I guess what we all would like is 'one' governing body that would do it all , we have habia (which imo is the closest we have in the uk as a giving body atm) and safe salons and the guild and we did have ANT, but this is the problem we seem to have lots of groups that are all fighting for the same thing but not always seem to be working as 'one', and then we have many of the main top companies offering great education and support as well... its a tough one but I guess we have to work towards the common goal ... we should all be working in a safe salon .. end off xx

A very inflammatory comment....using words like extortionate and scam, and yet you say it is a good idea!!!
Just because you do not think it is for your business, does not mean that this is not the way forward for others.
How many threads on here have mentioned educating our clients about the dangers of NSS and MMA?....and now you are saying clients are too uneducated to check out a salon before they go.
Should we all give up and go home?

You say is/was associated with EzFlow as if this was a bad thing!!
The Managing Director of Safe Salons Victoria Smith was a Master Artist Educator with EzFlow, which means she knows her stuff, and has paid her dues within the Nail Industry IMHO.
I have had many dealings with Victoria, and have always been inspired by her passion and enthusiasm for the Nail Industry, and her innate professionalism.
I wish her and her team at Safe Salons every success.

If we wait on the Government, or Local Government to do something about regulating our Industry...we will be waiting a very long time....actually we HAVE been waiting a very, very long time already.

We bleat on and on, on here about raising standards and when someone actually does something about it, because they dare to make it a 'business' and charge for their services all of a sudden we are calling it a racket and a scam.

As far as I am aware Safe salons are working closely with a lot of leading brands in the UK and also Habia.

Therefore if someone was to come on here in the Consumer Forum, asking for a good nail tech in an area, I would be pointing them in the direction of Safe Salons.

I did not say the company was a scam,
i said it was a money making scam where only they would benefit.
No i do not think they should do it for nothing as i put in my post (a small annual fee)
and as for checking qualifications the queen herself could check mine if she wanted to i have no worries,

i have looked into safe salons but was not bowled over by the hype,
the day that a client comes into the salon and mentions safe salons website without any prompting from another therapist is the time i MAY look at it again but until i am not making them any richer.

This is turning into yet another thread where members get shot down for having a opinion of their own.

I am sorry Louise but I don't understand, especially as it is the word Scam that I have taken umbrage to....do you think it is or it isn't ??

The word scam means a confidence trick or fraudulent scheme....and as I said that is a very inflammatory comment to make, possibly even slanderous/libelous!!

As I often veer from the path of public opinion on here there is no way I would shoot any one down in flames for doing the same thing.

You are entitled to your opinion that Safe Salons is not for your business, you find it too expensive and you are not sure how much custom it will bring in. Fair comment !
BUT to use words like scam as if this is some sort of con, is just not on, you cannot malign someones reputation and business like that.

Do you see where I am coming from??

I do see where you are coming from and i still only see that the people to truly benefit from this are the people taking the money,
hence why i used the yorkshire term of scam,

i know the company is all legal and above board, i was not implying it wasn't (or didn't mean to)
it is a clever money making idea that will not benefit us but only the safe salon company.
They sell membership to this on the understanding that clients will think if you are a member you are better and cleaner than anywhere else,
this is not true,
there are plenty of top class techs out there with spot less salons and fantastic working practises that are not a member so does that mean that safe salons are been slanderous to those who are not members,

and i have still not met a member of joe public that know anything about safe salons website.

I just have reservations that the customer is more savvy these days and can often be more cynical than in the past. Will they think that because cash has changed hands, that the recommendation is not as clear as if not?

I am not asking safe salons not to make money, I am merely stating that I wonder if the client will think its a gimmick and steer clear?

I am sorry if anyone thought my comments are wrong, but i think that if money changes hands then the customer MAY think its just a gimmick. I want legislation, I have nothing to hide and I know its a dificult one, I wont be joining safe salons, not because I dont believe in what they are trying to do, but because I feel paying for it is not for me.

