Cosmetic mists and cutting-edge beds are common in salons, but Executive Tans will be the only one locally to offer the other options.

Executive Tans, which opened at 7541 N. Academy Blvd., is promoting its beds with air conditioning and voice-automated systems that offer encouraging statements to their supine, one-person audiences: "Increasing body ventilation," for example, or "We hope you are enjoying your tan."

New science in the lights that glow from the bed's innards can tailor a customer's tan sending out ultraviolet rays varying in intensity and filtration. Some are designed to bronze skin in less than six minutes.

"I don't consider myself to be in the tanning industry. I'm in the experience industry," owner Wade Barker said. "There's a lot more to it than you'd think."

The industry has safer equipment, more government regulations and better educated workers than before.

Executive Tans operates more than 120 stores nationwide and is projected to grow to 300 locations by by 2006.

The company, which Entrepreneur Magazine has ranked among the top 500 firanchises, claims to open a salon about every six days.

During the 1980s, the use of tanning beds was unregulated, and the industry reeled under a medical community that claimed overexposure to the UV rays from the beds could cause several skin problems, including cancer, according to the Indoor Tanning Association, an advocacy group for indoor tanner.

The government since has mandated, among other regulations, that tanning salons can offer patrons only one session a day, and the medical community has eased up.

Barker was an investment analyst for Denver-based Invesco when stock fell through the floor almost four years ago.

"It was part of one of the biggest crashed since the great depression," he said. He started looking into various franchises and finally landed on Executive Tans.

"It was always in my heart to start my own business," he said.

He saw potential in tapping into the booming $7 billion tanning industry with an upscale tanning experience -- impeccably clean beds, fresh bulbs in the beds and a knowledgeable staff.

Workers emphasize the health and well-being of tanners.

Customers at Executive Tans pay about the same as other salons. It charges $8 to $12 a tan, depending on the machine the customer chooses.

Tan Your Hide costs $7 to $20, depending on the machine.

Although tanning salons can't legally advertise their services as having medical benefits, they promote the positive side effects of tanning nonetheless.

Advocate tout benefits ranging form alleviating seasonal depressions to increasing sexual stamina.

"We have many people that come in for reasons that are beyond aesthetics," said Barry Moglur, president of Executive Tans.

Despite advances in the industry, experts continue to warm against the use of tanning beds.

"There is no scientific basis for what is coming out of the tanning industry," said Dr. Thomas Hirota, chief of dermatology at Fort Carson. "Tanning, even in moderation, is bad idea. The very fact that you're tanning means that the skin has been damaged."

Because of these warnings, one thing that won't change is the fine Iine salons owners must walk to defend their trade. "Its the flip side of the coin. If you run, the cardiologist is going to tell you it's great for your heart. But, if in turn you talk to the knee doctor, he's going to say the impact is bad for your joints," Moglur said.

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