Spray Tanning Courses
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★ 1,345 reviews · Teaching since 2008 · Lifetime course access · Pay in 3 with Klarna
Jump to the course, how the treatment works, or straight to the FAQs.
A spray tan takes about twenty minutes and sells all year, with a sharp lift around weddings, holidays and party season. Our course covers the equipment, choosing and mixing solution, preparing the skin and applying a tan that dries even and fades evenly.
Looking at other beauty courses too? Get the free course prospectus and see the full range side by side, emailed to you.
Not Sure Where to Start?
Pick the option that sounds most like you.
I Am Completely New to Beauty
The Spray Tanning Course is £75 in the current sale and starts at the beginning: the foundation theory, anatomy and skin health, then the tanning module itself. No previous training needed.
I Want More Than Tanning
The Complete Beauty Course teaches spray tanning alongside facials, makeup, waxing, threading and lash work for £245, with the shared theory taught once and a separate certificate for each course.
I Already Work in Beauty
Tanning is the simplest treatment to bolt onto a column you already have. Twenty minutes, no regrowth to wait for, and it fills the short evening slots that longer treatments cannot.
Spray Tanning Course
One course covers the whole treatment, from choosing a solution to the final application. It is tutor-assessed, accredited by ABT, IPHM and IGCT, and yours for life with unlimited resubmissions.
You can practise with equipment you already own, or add our Spray Tan Kit — machine, tent and solutions — when you enrol.
Was £200
NOW £95
Was £200
NOW £75
I have just gained my 3rd certificate for spray tanning through next step beauty. The course was easy to follow and there is always someone to help either through the website on your training portal or through the fb page. I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to gain beauty certificates.
I purchased a spray tanning course and I can say I really enjoyed learning every part! for someone like myself it takes a while to take information in and this was perfect for me as I could do it at my own pace in my own time, I took the online course so I can work it around my home life with my two children, You get just as much support as if you was in a classroom!
Absolutely loved my NSBi spray tanning course. Was able to work around my 3 young children with ease and tutors always replied quickly if I had any problems! Will be doing the Threading and waxing courses next! Thank you Next Step Beauty!!
Meet Your Tutor
Victoria Arpels BA (Hons), Cert Ed
Victoria trained in beauty therapy, worked in a busy spa and lectured in further education colleges before founding Next Step Beauty in 2008. Since then, Next Step Beauty has taught more than 100,000 students, with learners in 65 countries and territories across six continents. Victoria demonstrates the techniques in our course videos and, with our tutor team, supports students through personal feedback on their case studies and our private student groups.
Not sure which course is right for you? Leave your number and our friendly team will call you back to help you choose.
What’s Included with Your Spray Tanning Course
Lifetime Access
Study at your own pace with no deadlines and keep your course materials for life.
Tutor Feedback
Submit case studies and get personal feedback from our tutors.
Tutor-Assessed Diploma
Receive a diploma certificate once your written work and photographic case studies have been marked by a tutor.
Unlimited Resubmissions
If an assessment needs another go, resubmit as many times as you need at no extra cost.
Optional Kit
Add a professional spray tan kit to your course, or use the machine, tent and solutions you already own.
Private Student Groups
Join our private student groups to ask questions, share your work and learn alongside other students.
After Your Course: From Diploma to Your First Clients
Finishing your course is the start of the next step. Here’s how students go from learning to working with clients.
1. Practise on Your Models
You will practise on models and photograph your work as you go. Tanning is quick to practise and easy to find models for, because the result washes off within a week.
2. Get Your Diploma
Pass your assessed case studies and receive your diploma certificate. If an assessment needs another try, you can resubmit as many times as you need.
3. Plan Your Business
Business training is included with every course to help you set your prices, present your work and find your first clients.
4. Keep Growing
Add a second or third treatment as your client list grows. Tanning clients come back before every event, which makes them the easiest people to sell a facial or a wax to.
Why Choose a Career in Spray Tanning?
