and dress.

Under my clothes, there's a coating of moisturizing aloe vera, a self-tanning solution and bronzers. The bronzers, which are temporary, non-staining dyes, give an instant glow while the self-tanner (DHA) takes a few hours to do its work.

But I was back in the office, tan and glowing, in less than an hour (with no apparent self-tan odor). Four hours later I had a just-home-from-Hawaii look. All tanned up and no place to go.

The tans are supposed to last four to seven days. Four days out and my face is beginning to pale, but my legs, torso and arms are still tan. A week later, legs are still tan, face is pale, and the torso still has some color.

Bring on the shorts!

HIGH-TECH TANS

The Mystic Tan automated sunless tanning booth was launched at a Chicago trade show in 1999. A year later, the Texas-based company became the official tan provider for the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

Today there are more than 860 salons throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Spain and Italy offering this tanning option, the best-known of its type. Between Seattle and Olympia, there are a dozen. For more information and a tanning site near you, check out their Web site: www.mystictan.com.

Here is a sampling:

Distinctive Tan, 677 120th N.E., Bellevue. $16.50 for first-timers. After that it's $25, or two for $37.50. Phone 425-453-8226.

Desert Sun, 12934 S.E. Kent-Kangley Road, Kent. Prices vary here but tans are currently $23 each or three for $57. Call: 253-872-8267.

Electric Beach Tanning, 261 N.E. 45th St., Seattle. $22 per tan. New customers can buy two for $30. Call 206-547-4690.

AIRBRUSH TANNING

For those who want to try another form of high-tech tan, think airbrush tanning. It's not quite as fast, but the results are similar. Self-tanner is applied by a technician using an airbrush machine. Here are a few salons offering this service, which also is available in some private athletic clubs, including:

Jeremy Todd Wellness Spa & Salon, in Four Seasons Olympic Hotel, 411 University St. First visit is $50 for a two-coat tan. Follow up single-coat visit is $30. Four single-coat visits are $100. Call: 206-262-9000.

Robert Leonard Salon & Day Spa, 2033 Sixth Ave. Single visit, $35;, six visits, $180. Call 206-441-9900.

Faux Spa, 252 N.E. 45th St Single visit, $45. If the second visit is within two weeks of the first, it's $35. Tan every two weeks and it's $25 per tan. Call: 206-782-7314.

P-I reporter Susan Phinney can be reached at 206-448-8397 or susanphinney@seattlepi.com.

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