Training and qualification is the most important thing to check when you are looking to book a beauty or Aesthetic treatment. But nowadays there are so many training courses available, it’s impressive to see certificates covering walls but these certificates may not mean a thing. Whenever you book beauty or aesthetic treatments the easiest way to ensure your therapist is qualified is to check your they have professional public liability insurance and that the particular treatment you are booking is included in the cover. For a therapist to get insurance they must prove they are qualified with a professional governing body such as NVQ and must prove they are qualified in every treatments they offer.
For any Permanent Makeup treatments or needling treatments such as Micro-needling the therapist must have a licence from the local council Environmental Health, here in Guildford our local council requires bother the premises and the individual to be licenced. To be granted a licence the therapist is visited and interviewed, they are very strict about Health and Hygiene, the therapists must have firm knowledge of blood borne pathogens and cross contamination. They must have a contaminated waste disposal agreement in place and their premises must meet specific requirements such as washable floors, and walls, hand washing facility in every treatment room and they must use a certain spec of equipment, tools and products.
Always check your therapist has:
Before every permanent makeup procedure you should be asked the following as these will greatly impact the results of your procedure:
Ask to see photos of their work
For insurance purposes photos must be take before and after each treatment, these photos should always be kept on file for reference even if the client doesn’t want them to be shared. Therapists will obviously share the best examples of their work but it is important for you to see a good variety of skin types, the good the bad and they ugly! Treatments don’t always work well for some clients, this doesn’t mean the therapist has done something wrong it just shows how every client is different. Therapists should manage your expectations and be confident enough to show you examples of treatments on a variety of skin types and ages.
Website and Email address
A website and email address is a way of checking professionalism, it’s important a therapist has a website as well as social media and messaging.
Do they offer consultations?
Treatments such as permanent makeup and aesthetics aren’t one off treatments, you should never just book in and turn up, a full consultation should always be performed to ensure you understand the treatment process. There are several reasons some treatments may not be suitable so a thorough medical questionnaire should be completed, notes should be taken. Yu should also have enough time to go away and think about the treatment before having it.
Forms and Data protection
In recent years GDPR regulations have come into force and therapist must ensure they are recording and storing personal data securely. Computerised booking systems are the best and safest way to do this, making it easier for clients to manage how and when they want to be contacted. The booking systems also automatically send out forms, aftercare, follow up reminders and booking information, making your treatment experience far more professional.
Payment
Check how your therapist likes to be paid and which payment methods are preferred. I would always be concerned if a therapist asks for full cash payment in advance. Cash is not traceable so you have no proof of payment, it is so easy nowadays to accept card payment with small machines such as iZettle or paypal. Bank transfer is also easy and secure.
Meet your therapist
If you are visiting a salon with several therapists, always ensure you know which therapist will be doing your treatment and that they are qualified, licenced and insured, also ensure you have seen their work and not another therapists work.
Do you feel comfortable talking to your therapist?
Permanent makeup isn’t a one off treatment, you should bare in mind that you will need to see your therapist every year to maintain the treatment, building a relationship is important, you must feel confident in your therapists ability but also feel relaxed and happy, honesty is the key with treatments and you should always feel able to talk to you therapist and let her know if there’s anything that worries you or you don’t like.
My advice to anyone looking into any cosmetic aesthetic treatment is do your research and always ask lots of questions.
If you do have any questions generally about any treatments or would like advice about what you should ask feel free to contact me.
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