Spray tanning is the quickest treatment in beauty to learn and the quickest to deliver. It is also the one most tied to the calendar, which works in your favour once you know how to read it.
- Twenty Minutes, Full Price: a tan is one of the shortest appointments on a treatment menu, so the hourly rate stays high even at a modest price.
- A Diary Driven by Events: weddings, holidays, proms and party season. Clients book around dates they have known about for months, so the bookings come to you.
- Mobile From Day One: a pop-up tent, a machine and a few litres of solution fit in a car boot. You can work from a spare room or travel to the client.
- No Regrowth to Wait For: unlike waxing or lashes, a client can book whenever she likes, which fills the short evening and weekend slots longer treatments cannot.
- Upsells Inside the Appointment: a darker second pass, contouring over collarbones and shins, or aftercare wash to take home.
Spray Tanning Explained
The treatment is simple to describe and precise to do well. These are the parts that decide whether a tan looks natural or gives the game away.
The Machine
A low-pressure HVLP system: a compressor, a hose and a gun. The fine mist is what gives an even coat, and learning to hold the gun at a steady distance is most of the skill.
Solution Strength
Solutions are sold by DHA percentage, usually 6% up to 12%. You choose by the client’s natural tone and how dark she wants to end up, not by how dark the solution looks in the bottle.
Classic Development
Applied, then left on for six to eight hours before rinsing. The colour keeps developing in that window, which is why the rinse time matters as much as the application.
Rapid Development
A stronger solution rinsed off after one to four hours. The client controls the depth by when she showers, which suits anyone nervous about going too dark.
Skin Preparation
Exfoliate the day before, no moisturiser or deodorant on the day, barrier cream on palms, nails, knees and heels. Most patchy tans are a preparation problem, not an application one.
Patch Testing and Contra-Indications
A patch test before a first tan, and knowing when to decline: broken skin, recent waxing, some medications and pregnancy questions. This is covered properly in the Spray Tanning Course.
Classic vs Rapid Development
Both use the same active ingredient. They differ in how long the solution stays on the skin, which changes who each one suits.
| Classic | Rapid | |
|---|---|---|
| Time on the skin | Six to eight hours | One to four hours |
| Solution strength | Lower DHA | Higher DHA |
| Who it suits | Clients happy to sleep in it | Clients who want to shower the same day |
| Control over depth | Set by the solution you choose | Set by when she rinses |
| Risk | Transfer onto bedding overnight | Going too dark if she leaves it on too long |
Most therapists stock both and decide at consultation. Solution choice, timings and aftercare are all covered in the course.
Spray Tanning Courses UK: Train in Spray Tanning Online
Our online spray tanning course teaches the full treatment from consultation to aftercare: the equipment, choosing and mixing solution, preparing the skin, the application pattern itself and what to tell the client before she leaves.
What the Course Covers
The course opens with the foundation theory every treatment needs — professional standards, hygiene, consultation and record keeping — then anatomy and physiology and skin health, before the tanning module itself. That order matters. Spray tanning is a chemical reaction on the outer layer of the skin, so understanding the skin is what lets you predict a result rather than hope for one.
The tanning module covers the machine and how to set it, DHA strengths and when to use each one, barrier products and where they go, the application sequence that avoids stripes and missed patches, development and rinse timings, and what to do when a tan goes wrong. Patch testing and contra-indications are taught as part of consultation rather than as a footnote.
How You Learn It
Every technique is demonstrated on video by Victoria, our tutor, so you can watch a full application at the angle and distance you will be working at, then pause and repeat it as you practise. You submit written work and photographic case studies, and a tutor marks them and gives you feedback. If a submission is not right first time you resubmit as many times as you need at no extra cost.
There are no deadlines and no timetable. Access is for life, so a busy month costs you nothing and you can come back to the material whenever you want to check something. Most students finish within a few weeks to a few months, depending how much time they give it.
Practising and Equipment
Tanning is one of the easiest treatments to find models for, because the result washes off within a week. Friends and family are fine for your case studies. You will need a machine, a tent or a sheeted area, barrier cream and solution; you can use equipment you already own or add our Spray Tan Kit when you enrol. Nothing in the course depends on a particular brand of solution — what you learn transfers to whatever you end up stocking.
