The Tanning Fever

Spring break cries bikinis, flip-flops, short skirts and of course a matching deep dark tan to go along with it all.

Students were packing the salons the week before spring break, trying to get their last minute preparation in for the holiday week. At the local San Marcos tanning salon called Darque Tan the lines were out the door all week long.

Session numbers for the salon were anywhere between 200 to 300 people a day and with only 12 beds in the entire store.

“It was slammed! 30 to 45 minute waits for a bed, these kids wanted a tan and they were not leaving until they got it,” said Katie Davis, one of the employees at Darque Tan.

With session counts climbing, the employees said they welcomed the profit of last minute lotion sales and upgrade bed purchases.

The district manager Nicole Lieser commented that it is one of the busiest times of the season and one of the most profitable ones.

“People want to get that extra kick of color right before bikini time so let the kicking begin,” Lieser said.

Students appear to be going the next mile during this time to get their beach look down just right.

One tanner named Liz Alborne said she was going in for a “cocktail”. Now before the Texas Department of State Health comes busting down Darque Tan’s doors, a cocktail is not an alcoholic beverage. It is a combination of a UV tanning session and a Mystic Tan; a cosmetic spray to give the appearance of a real tan.

Alborne added that she had been so busy with last minute mid terms and papers that she was doing everything she could to get tan and fit right before the holiday.

“If you can’t tone it, tan it,” Alborne said was her philosophy.

Tanning has the ability to give some people more confidence about their bodies. Having tan skin has become like putting on makeup for some women.

“You don’t feel like a pasty ghost, you feel sexy and good about yourself, that’s what this industry is all about,” Davis said.

However, indoor tanning has long been a controversy with the accusations of the links of UV light to skin cancer.

This past year UV light was labeled a carcinogenic. A new law was even put into effect to ban tanning for all ages 16 and a half and under.

“It’s ridiculous. They are putting natural sunlight that you get every day in the same category as arsenic and mustard gas,” Lieser said.

The tanning industry has definitely been put on the “hot seat” and taken a hit to business since all of the recent negative press, but spring break has proven that there is still high demand for what is behind Darque Tan’s doors.

So if you want to get “that extra kick” Darque Tan is located right off Edward Gary Street and offers a free week to new customers. For more information, check out their web site at www.darquetan.com.