organic tanning
Butler’s Tracy Gough takes her organic spray tans on the road
WRITTEN BY JORAM MUSHINSKE PHOTOGRAPHY BY MITSU YASUKAWA
B
utler resident Tracy Gough,
28, was tired of terrible-
looking tans.
She grew up as a “bed
tanner” and worked at
tanning salons, mostly
for the perks — fr
free tans.
t
At age 19, however,
owever, a trip to the
doctor changed
ed her routine.
“A dermatologist
tologist had to remove
and test a small
mall area of my
back, which was a huge
wake-up call that it’s
never too early
rly to begin
taking care of your skin
and body,” Gough says.
“I quit the tanning
nning beds
and began getting
tting airbrushed
(spray-tanned)
d) myself, but I’m
a very pale person and no colors ever
looked good on me no matter what
shade it was.”
.”
Around the
he same time, Gough began
to feel lost in her everyday routine. “I was
attending college
llege while working two jobs,
and wanted to
o become a criminal psycholo-
gist,” she says.
s. “All of my friends were away
at college, joining
ining sororities and making
new friends. I became a little depressed
feeling like I really didn’t have a place.”
During a camping trip, Gough had the
idea to start her own company, and the next
day she had it all down on paper.
“I wanted to take the stigma out of spray
tans and appeal
eal to men and women of all
ages and tastes,”
tes,” she says. “Forget the
techno music,
ic, the Jersey Shore jokes and
the ridiculous-looking
us-looking dark colors.”
“I never imagined
magined in my wildest dreams
I would become
me a business owner,” she
says. “I’m very
ery fortunate to have an
amazing support
pport system of family,
friends and clients.”
16
FALL 2019 WAYNE MAGAZINE
PALE IN COMPARISON
Gough started her mobile
tanning company, After Dark,
when she was 20 years old.