How Spray Tan Technicians and Sugaring Aestheticians Built the First Salon Chain Union in the Country

Most of us have had a manager we see too much of. For workers in the salon industry, that can take on a whole new meaning.

“My first day, I saw my manager naked because I spray tanned her,” said Tia-Marie Campbell, a spray tan technician who has worked at Sugared + Bronzed, a salon chain offering spray tanning and sugaring hair removal services, for three years.

Delivering a comfortable, safe experience while navigating other demands on the job—applying the tan, ringing up the customer, and mopping the walls and floor after a procedure all before the next client walks in—is a balancing act. “You’re running around with your head cut off,” said Allie Rooney, who works as both a sugaring aesthetician and a spray tan technician—sometimes both in the same shift. But despite the frantic pace, workers care deeply about the job. So, they chose to stick around and fight to make things better.

On August 5, workers at Sugared + Bronzed locations in Los Angeles (West 3rd) and Santa Monica voted to unionize with Communications Workers (CWA) Local 9505—forming the first salon chain union in the country. Weeks later, workers at the Westlake Village location in Thousand Oaks, California, announced that they too were joining the fight.

According to a company history, in 2010 Sugared + Bronzed founder Courtney Claghorn began offering spray tans out of her Santa Monica apartment, opening 10 locations over the next decade. After private equity firm Main Post Partners bought a stake in 2019, the company expanded to more than 35 salons in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, DC, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Houston. The company employs 400 workers and is still expanding.

FRANTIC PACE

Appointments are spaced in 20 minute increments, so every moment counts: “I could have a Brazilian [hair removal], a tan, a Brazilian, a tan. I’m literally running from one room to the other,” Rooney said. “We’re going to the back, we’re putting [spray tan solution] in the gun … And then, after they’re finished, you check them out, then you go back in, you have to mop the whole floor,” all before bringing in the next client.

To avoid tan lines, customers are frequently sprayed in the nude. Tia-Marie takes pride in making them comfortable: “I’ll acknowledge it. I’m like, ‘How’s your day going, aside from being naked and cold in front of a stranger?’ You know, just get it out of the way, like we can laugh about it,” she said. Workers take the trust imparted on them seriously.

“It’s a privilege to [perform] such an intimate service,” said Alex Walsh, who works as a sugaring aesthetician, removing body hair from clients by applying a paste made up of lemons, sugar and water. “People always say, ‘Oh, I tell my hairdresser everything.’ It’s kind of the same thing where you actually get to know these people that come in,” she said.

At first, workers tried to speak with management about the changes they hoped to see in the workplace: better pay, reliable hours, and personal protective equipment to prevent the inhalation of tanning spray. “Then our district manager came in and said, ‘You guys need to stop. None of this is going to happen,’” said Rooney.

“And our receptionist at the time, she was like, ‘Hey, have you guys thought about unionizing?’”

NO PARKING? ZERO STARS

A widely despised customer survey proved a potent organizing issue. The survey, texted to customers after the service, asks a single question: how likely would the customer be to recommend Sugared + Bronzed? Workers are scored based on the answer. “But because of how vague the question is, and it doesn’t tell you that it’s about your service provider directly,” said Campbell. “Let’s say somebody said the store was really cold, which is a really common complaint that we get, and they gave me a two, my score could go from 100 to a 40.”

Campbell said that scheduling decisions were made based on the scores, leaving workers penalized for issues outside of their control.

“They don’t know that it’s about us,” said Walsh. “Sometimes you get like… 2 out of 10, the app was glitchy, or the membership structure doesn’t make sense. There’s no parking, 0 out of 10.’ Things that really have nothing to do with you.”

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Rooney said that she raised the issue with management, but it went nowhere. “People are getting fired over this score,” Rooney said. “And 95 percent of the time, it’s not their fault. We’ve asked many times, and have been told, ‘Oh, we’ll look into it, we’ll look into it.’

“Even on the sugaring side, they’ll get reviews related to tanning,” Campbell said. “You’ll get a review that was meant for the wrong person and there’s no wiggle room. They will not change it.”

INTIMIDATION BACKFIRES

Workers said that at first they sought to speak with management and talk through the issues as a team. Employees at the West 3rd location sent an email to upper management, “Like, ‘Can we have a conversation,’ not even really asking for anything” Campbell said.

The next day, the district manager and the store director “started pulling everybody from the store individually to the coffee shop next door,” Campbell said. “[They were] sitting us down like, ‘Oh, so how do you feel about your job? Why would you guys send the email?’ It definitely seemed like an intimidation kind of thing.”

“I think it was kind of an eye opener for everybody,” she said.

A receptionist co-worker was participating in the Screen Actors (SAG-AFTRA) strikes at the time, and put Walsh and her coworkers in contact with the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC), an organizing project that connects workers thinking about unionizing with an experienced workplace organizer.

“And they walked us through, like, ‘Hey, you can actually do this,’” Walsh said. Their EWOC coach shared organizing tactics like inoculating against boss threats and helped them navigate the ups and downs of a union campaign. EWOC also helped connect them with CWA. (Editor’s note: The author is also an EWOC volunteer.)

Workers used the digital messaging platform Discord to connect employees across stores who were interested in unionization. They created a channel where workers could list things they’d like to see in a contract, and another for venting about the job: “Like, you’re going about your day and you realize, ‘I don’t have a respirator mask, we need that. I would love not to have to work 30 hours for one hour of sick time, we need that,’” Campbell said.

BLACKENED NOSE PLUGS

Safety emerged as a central demand. After a customer asked about ingredients in the tanning spray, staff realized instructions on the box recommend the use of a respirator mask while applying the solution. “Then we started googling,” Walsh said, “and [realized] this is actually not FDA approved to be used in an aerosol. And no one really knows the long term effects.”

Workers said they’re given surgical masks and KN-95s, “but the tan seeps right through those so you’re still breathing it,” Rooney said. Workers report that at the end of a shift their contact lenses can turned pink, and their nose plugs are black and saturated with tanning solution.

After management learned of the union drive, workers said they were no longer allowed to pick up shifts at other stores—presumably to prevent discussions about unionization at other locations. “I thought that they had caught wind of it a long time ago, but I guess they didn't think we were serious,” Rooney said.

Management “thought it came overnight but they didn’t [realize] it was two years of us talking to girls and forming new relationships and just caring about our fellow workers,” Walsh said. “So at this point, it's something you can’t break.”