A client has had gel manicures for three years without issue. This time the skin around two nails becomes red, itchy and swollen over the following days.
She messages the salon rather than a doctor, because the salon is who she associates with the product. What the salon says next matters both for her health and for the business.
1. Understand what sensitisation actually is
Repeated skin contact with uncured product can produce a reaction that develops over time and then persists. Somebody who has been fine for years can become sensitised.
2. Never diagnose in a salon
A reaction may be an allergy, an irritation, an infection or something unrelated. A technician is not qualified to distinguish them and should not try.
3. Route symptoms to a doctor
Clearly and immediately. This is both the correct advice and the only defensible position for a salon.
4. Stop using the product on that client
Until a doctor has advised. Continuing after a reported reaction is where a salon's position becomes indefensible.
5. Focus on prevention through technique
Avoiding skin contact with uncured product, proper curing, appropriate lamp use and not leaving product on the skin. Most reactions trace back to technique.
6. Take the curing seriously
Under curing leaves uncured product against the nail and skin. Lamp condition, correct lamp for the product and full cure times all matter and are commonly rushed.
7. Do not mix product systems
Using a lamp and a product from different systems is a common cause of under curing. Technicians do it for convenience and it has consequences.
8. Ask about existing sensitivities at the first appointment
Known allergies, reactions to other products, eczema and skin conditions. A record made at the first visit matters later.
9. Ask again when anything changes
New products, new suppliers or a client who mentions anything. A one off consultation record that is never updated is worth very little.
10. Offer a patch test where appropriate
For clients with a history, and explain honestly that it reduces risk rather than removing it, which is the ground covered in nail product allergy and patch test questions.
11. Keep records of products used
Brand, system and batch where possible. If a client is later tested by a doctor, knowing exactly what was used is genuinely useful to them.
12. Train everybody consistently
A salon where one technician works carefully and another does not has a risk that nobody has assessed.
13. Be honest when somebody should stop
A sensitised client cannot continue with that product, and a technician who says so is protecting somebody rather than losing a booking.
14. Cover the wider skin questions alongside
Clients ask about sensitivity across several services, which is the ground covered in skin assessment and product questions.
15. Handle the enquiry carefully and route it properly
An assistant that asks what the symptoms are, tells the client to see a doctor, offers no view on what it might be and records what was used and when handles it safely at the hour somebody is worrying about their hands. That care is described in how to handle sensitive questions in your chatbot, and the practical service detail sits in nail appointment questions about gels, removals and timing. See features, start at try, and the sector view sits under beauty salons.