Shockingly, all of the above could be true. A recent survey carried out byhas revealed that 1 in 3 people don’t know whether or not their beauty therapist is insured or even appropriately trained. And the scariest thing of all is that actually, for the majority of procedures, they don’t have to hold any qualifications. Chairman at BABTAC, Lesley Blair reveals: “Presently, beauty is more or less an unregulated industry meaning there is very little to no legislation.
Let’s highlight some positives, shall we? To begin with, we think it’s safe to say that there are a huge amount of qualified, well-trained, fully-insured beauty experts out there. And, although there's not enough regulation, there is some. Let’s take, for example. Currently, laws say that Botox can only be prescribed by a doctor or a nurse – so that’s one step in the right direction. When it comes to other forms of injectables, however, the rules aren’t so tight.
But that’s not to say that the blame lays in the hands of the beauticians themselves. Due to government negligence in the area, many therapists are unaware that the training they have isn’t up to scratch. “A therapist may not be aware that the training that they have undertaken is unregulated and often not fit for purpose. They can be left without the skillsets that they need, and sometimes unable to get insurance cover,” says Lesley.
In 2015, the government passed The Modern Slavery Act as a way to crack down on illegal workers and human trafficking – including that which happens within the beauty industry. Recently, Britain’s anti-slavery chief has come out to say that most recommendations made by her office in 2017 on tackling the issue – including regulation of nail bars – have not been implemented.
So what do we want to see? Well, BABTAC have made it their mission to pressure the government for attention. “We believe that there needs to be a minimum of a mandatory register that can verify all therapists are competently qualified and have adequate insurance to ensure the safety of therapist themselves and the clients that they treat. The ultimate goal would be for full regulation, either by the government or an independent industry body.