It's basically another form of advertising.

You pay to be 'recognised' as a 'safe salon' and get to be advertised on the website.

simple as that really

Every day we deal with consumers in the salon. The haven't got a clue that there are many brands of gel, acrylic.. etc
Normally they come into our salon saying that they don't want acrylic because it ruins your nails.

My salon doesn't actually offer acrylic (only gel), but obviously not for those reasons!! I tell them that it's not all acrylic that damages the nails... etc

We are a very busy salon and we are not panicking about these nss even though we are twice the price. We use good products, do great nails and offer a good service to our customers at a fair price.

The bottom line is that consumers often don't have a clue. It's up to us to educate them. This is what I think safe salons might be trying to do, but as of yet, consumers don't know who they are either!! Maybe that will change in the future??

Gina xx

I hope that everyone agrees that the industry needs some regulation.

Too many salons are offering 'below standard' service in terms of their skills and practices and this gives the industry a bad name (think back to the bad press a couple of years ago in the Bristol area).

If we wait for the government to step in it will probably be after somebody has died as a result of contracting an infection, or after somebody has had the nails deformed through somebody using a 'home made' blend of chemicals. A bit like somebody has to die in a road traffic accident before traffic measures are put in place.

SafeSalons are working extremely hard to raise the standards in the industry which will benefit everyone involved who takes their profession seriously. Victoria Smith is a well known figure within the industry and knows what she's talking about. If the industry was regulated by a government person, do you think they would have the same level of experience???

Yes SafeSalons charge (and so do you!). But if you look at what you get out of being a SafeSalons approved salon you will see that it represents excellent value.

It may not be for everybody - nor is Marmite - but I take my hat off to Victoria and her team for taking the bull by the horns and doing something that is long over due!

Well said...

I think local councils should be responsile of regulating health and safety in salons in their area, after all anybody can very easily get window stickers and certs printed up to stick in salon windows to impress clients and lets face it Jo public would be none the wiser if they were legit or not.

The probelm with leaving it to local councils is that there would be different standards through out the country.

Yes, people can forge certificates and window stickers - but this is illegal and should they be found to be making claims that cannot be verified then they would deserve everything the courts would throw at them.

Yes and No.

It's illegal to forge a copy of another organisations window sticker or certificate and claim its genuine, but to be fair, I could print up my own window sticker saying (for want of a better phrase...eg only, and not that I really would!)

"Approved by Lyndsay's School of Hygiene"

and I am! There's nothing illegal about that....and theoretically it could mean as much to some clients as Safe Salons does.....because they don't know one from the other. To the client....who has the better standards? They aren't to know!

I don't think there's anything wrong with Safe Salons, I just don't think they have established a position in the market in the eyes of the consumer (maybe they will in the future - who knows), that warrants me paying out their membership. I have better ways of getting a return on investment on my money right now.

I understand what your saying but any standards are better than none even if they are different from county to county ?

RE the certs, I think it would be very easy for a dishonest tech to make a cert or window sticker that is worded carefully that could make them sound like they are a hygienically clean salon even when they are not and this wouldn't be illegal would it ?

In a previous thread I said that if I could afford it I would buy into safe salons but after thinking again I'm not sure I would, If I was Jo public and didn't know any thing about what to look for in a salon and saw an ' official' looking cert/sticker saying that the salon was a hygienic and clean salon as opposed to a salon that had nowt in the window I know which one I would use, I think its too easy for dishonest salons to jump on the band wagon with this type of thing and then no one would know who is official or not, safe salons would be a waste of money then cos it'd only be us tech that would know the difference ?!

I know this is going off the safe salon thread but I still think things like this that are to do with health and safety should be non profit making ?

In all honesty I don't think clents would have the faintest idea what it meant to be approved by anyone. And I don't think they care. If you're good and they're happy they return.... if you're not they don't and bad mouth you and you have no clients.
JMHO here...

I've just re written my last thread to make it more read able, but I totally agree with what you said !