‘All-areas access’ for spray tan was ‘a bit daunting, for sure’

They go in white as a ghost — they come out glowing like Greek gods.

Former car painter Kyah Matthews has taken her spray gun and turned it from car bodies to, well, human bodies.

And she is proving to be quite the natural at it.

One of her new clients, bodybuilder Rebecca Wilkinson (49), said she recalled getting her first spray tan for her first competition in 2018, and finding it "a bit daunting, for sure" because the spray-tanner needed "all-areas access" to spray everything.

But her new tanner, Miss Matthews, had a great way of breaking the ice and making people feel safe and at ease during the process.

She told her clients she used to be a car painter and she had seen all kinds of bodies over the years.

"When she told me that, I thought ‘brilliant, she’s going to do a good job’."

Miss Matthews said it was perfectly normal to feel vulnerable when getting a spray tan, and she put a lot of effort into making people feel comfortable with their bodies around her.

The 25-year-old said some people laughed and thought she was just joking when she told them she used to paint cars; and for others, it was a surprise that became the start of a conversation about how she got into the profession.

"They get really surprised because I don’t look like a car painter and they actually really appreciate that.

"It reassures them that I’ve seen it all, and over time I’ve come to appreciate all types of bodies.

"The last thing I want to do is judge."

Miss Matthews said she started out as a car painter for a panelbeater, but after eight years in the profession, she decided to use her skills spray-painting people instead.

"I wanted to utilise my skills in a different outlet.

"I had a true calling for wanting to help people — to help them feel good about who they are and feel good in themselves.

"With spray-painting, it’s utilising everyone’s own unique beauty and complementing it with different shades.

"It boosts their confidence."

She opened her home-based and mobile tanning business at the end of 2022, spray-tanning people at night and spray-painting vehicles during the day.

"People come to me for tanning for weddings, special events, girls’ night in packages, and before they go overseas on holidays."

More recently, she has opened her own tanning salon, K-Tan Sunless Spray Tanning at Olympic Gym, in Mosgiel, where she is working full time.

And now that her tanning business has become so reputable in the Dunedin area, she has developed a long client list of bodybuilders wanting their bodies spray-painted for the upcoming 2024 National Amateur Body-Builders’ Association (NABBA) Otago Bodybuilding Championships, in Mosgiel on September 14.

"This is the start of me specialising in the bodybuilding sector. There’s that demand and the numbers.

"I’ve been getting so much traction and attention — it’s great."