With positivity on the horizon, I'd like to highlight some things we should all be thinking about, I challenge you to think about these things this week especially.
We may all be returning to work shortly this is such good news - the NSW Government have made various announcements and for now we are currently still closed. Regardless of the confusion this is a huge positive for the future, this potential also posses many questions.
I'd like to address below,
For quick reference to review the most up to date guidelines for OPEN, CLOSED & RESTRICTED BUSINESS the link for each state is below, I recommend familiarising yourself with your states restrictions & continue to check with your local State or Territory for the most up to date guideline in your location check daily. Remember you cant just become a mobile service or start working from home without local council registration or updating your insurance policy. Please be as smart with this as possible & being a savvy business owner during this time.
New South Wales
https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/what-you-can-and-cant-do-under-rules
Victoria
https://www.vic.gov.au/coronavirus-covid-19-restrictions-victoria
Queensland
https://www.business.qld.gov.au/
Canberra
https://www.covid19.act.gov.au/economic-support/information-for-business
South Australia
https://www.covid-19.sa.gov.au/business-and-work/business-restrictions-and-closures
Western Australia
Northern Territory
https://coronavirus.nt.gov.au/
- Have you made a plan for returning to work?
- Have you ticked off the list of thing you wanted to do like budgets, website updates or client consultation forms?
- Have you contacted your clients during this time to begin a wait list, with proffered days & times? this will make it easier for you to simply book them in the moment you are ready to return to work after we get the green light.
- Have you thought about your risk of retuning to work & the risk to your clients, are you comfortable with this decision? If you are not comfortable with returning to work, what can you control that will make this easier for you.
- How can you avoid some of this returning to work risk & what is the most responsible thing for you to do in your personal situation?
We have some tips for you & NOW is the time to get down to business this week.
Begin by writing a list & start working though it one task at a time & work on it each day. NOW is the time to tick off all the things you wanted to tackle when you were with clients full time & never had time to do, like budgets & website updates or menu updates, pricing, marketing & consult, waver forms.
I want you to think about
- Will you be planing a deep clean between client bookings, if so have you made sure your booking system or structure is reflected in time with adequate breaks.
- When clients arrive will you have a sanitising station available with hand sanitiser & disinfectant wipes to clean high touch items like phones & keys before entering your space, before entering your home or studio space.
- Will you be providing a disposable mask for your client during treatment - this may make them feel more comfortable & you should definitely be wearing a mask also.
- Will you be wearing gloves during application? If so have you been practicing your fan making with them on?
Let's Talk Application & contamination ZONES/DEEP cleaning between clients.
Each & every item you touch during the service should not be returned to your regular working trolley or place of storage until it has undergone a deep clean, this is standard practice in our studio so I'm going to break this down as basically as I can - In our studio we have 2 trolleys for each lash artist - one is for items I have used or touched at any point during service, the other is my working trolley that holds my stock, consumables & so forth, in other words it is my regular trolley. If you don't have 2 trolleys a simple solution would be a tray or container that you place any items like your primer bottle, glue aid, shampoo, scissors or adhesive (you get the point) basically any items you handle during service that is not disposable - is to be placed on your secondary trolley, tray or in to the container whatever you chose to use to differentiate these items, This becomes your contaminates zone - Between clients all items from each service within said contaminated zone are to be wiped over & sanitised before retuning to my stock trolley. I do this while my tweezers are being sterilised.
Like I said this should be standard practice & it is taught through beauty therapy when you learn infection control, I know that many of you already know this, every now & then I come across some one that needs to review or may have forgotten or potential never be taught & thats ok because the system has let you down (its not your fault) Regardless NOW is a great time to recap what standard practice should look like.
Bedding is changed between each client & bed is wiped down along with your ring light or strip light, your light switches & door handles. Basically anything that is touched during service.
As always I have a clean fresh lash tile for each client with the lashes required for the client appointment I'm about to start, anything left over after the treatment is scraped of & placed in the bin. SHOCK HORROR... YES I throw these lashes away... Simply scrape them off the tile & place them in to the bin "BYE Felicia"
This is something that should be highlighted as it may not be standard practice for all lash artist, As an educator it should be. Each lash strip becomes in contact with your tweezer tip or your hand during application. The same tweezer tip that is getting all kinds of personal with your clients lash line & the same hand that is resting on your clients forehead. This means the lash strip becomes contaminated with your clients bacteria, skin cells & your own, regardless of the current COVID situation this should be disposed of... NO if's or buts if you have any questions about this please reach out & I'd be happy to discuss further with you to clarify so you understand the importance of this practice.
It's not the industry giant telling you to use more lashes its about safe & hygienic practices, plan to remove from the lash tray only what you will need. If you plan to little its easy to open the tray & get more lashes. For those who wont use a full strip of lashes on one client there is an example below...
For a full set of classic lashes I allocate 1/4 of a strip of each size & curl I choose to use, its factored in to my pricing this way & the client is paying for the stock allocation so its no problem if I don't use it all & it goes in the bin.
If you wish your client to wear a mask, will it disturb your application area, fast answer is YES! Before we closed up I had clients wearing a disposable mask during service,(In this equation I was the high risk for their service as l was still traveling interstate for student classes, like on planes, Airports & hotels... it was terrifying & this was before the state boarders closed) I did find on some faces it did require tape to hold it out of my work zone & limit moisture from my clients breath breathing coming up through the top of the mask & flowing in to the lashes where I was working, genrally speaking disposable masks are ill fitting. A simple solution is to tape the top of the mask down with medical foam tape, cut 2 thin strips & bond from the middle of the cheek to the bridge of the nose & use the other piece of tape on the opposite side in the same manner.
For me personally when we get the green light for commercial salons to return to work, I will be requiring all clients be actively using the "COVIDsafe" app in order to complete a booking & this has already been made clear to my waitlist, updated to our front door in the form of a sign, this is a controversial topic for some people - however it ensures if myself or a client becomes compromised by or connecting to a positive COVID19 person/device connection... I will be notified & at this point I have the opportunity to immediately cancel future bookings, contact clients from the time of connection to the time of notification so they are also aware of their risk. Then to return home to isolate for 14 days or get tested whatever the health department request of me. For myself it seems like the most responsible thing to do & the feedback we have had from our wait list is that this requirement for bookings makes them feel more comfortable coming back when we are allowed to return to work. Have a think about how will you be communicating theses things to your clients.
As always in my studio "my client is the only person invited to her appointment", no friends or family it is not their appointment, in this time it will be strictly enforced to reduce foot traffic within my studio.
I know this is a huge amount of information & if there are relevant updates & government guidelines they should be reviewed and followed. I do hope there are clear guidelines available for the beauty industry before we return to work.
At the time of writing this is how I plan to be moving forward, I'm flexible to change & will adapt to the evolving guidelines when we are allowed to return to work.
Big love as always
Brigette xx
