When I went to have laser hair removal done for the first time 7 years ago I walked into the first laser clinic I saw, filled out a form, got up on the table and zap zap zap…Not once did I think to ask a few pretty important questions I feel everyone should ask when choosing a spa of any kind, whether its for your nails, lashes, tattooing, skin treatments or laser, there’s a few things everyone should be asking and 1 thing everyone should be aware of before choosing that person and spa or clinic to work with.
The big one: This is an industry that is totally unregulated, therefore anyone is capable of purchasing skin or laser equipment and the next day start treating people as a technician, I’ve seen personally the results in the aftermath of this. Not only is this physically scarring, but can be mentally scarring as well. Leaving someone permanently scarred can ruin their self esteem. Thankfully there are health inspectors stepping in more heavily now such as Fraser Health here who can say “No that equipment isn’t health Canada registered or can we have a copy of your certificates before approval. We are slowly seeing this change thankfully.
So as a possible client what can you be looking for when you go into a spa or clinic inquiring about a treatment? Certification: certificates on the wall with your technicians name, and in British Columbia all secondary schools who are legitimate will have accreditation stamps on the bottom right corner in gold “PCTIA” Private Career Training Institute Agency. Which in short is an agency in British Columbia that is a third party organization who looks at private schools and gives them the approval on their courses, how they conduct themselves as a training institute, and that the depth of learning meets their standards. Knowing the biology of the human body in the area of specialties the technician is working on is key to not only maintain the safety of the client but also achieve the best results from the treatment the client chooses.
Health Canada Registration: This is also a very important thing to look and ask for, there is so much equipment out there not registered with Health Canada, which means it does not meet our standards for sterilization or safety. If a spa or clinic is meeting all the standards Canada has they will either have or have the ability to get a copy of that registration for any equipment they have purchased.
Transparency: When you are in a consultation at you’re spa or clinic of choice your technician will most likely have all the right things to say and almost always sounds like they know everything there is to know about skin and laser, and that is the best case, that’s a person who has put the time in, hands on and hopefully is accredited as well, and if they are the transparency will be there, when you ask those questions about schooling and equipment it should be easy for them to answer or get for you.
When I have a client come into my medi spa I don’t wait for them to ask these questions, they are all a part of my consultation because I feel that my clients should know and go into a treatment with myself or my technicians feeling comfortable, safe and full of knowledge.
Harmony Aven.