Students looking for a summer tan can get it faster than they think.
The Matrix tanning bed, already being used in the European market, was brought to Albuquerque two years ago by Scott Bushey, owner of Solarium. Its design provides 360-degree coverage, eliminating the need to twist and turn in tanning beds, nearly cutting tanning time in half, he said.
"The Matrix machine sets the standard for the world," Bushey said. "It is a time machine. It saves you time."
Solarium is the only tanning salon in Albuquerque equipped with the Matrix machines. Bushey said a complete tan can be achieved in three to five sessions per month or 30 to 40 minutes total time.
"It is one of the ways we differentiate our services," Bushey said.
He said nearly 80 percent of his clients use the bed to get the fastest results in the shortest amount of time with the longest-lasting results.
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The beds have center light panels on the top and bottom with high-pressure power. The lamps rotate while a person is tanning.
"We can take the best elements of the sun and make it produce a light source that is artificial with very few variables," he said.
I.SO Italia, the company that manufactures the machines, designed the equipment with built-in safety features, according to its Web site. If a filter breaks or the temperature becomes excessive, the machine will shut down and not restart until after the problem is fixed.
The Matrix machines are also equipped with an audio system and have key selectors that allow customers to choose between tanning the face, the body or both. The canopy opens and closes automatically as different tones let the tanner know how much time is left in their session.
Some reasons Bushey said people opt to tan at a salon are availability and the controlled environment.
But, he said he is careful to not buy into the latest trends in tanning beds and made sure the Matrix machines had gone through testing before he brought them in for his guests. He said he has invested $80,000 in the two Matrix machines.
Compared with other tanning beds, he said the time is comparable, but not the price.
Tanning services at Solarium range from $24 to as much as someone is willing to spend based on the technology they want to use, Bushey said.
"It is a time versus money equation," he said. "The equation is always better if you buy the expensive machine."
The facility has 15 rooms with five different technologies including conventional tanning beds as well as mystic tanning, a spray-on tan that takes as little as 28 seconds.
"A person can basically create their own experience and own results," Bushey said.
