Mist-On Tan

Dr. Laughlin’s Mist-On Tan is the original fully-automated sunless spray booth. This revolutionary new process was developed and patented in 1997 by Dr. Tom Laughlin. This pioneering invention ushered in a new technology – the sunless spray booth.

The basic concept is that a tanner can step into a booth, push a button, and get completely coated from head-to-toe with a fine mist of sunless tanning solution. The entire coating process takes less than one minute.

To add to the excitement, Dr. Laughlin developed a tanning solution that gives the tanner an immediate and a long-lasting tan. The immediate tan is courtesy of a cosmetic bronzer which washes off with the tanner’s first bath. The long lasting tan is from dihydroxyacetone (DHA), the active ingredient in most sunless tanning solutions.

The booth itself is an automated robot which coats all four sides of the body with four passes of a vertical arm containing 8 misting nozzles. The arm is designed to create a vortex which keeps the mist in the center of the booth. A large, high efficiency filter draws out the rotating mist in seconds. This unique aerodynamic design assures the tanner maximum application in minimum time.

Laughlin Products, Inc is an intellectual properties company that focuses on research, development, licensing and patent enforcement. The company holds 16 patents, including the dominant patent in the spray-booth industry, U.S. Patent # 5,922,333. Dr. Laughlin is listed as the primary inventor on all of these.

Laughlin Products was incorporated in Texas in 1997. Dr. Laughlin has been its president since its formation.

Dr. Laughlin is the president of both Laughlin Products, Inc. and Mist-On Systems, Inc. He holds the dominant patent in the spray booth industry along with 15 related patents.

His long-time dream of building an “automated human paint booth” became reality in 1997 when Dr. Laughlin began a high-tech product-development venture with a Dallas based tanning-superstore chain. The goal of that venture was the market introduction of the first automated sunless spray-booth. The venture was very successful. In 1999, Dr. Laughlin licensed this chain to make and market their own specific design, which they trademarked as Mystic Tan. Dr. Laughlin formed and licensed his own company to make and market his preferred design, the Mist-On Tan booth. He recently licensed one of his European distributors, Jean Paul’s Tanning, to make and market its own design to the European market.

Dr. Laughlin graduated from University of Louisiana, Lafayette, in 1974 with a BS in Physics. He received his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Florida State University in 1979. He served as a research associate at The Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee until 1983, when he became the Senior Biophysicist at the Southern Research Institute in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1988, Dr. Laughlin was hired by Schering/Plough in Memphis, Tennessee as Principal Scientist and Project Manager, overseeing new product development and product improvement projects, concentrating on footcare and skincare products with emphasis in topical delivery in consumer products. Dr. Laughlin also worked to develop both over-the-counter and Rx products, including wart-removers, antifungal products, odor controllers and in-grown toenail relievers. In 1995 he moved to Texas to join Johnson & Johnson to manage project teams in development and 510k filing of new chemical disinfectants/sterilants for medical applications. These were global projects with interactions with sales, marketing production, R&D, regulatory and legal groups from Europe, Japan, Australia, South Africa, and Canada.