Twenty-eight from a litre of the professional solution. At £60 a litre that is £2.14 of solution per tan, and about 36ml on the client.
Your own number will sit either side of that. Here is how to measure it, and what each tan of difference is actually worth — which is less than almost everyone assumes.
Ask this question anywhere in the UK trade and you get a number back within seconds. Ask what the number is based on and the conversation stops.
That is the honest state of the answer. Most of what ranks for this question is forum threads written between 2008 and 2018, and most of the rest is US brands quoting US pricing. So here is the figure, what it rests on, and how to work out yours — because yours is the only one that matters for your ordering.
The figure
A litre of Sunless by Jimmy Coco professional solution is rated at approximately 28 full-body tans. The solution is 10% DHA.
Twenty-eight is arithmetic you can check:
1,000ml ÷ 28 tans = 35.7ml per full-body tan
That is the dose the rating assumes — a little under 36ml on the client, once. Not per coat, not per pass, and not including what you lose to the cup, the line and the tent.
What it costs you
£60 ÷ 28 = £2.14 per tan
On a £30 treatment, that is 7.1% of the ticket. Worth holding on to, because it is the fact that makes the rest of this article make sense.
What actually moves your number
Six things, in rough order of how much difference they make:
Coverage. A full-body tan on a size 8 frame and a full-body tan on a size 20 frame are not the same volume of solution. This is the largest single variable and nobody's rating can account for it.
Technique. Distance from the skin, speed of pass, overlap and how many passes you make. A tight, efficient hand covers a body in materially less solution than a heavy one, and this is the variable you can actually train.
Equipment and setup. Gun, needle, air pressure and pattern width. A pattern that is too wide puts solution past the edge of the client.
Priming and line loss. Every prime, every purge, every colour change. Small per session, real across a week.
Cup residue. What you cannot get out of the cup at the end of the day.
Depth chasing. Going back over an area to make it darker rather than selecting the right depth to begin with. This is the most expensive habit on the list and it does not reliably produce a darker result — depth comes from the solution and the development, not from volume on the skin.
We have not found a published study putting numbers on any of those, and we are not going to invent one. What follows is how to replace the estimate with your own measurement.
How to measure yours
One week. It is the most useful hour of admin in your tanning business.
- Start a fresh litre and mark the date on it.
- Count every full-body tan you do from it — a tally on the bottle works. Do not count touch-ups, half-body treatments or practice.
- Stop when the bottle is done, not when it looks nearly done.
- Divide. Tans ÷ 1 litre is your yield.
- Divide again. £60 ÷ your yield is your true solution cost per tan.
Two conditions make the number honest: run it across a normal week rather than a quiet one, and do not change how you spray while you are counting. A yield measured on your best behaviour tells you what is possible, not what is happening.
What a tan of difference is worth
This is the part that surprises people.
At 12 tans a week — 624 a year — each additional tan you get from a litre is worth about £46 a year.
| Your yield | Solution per tan | Cost per year at 624 tans |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | £2.31 | £1,440 |
| 27 | £2.22 | £1,387 |
| 28 | £2.14 | £1,337 |
| 29 | £2.07 | £1,291 |
| 30 | £2.00 | £1,248 |
The whole spread between a heavy hand and an efficient one — four tans a litre — is about £223 a year. Real money, and worth having. But set it against the things sitting next to it in the same business: three retail sales a week is worth £1,404 a year, and £2 on your price is worth £1,229.
Yield is worth improving. It is not worth optimising. If measuring it turns into changing supplier over 8p a tan, the tail is wagging the dog — and a cheaper litre that produces one poor result costs more than a year of the saving. The full cost model sets out where the money actually is.
What it means for ordering
Once you have your own yield, reordering stops being a guess:
litres per month = (tans per week × 52 ÷ 12) ÷ your yield
At 12 tans a week and 28 to the litre, that is 1.9 litres a month, or about 22 litres a year. At 20 tans a week it is 3.1 a month.
Order to your measured number, not the rated one, and keep a litre of headroom for a busy week — running out mid-season costs a great deal more than a spare bottle.
Assumptions
| Assumption | Used here | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Yield | 28 tans per litre | The product figure for the professional solution |
| Litre price | £60 | Current list price |
| Volume | 12 tans a week, 624 a year | For the worked examples only — substitute yours |
| Ticket price | £30 | Mid-point of the £20–£40 national range |
What to do about it
- Measure one litre. A tally on the bottle, one week.
- Recalculate your cost per tan with your own number, not ours.
- Set your reorder point from that figure rather than from when the shelf looks empty.
- If your yield is well below 28, look at pattern width and passes first — they are the two variables you can change on Monday.
- Then stop thinking about it. Solution is 7% of your ticket. The levers worth your attention are in the cost model.
These figures are a model, not a forecast. Substitute your own numbers — the assumptions are listed above so you can.
Questions
How many spray tans in a litre of solution?
Approximately 28 full-body tans from a litre of Sunless by Jimmy Coco professional solution, which works out at about 36ml per treatment. Your own number will sit either side of that depending on coverage, technique and equipment. Measure a full litre over a normal week to find yours.
How much solution should a full-body spray tan use?
Around 36ml, which is what 28 tans to a litre works out at. Using materially more usually points to a pattern that is too wide, too much distance from the skin or repeated passes over the same area — rather than to a better result.
How much does the solution cost per spray tan?
£2.14 at £60 a litre and 28 tans to the litre. On a £30 treatment that is 7.1% of what the client pays you. Total consumables, including disposables, filters and laundry, come to about £3.24 a tan.
How do I work out my own tans per litre?
Start a fresh litre, tally every full-body tan you do from it, stop when the bottle is genuinely empty, and divide. Do it across a normal week and do not change how you spray while you are counting. Then divide £60 by that number for your true solution cost.
Is it worth switching solution to get more tans per litre?
Rarely. Each extra tan per litre is worth about £46 a year at 12 tans a week, and the full realistic spread is around £223. One client lost to a result you were not happy with costs more than that.
How many litres should I order a month?
Take your tans per week, multiply by 52, divide by 12, then divide by your measured yield. At 12 tans a week and 28 to the litre that is 1.9 litres a month. Keep a litre of headroom for a busy week.