Where the Work Comes From
Tanning is unusually predictable because it follows the calendar. Weddings, holidays, proms, birthdays and party season all create bookings around dates clients have known about for months, and a client tanning for an event will usually book again for the next one. Appointments are short, so you can fit them around other treatments or run them as an evening and weekend service on their own. Business training is included with every course to help you price the treatment, present your work and find your first clients.
Accreditation and Insurance
The Spray Tanning Course is accredited by ABT, IPHM and IGCT, and it is recognised by insurers including Towergate, Radius, Insync, Balens, Salon Gold, Westminster and SJL. Insurers set their own requirements, so the certificate is what you present to them rather than a guarantee of cover.
Who It Suits
It suits a complete beginner looking for a first treatment that is quick to learn and quick to sell, and it suits an existing therapist who wants another service on the same column. If you want tanning as part of a wider menu, the Complete Beauty Course teaches it alongside facials, makeup, waxing, threading and lash work in one enrolment, with a separate certificate for each. Otherwise the Spray Tanning Course on its own is the shortest route from no training to a treatment you can charge for.
Mastering Your Beauty Business Launch
Training gives you the skills. This free guide shows you what comes next, so you can take on your first paying clients with confidence and do it properly from day one.
- Getting set up properly – registering as self-employed and choosing the right business structure
- Protecting yourself and your clients – the insurance, hygiene standards and licences you may need
- Deciding where you’ll work – mobile, from home or renting salon space, compared side by side
- Pricing your treatments – working out your start-up costs and setting prices you can sustain
- Winning clients who come back – consultations, trust and turning first bookings into regulars
- Workbook exercises after every chapter – so you finish with a plan, not just notes
Spray Tanning Course FAQs
Do I Need Any Experience to Start?
None at all. The course begins with professional standards, hygiene and consultation, then anatomy and skin health, and only then the tanning module. Nothing assumes you have held a spray gun before.
If you are already working in beauty, that groundwork will cover ground you know. The tanning module itself is the part that will be new.
Can I Really Learn Spray Tanning Online?
Application is a visual skill, and video suits it well. Victoria demonstrates a full tan on camera from the angle and distance you will actually be standing at, and you can replay a pass as many times as you need while you work on your own technique.
What you cannot get from a screen is the muscle memory, which is why the practical case studies are assessed. A tutor looks at photographs of your own work and tells you what to change.
Who Can I Practise On?
Almost anyone, which is one of the advantages of this treatment. A tan fades within about a week, so people are far more willing to volunteer than they are for a wax or a set of lashes.
You photograph your practice tans for your case studies. Household members, friends and colleagues all count.
What Equipment Will I Need?
A spray tan machine, somewhere contained to work — a pop-up tent or a sheeted corner — barrier cream, disposables and at least one solution. Our Spray Tan Kit covers all of it in one purchase, but there is no requirement to buy it from us.
If you already own a machine, use it. The course teaches technique and solution choice rather than one manufacturer’s system.
Is the Course Accredited?
Yes. The Spray Tanning Course is accredited by ABT, IPHM and IGCT, and recognised by insurers including Towergate, Radius, Insync, Balens, Salon Gold, Westminster and SJL.
Insurers decide their own criteria, so treat the certificate as the document you present to them rather than proof of cover in itself.
How Long Will It Take?
Most students are through it inside a few weeks to a few months. The tanning module is the short part; the foundation theory and the anatomy work are what take the time, and they count towards anything else you study with us.
Nothing expires. There is no end date on your access, so you can leave it and pick it up again whenever suits.
Which Solution Should I Start With?
The course walks you through choosing by DHA percentage and the client’s natural tone rather than by brand. As a starting point most therapists stock one mid-strength classic solution and one rapid, which between them cover nearly every client.
Once you understand how strength and development time interact you can read any manufacturer’s range and know what you are buying.
