Beautiful You by Suzanne Edmonds

Each week, beauty enthusiast Suzanne Edmonds explores the best ways to take care of ourselves so that we love the skin we're in.

As the debate grows over regulation of the beauty industry, I would like to put a challenge out to beauty salon owners to self-regulate – in short, to set their own high standards and exceed them.

Much like medical physicians take the Hippocratic Oath, beauty therapists have a duty of care to their clients.

However, the beauty industry in New Zealand, and in fact around the world, is largely unregulated. At present anyone can set themselves up as a beauty therapist at home or open a beauty salon with little or no training.

As more and more horror stories come to light of unsafe and unhygienic practices, the onus is on salons to keep their clients both safe and satisfied.

Practicing good hygiene is the only sure way to safeguard against dangerous infections and transmittable diseases.

Those using beauty salons should demand a high level of service, as it is this demand that will ultimately drive the change that is needed in some establishments.

If you are having a treatment done, be on the lookout for general cleanliness and hygiene. If you are uncomfortable with anything, question it.

For wax treatments, it's advisable for therapists to wear disposable gloves, in case they come into contact with blood or other bodily fluids. All good therapist will have hygeine as their top priorty.

Therapists should also be careful not to put their hands directly into pots of lotions or creams, as this can contaminate the products. Disposable spatulas are a good way of avoiding direct contact, as are tubes and pump-top containers. Too often I have seen spatulars left on wax pots and reused. Never be afraid to ask your therapist to change the spatulars.

Tools used in beauty treatments should not just be washed, but also sterilised after use. Ask your therapist what method they use to sterilise their equipment. If their answer is not satisfactory, tell them so. Being shy about speaking up is not worth it.

These are just some of the things to look for. Be mindful also of the basics, like freshly laundered towels and thorough hand-washing between treatments.

This also applies to home-based salons. While therapists may choose to work from home for convenience and to keep overheads down, they should still be delivering the same high standard of service.

When we visit the doctor we expect a high standard of hygiene and cleanliness and visiting a salon is no different.

It is up to individual salons to uphold this standard for the sake of the industry’s reputation as well as their own.

Suzanne Edmonds is owner of De Lux salon in Cherrywood, Tauranga. Next week, in Part 2 of a three-part series, Suzanne will look at the regulation of beauty and personal care products, asking the question: Do you know what you are putting on your body?

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