Tanning Salons in Redondo Beach

Aqua Salon owner Kathy Snyder loves a challenge. When asked what she likes best about her job, the veteran hairstylist told Our South Bay, “So many of us are particular about exactly what we want our hair to look like but haven’t any idea how to articulate it to someone. It’s my job … to ‘get it’ when a customer reaches out for help.” A former employee of celeb-favorite Cristophe Salon, Snyder spent 10 years meeting the often daunting needs of Hollywood’s most demanding heads. Today, she doles out that same level of service in an environment that is decidedly more relaxed, complete with a soothing ocean view and skylights that allow the sunshine to stream in.

As guests sip wine and watch the waves roll along the sandy shoreline, Snyder’s team of master stylists care for hair with cutting-edge cuts, extensions, and balayage coloring techniques. Makeup artists employ the Jane Iredale line of mineral makeup to beautify visages, and spray tans by Infinity Sun provide a golden glow to help prep bodies for the beach or a stint on James Cameron’s mantel.

The OC Tan brings the sparkling soulshine lingering within each customer to the surface through a variety of tanning services. The Elixir tanning bed ($20 per session) envelops tanners in 51 body bulbs—one for each U.S. state—for 12 minutes of air-conditioned tanning. Disappear into the Mystic Tan spray booth ($35) as a pale newspaper reporter and emerge 60 seconds later as Supertan, the poorly named hero with a healthy glow. For those who love the taste of tanning bulbs but hate the sound of laying down, the Solarforce 652V ($20) offers a 10-minute tan in a stand-up unit that can accommodate clients up to seven feet tall. The ultimate in tan architecture at The OC Tan, however, is the King 420 bed ($40), which combines aromatherapy, aquatherapy, and a non-claustrophobic design into 12 minutes of high-pressure tanning. A five-minute airbrush tan is also available ($55), with custom application and results lasting up to a week.

A wildly successful alternative to traditional day spas—its more than 300 locations blanket 36 states and half a dozen countries—Planet Beach Contempo Spa is a futuristic relaxation station where state-of-the-art machines administer all the spa and tanning services. These friendly automatons sometimes replace familiar treatments, as in the Luminous facial, a light-based service that delivers blemish-busting results similar to those of a conventional facial. But other equipment maps out new spa territory entirely: the Hydro-Derma Fusion chamber moisturizes the whole body with nutrient-rich steam in order to offset the effects of a dry climate or a rear-end collision with a salt truck. Other machines whiten teeth, spray tan skin, and massage muscles.

Planet Beach operates on a gym-style membership system, meaning that members purchase packages or pay flat monthly rates. As members spend more time at the spa, they get to know the helpful assistants who are always on hand to demonstrate how to use the equipment without activating its ability to cry.

Glow Tanning Company's friendly employees maintain a broad selection of powerful tanning beds and booths to keep bodies thoroughly bronzed. Their beds employ standard UV or high-pressure lamps to imbue hides with natural golden hues, and Mystic tanning booths impart UV-free tans with an enduring airbrush formula. As part of its quest to keep everyone as radiant as possible, Glow Tanning Company offers new customers their first tan for free, upholding the Orwellian prediction that, "if you want a picture of the future, imagine the sun kissing a human face—forever." Aside from their tanning treatments, the store also stocks a vast assortment of suntan lotions, teeth-whitening gel, and other beautifying products.

Upon entering the softly lit interior of Caribbean Tans, guests are bathed in the appropriately golden glow of hanging pendant lamps. After checking in with receptionists behind a desk of cream-and-tan tile, they'll pick up complimentary goggles and towels before proceeding to a room. Trained staff members illuminate visitors on the nuances of each tanning option, from all-natural SunFX airbrush bronzing to a variety of UV beds equipped with satellite radio.

A modern, glass-laden façade lures guests into the tanning salon's sleek lobby, whose slate floors and walls surround modern furnishings and vibrant artwork. Sunstyle Tanning's 7,000-square-foot facility houses a corridor lined with private treatment rooms that feature Ergoline sunbeds and VersaSpa spray-tanning systems. The spa's Smart Tan–certified concierges work to help guests to choose from an assortment of tanning apparatuses, which range from sensor-controlled UV-tanning beds to custom spray tans. Patrons may also take advantage of a fully stocked vanity bar and park their car or motor-unicycle in the spa's private lot.