Agreed about professionals giving wrong advice, although I'm sure most of the time they believe they are right, just misguided. I've had clients tell me all sorts of ludicrous things they've been told by therapists, some of the time causing me to have to stifle a laugh. This is especially the case in skincare - I had to study dermatology & so forth as part of my HND (I'm quite lucky to have a dermatologist as a client who also keeps me up to date), and when I hear some of the things my clients have been told I do despair!

I don't know how guilty I am of this. And I'm going to do my best not to sound defensive, because I'm relatively new to the forum and just now found this thread.

I'm a professional in a related, crossover field: I create handcrafted nail art canes. My canes are distributed worldwide through suppliers and distributors, salons, and nail geeks. Some of the geeks here on this forum are my customers, and can attest to the quality of my product.

I know I haven't given any advice on beauty products or their application, with the exception of my own product.

With that being said, I know I've probably given personal advice. To someone preparing for a license testing, I've given advice to get a good night's rest before the test, eat well, get enough water, then smile, and take deep breaths during the test. I don't need to be a professional in her field to share this advice: it's common sense.

To someone experiencing issues with a client, I've given my opnion on how to treat them with respect, and at the same time to respect their own integrity and value as a trained professional. I don't presume to tell them how to run their business, but I do know something about courtesy and self-respect.

So, in my opinion, the lines blur a bit. I completely agree with the common sense approach, though I've been known to exhibit less common sense than I should have, at times.

Personally - I'd rather be called on it when I offer bad advice. It's the whole "toilet paper on your shoe" or "broccoli in your teeth" kind of thing. If no one approached me and told me I were wrong... how would I learn that I was, in fact, misinformed or misinterpreted what I'd learned?