November 2026
Ask the Expert, Smart Tan, 11.2026
METABOLIC dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, or MASLD, is a condition in which excess fat accumulates in the liver along with one or more metabolic risk factors. Previously known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), MASLD has become the most common chronic liver disease worldwide, affecting roughly 30% of adults.
November 2026
By the Numbers, Smart Tan, 11.2026
Wellness isn’t a passing trend. It’s one of the fastest-growing sectors of the global economy, and the customers driving it are already looking for places to find it close to home. Here’s what the research says about where demand is headed, why red light leads the way, and why recurring revenue is the engine that keeps it all running.
November 2026
Future of Tanning, Smart Tan 11.2026
Salon floor plans tend to outlast nearly everything else in the business. Equipment gets replaced, service menus change, and pricing models come and go, but the walls usually stay where they were first built.
September 2026
Future of Tanning, Smart Tan 10.2026
With the arrival of the A5R and K5R, KBL has also introduced new terminology to define what its latest LED systems deliver: LIGHTCARE. These two units take the LED red and near-infrared light delivery system behind KBL’s flagship R11 Air and deploy it using smaller frames the company has already field-tested for comfort and operation. The result is LIGHTCARE that isn’t limited by room size or budget—putting it within reach of operators across the market.
September 2026
by Joe Schustser
SALON PROS, Sun Is Life 9.2026
Six Salon Pros Share Their Best Strategies for Driving Fall & Holiday Revenue
With equipment performing at its best and fall maintenance nearly complete, the next opportunity is turning that operational strength into revenue. While many salon owners focus on preparing their equipment for busy season, the most successful salons know that holiday sales don’t happen by accident, they’re the result of months of planning, intentional marketing, and a team that’s ready to execute…
September 2026
by Curt Holloway
Today’s marketing options can reach customers anywhere and everywhere, but your best customer still usually lives, works, or works out within about a ten-minute drive of your front door. Better equipment and service can draw people across town, but proximity remains the greatest competitive advantage.
September 2026
by Kristin Lee Smithers, CLT
Wellness Transformation & Education, Sun Is Life 10.2026
As summer gives way to fall, our routines naturally begin to change. We swap flip-flops for sweaters, spend less time outdoors, and start preparing for the cooler months ahead. One of the biggest changes, however, often goes unnoticed: our exposure to light.
September 2026
What Research Says About How Customers Search, Shop, and Show Up Close to Home
The customers who matter most are usually the ones nearby—and the data proves it. Here’s what national research says about how people search and shop locally, and why it points straight to geofencing.
September 2026
American Suntanning Association, Smart Tan, 10.2026
The $64,000 question in the science of indoor tanning has nothing to do with anything you’d ever find in a sunbed salon…
September 2026
A new book by award-winning science writer Rowan Jacobsen argues that decades of sun-avoidance messaging have gotten the risk-benefit equation backwards for most people—and the mainstream is paying attention.
September 2026
Every salon has one. The unit that looked like the future at the trade show three years ago and now runs four sessions a week, kept alive by a handful of loyal users and the memory of what you paid for it. That memory is the problem. The purchase price is a sunk cost: it’s gone whether the unit stays or goes.
August 2026
The tanning industry has always understood that the client experience begins long before anyone steps into a unit. It begins at the front desk. And with adoption of LED tanning technology expected to continue at an increasing rate across the country, what happens at that front desk continues to evolve and change.
August 2026
Research continues to show positive associations between increased lifetime sunshine exposure, higher vitamin D levels, and improved cognitive health and mental-emotional wellbeing. While getting enough vitamin D itself is key to maintaining mental health, research also shows several other ways exposure to sunlight and natural light and dark cycles can boost mood.
August 2026
For salon owners weighing whether a trade show trip is worth the time away from their business, the data is hard to argue with. From new equipment and product lines to staff training and vendor relationships, industry events consistently pay for themselves.
June 2026
Inspired Ideas
Faraje Kharsa and Michel Mikse, Founders, FIT Bodywrap, Smart Tan 07.2026
In wellness, results are everything, and the best way to deliver them is to get straight to the point. As light-based services grow increasingly prevalent, FIT Bodywrap founders Faraje Kharsa and Michel Mikse remain focused on maximizing the benefits of far infrared light through the most efficient delivery system possible…
June 2026
Lighting the Way
by Curt Holloway, Smart Tan 07.2026
Picture a client who has been tanning for fifteen years. She knows what a good session feels like: the warmth, the flush, the faint smell of heat on skin. She has a system, and it works. Now put her in an all-LED tanning unit for the first time.
June 2026
Smart Tan 07.2026
Check out the results at smarttan.com
Statistics on sunbed technology, light science, and the modern tanning experience. New equipment raises the bar on what a session can deliver. But clients may still only upgrade if staff can explain the difference.
June 2026
Future of Tanning, Smart Tan 07.2026
Running a tanning business means wearing a lot of hats. The aspects owners tend to enjoy—building client relationships, growing a culture, helping people look and feel their best—are easy to prioritize. The operational details, like lamp purchasing and compatibility, are often a different story.
June 2026
Future of Tanning, Smart Tan 06.2026
Sizzle Salon needed a change. Despite significant recent investments in premium KBL sunbeds, overall interest in UV tanning has continued to decline within their suburban Boston community. For owners Stephanie Fernandez and Scott Cogliano, bringing in the KBL R11 was a deliberate response to shift the direction of the business.
