Each year, a strange phenomenon occurs at Precision Cuts and Tanning: The sun peeks out somewhere in mid-February, students become suddenly self-conscious about their pasty-white skin and Precision Cuts’ tanning schedule becomes completely booked.
For some students, the sun’s first appearance is a reminder that spring break is fast-approaching, and preparation for trips to Mexico and California won’t be complete without a “healthy” glow.
Precision Cuts manager Cara Hill said business picked up about three weeks ago. Before that, “You could walk in any time of day and get in within the hour.” Now, students should schedule their tans at least a day in advance, she said.
“The instant the sun comes out, (students) want to do outdoor stuff. … They want to look like they’ve been outside.”
But the No. 1 reason business boosts in March is because students are going on vacation for spring break, Hill said.
“If (students) are going to sunny places, they don’t want to get burned. They want a base tan,” she said.
The biggest portion of Hill’s clientele are students, almost equally male and female, and she said business ebbs and flows with students’ vacations. This means once summer hits, her business goes back down, she said.
Senior Heidi Tweedt is heading for Southern California for spring break, and she said she’s been tanning in preparation since February.
She said she tans more frequently since moving to Eugene from California to attend the University.
“It makes you feel better when you have a little color, even though it’s super bad for you,” she said.
But not all students pre-tan prior to spring break traveling. Heidi Phillips is going to California with Tweedt, but said she isn’t going to tan beforehand.
“I tanned once, and I burned really badly,” she said. “I’m definitely whiter than everyone else, but that’s better than being painfully red.”
Hill said tans aren’t the only business that increases as spring break approaches. People also come in for haircuts, she said.
People “are ready for a change,” she said. “They’ve had the same haircut all winter.”
Business also increases in March at Pineapple Kiss Swimwear, according to owner Marcia Knee. But her business comes primarily from “professional working women” who have the money to travel and “come in to buy two or three suits,” she said. Students, she said, don’t have as much money to stock up on new swimwear, but business does increase for students as well as spring nears.
For Tweedt, tanning is more than preparation for her spring-break vacation — tanning improves her mood.
“It rains so much here. … I am in a better mood after I tan,” she said. “I feel like I’ve been at the beach all day.”