June 2026
Inspired Ideas, Smart Tan 06.2026
Running a successful tanning salon today means balancing memberships, staffing, marketing, maintenance, software, layout decisions, wellness expansion, and the countless small operational details that consume time and energy.
May 2026
What It Does, What It Does Not, and Where Red Light Fits
Hybrid tanning technology has become one of the most talked-about innovations in modern UV equipment. By combining traditional ultraviolet lamps with integrated red light therapy, hybrid units promise enhanced skin benefits, improved comfort, and a more advanced tanning experience.
May 2026
Future of Tanning, Smart Tan 05.2026
A 26-year tanning industry veteran, Quentin Masterson understands as well as anyone where the industry has been, where it is, and where it’s headed. He and his company have long recognized that success today is driven by offering elevated equipment and experiences that customers are willing to pay more for.
April 2026
In a December 2025 essay for the Brownstone Journal, public health researcher James Lyons-Weiler revisited one of the most influential nutrition studies of the past decade: the 2019 Vitamin D and Omega-3 Trial (VITAL). His analysis argues that the study’s widely publicized “null” findings were less a verdict on vitamin D itself and more a reflection of how narrowly the trial was designed.
April 2026
The wellness category continues to grow, and today’s clients are looking for more than traditional spa or tanning services alone. They are asking for treatments that support detoxification, pain relief, fat reduction, recovery, and overall well-being.
April 2026
In a wellness-focused salon, credibility isn’t created by equipment alone. State-of-the-art technology, clean design, and professional branding all matter, but none of it carries much weight if the conversation at the counter undermines it. Customers decide whether a business truly embodies wellness based largely on how staff talks about services.
April 2026
For decades, public health messaging around sunlight has been simple and absolute: avoid the sun. But a long-awaited new analysis suggests that message may be dangerously incomplete.
April 2026
As red light therapy moves from niche technology into mainstream wellness, tanning professionals face a familiar challenge: how to introduce a powerful new service without damaging long-term credibility.
April 2026
Retention isn’t just a management challenge—it’s a numbers game. Across wellness, fitness, and service-based membership businesses, the data tells a clear story: customers who stay longer spend more, use more services, and deliver greater lifetime value.
February 2026
KBL R11 Air from Tanning Supplies Unlimited
Industry leader KBL introduces the next level of technology and innovation in the evolution of wellness with the R11 Air Full Body Therapy Spa Machine. Results may vary by individual, but the benefits are numerous.
February 2026
Member of the Month, Smart Tan 02.2026
Every great business starts somewhere—often before the owner even understands where the path they’re on will lead them. For Kristy Mazeika, that start wasn’t a business plan or entrepreneurial ambition, but a part-time job at 19 that grew into a career and ultimately into ownership of two standout tanning and wellness salons in Georgia.
January 2026
Future of Tanning, Smart Tan, 06.2025
Preparing your business for the future isn’t just a matter of updating your equipment mix. While advancements in tanning technology and diversification into spa…
January 2026
Smart Tan, 01.2026
Record attendance, engaging education, and momentum define this year’s event. The 2025 National Tanning Expo, hosted by Four Seasons Sales and Service, returned to Nashville…
January 2026
Smart Tan, 01.2026
Marketing today can feel overwhelming—especially when you’re trying to keep up with every new social media trend, algorithm shift, and “expert” claiming to have the next viral…
January 2026
Future of Tanning, Smart Tan, 01.2026
When a salon adds equipment like the new KBL R11 Air Full Body Therapy Spa Machine or other modern beauty and wellness technologies…
January 2026
Smart Tan, 01.2026
In an industry where marketing often feels like guesswork, the data tells a clearer story…
January 2026
Wellness World, Smart Tan 01.2026
The wellness market isn’t just growing—it’s diversifying. Today’s clients aren’t defined by age or income as much as by mindset. They’re united by one thing…
January 2026
by Paul Manke, Tanning Supplies Unlimited
Inspired Ideas, Smart Tan 01.2026
When salon owners imagine upgrading their space, the focus almost always starts with new equipment—and understandably so. But the…
January 2026
by Staff Writer
Certification, Training & Professional Development, Sun Is Life, 01.2026
When units perform, lamps are fresh, acrylics are sound, and maintenance is on time, stalled…
January 2026
by Kristin Lee Smithers, CLT
Wellness Transformation & Education, Sun Is Life, 01.2026
Short days, colder temperatures, and shifting weather fronts can nudge our biology toward low mood and increased…
January 2026
by Kristin Lee Smithers, CLT
Industry Essentials & Resource Hub, Sun Is Life 01.2026
Salon owners win with simple, accurate language. Red light therapy is popular, yet terms like approve…
October 2025
Ask the Expert, Smart Tan 10.2025
A new systematic review finds that vitamin D levels influence the intensity of pain, with higher levels related to better outcomes among individuals at risk of developing chronic pain. Chronic pain affects approximately 30% of adults worldwide.
October 2025
Wellness World, Smart Tan 10.2025
Adding wellness equipment isn’t just a matter of buying what’s trendy—it’s about making a smart, strategic investment that will pay off for years to come. Before you commit to a purchase, take the time to evaluate your options with the same care you’d use for any major business decision.
January 2025
Neil S. Sadick, MD. First published 6 November 2008 in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology.
January 2025
A major cause of skin aging is a chronic micro-inflammation triggered by UV radiation and external pollutants. It has been demonstrated that blue light diminishes inflammatory conditions and near infrared light enhances circulation.
