The IFS of deregulation

I’m going to go out on a limb here and make this statement ‘most Technicians don’t even realize the pitfalls of deregulation“.

Truth be told. I feel like in today’s environment, it won’t make a difference.

Don’t get me wrong. I am NOT in favor of deregulating.

---

When I first invested in this Industry back in 1987, regulation for Nail Technicians didn’t exist. In fact, I purchased an existing Salon and the conversation never came up. It wasn’t until 1988 when regulation for Nail Tech’s began. Had the previous owner of the salon I purchased had been forth rite with me, I could have been grand fathered in.

Nonetheless, I found myself as a Salon owner having to go to school in order for me to perform my job as a Nail Technician. At that time, 110 hours is what was needed to become a licensed Nail Technician.

---

That was my first taste of the lack of education Nail Technicians were exposed too. Here’s my timeline;

• June 1987 purchase a Nails Only Salon Business. At the time, I was still Owner and Operator of 1 of 3 Office Supply stores.
• Due to a traumatic start, I found myself sitting behind the desk by October of 1987. It took me 3 hours for my first full set of acrylic nails.
• 1988 I had to, by law…get my license.
• Because I worked full time during the day and doing nails in the evenings, my time was limited to go to school
• The local school worked with me
  • They let me bring in my own product
  • If I was at the school 2 hours, they put me down for 8
• I, in no way shape or form put in 110 hours. Yet, I received my license within 30 days

The school didn’t even have a Nails teacher and the cosmo teacher knew nothing about nails.  What they did “technically” was pay me to teach. I was 100% self taught and now I’m assisting other potential Nail Technicians. Crazy shit!

---

Now, I had my license and used that as authority to train any new hires. They had to have a license to work with us, however, I knew they were NOT learning in school, what they really need to know.

I did well, growing from 2 Technicians to 11. All of which were trained by me and all of which were the team for the nails of the Home Shopping Network.

---

As time went on, I was presented with an opportunity to work with Footlogix. Footlogix led me to NASP.

In 2008 I began my journey into foot care, beginning with the NASP class level 1.

I can remember thinking, I’m going to be bored. What could I possibly learn that I don’t already know. I was wrong!

By lunch time of day 1, I thought my brain would explode. I was so overwhelmed by the knowledge. What really struck me however, was by the end of the day I found myself praying to God and thanking him for protecting me all my previous years owning my Salon.

There were things we might have been doing, or clients we serviced which we were doing incorrectly. Any of them could have been a lawsuit waiting to happen. I was truly blessed.

That is pretty much when I decided my journey was heading to foot care and getting as much education to our Techs as we possibly can.

---

Now, although NASP and other advanced education is available, we also have social channels which, makes on line learning so easy. If you read my article from last week, I mentioned how many of our Nail Technicians are posting techniques which can easily be found on social media available to “everyone”.

So when it comes to deregulation or the idea of; I have 2 schools of thought

1. We learn nothing from the schools. Yes, there are a handful of awesome schools and I know many of them. However, the majority of schools do not teach our upcoming Tech’s what they need to know. They don’t work with quality products which 1) can discourage a student 2) not do them justice by using better product. Schools are mandated by the program they must teach which is regulated by each State. 
2. If we deregulate it changes our Beauty Community life forever. More people will get hurt, there will be more product reactions, more court cases.  We already see this in the DIY market, yet….many of our Technicians feed right into that.

The reality is, there are hundreds and thousands of non licensed Techs. It’s the DIYers that I blogged about last week.

They are being self taught and they are awesome. However, they are awesome at the art. The long, stiletto nails with freaking amazing designs. They are extremely talented.

Yet, what they don’t know are the dangers which come along with it all. They don’t think about disinfection or proper cutting.  They think more about the art than the consequences. Which, I think is a big problem with our society. From the Government on down. No one thinks about the consequences, because there are none.

---

What does happen IF we are deregulated?

I think it will be like other Countries. The ones who care will self educate. They become the “its” of the Industry. There will be a definite line between them.  That’s not a bad thing.

What is bad, is not being able to distinguish who you should learn from because there will be no right or wrong. Once deregulation takes effect, right or wrong goes right out the window.  After all, everyone is the teacher these days. Doesn’t matter if you have the education or not. The good ones will mix in with all the derelicts that think they are teachers. In the end, this affects the end user, our clients.

In addition, so much for changing the image of our Industry. I just hope deregulation happens after I’m out of this Industry. I honestly don’t know that I will be able to handle it. Shoot, I can’t even handle what our Industry is going through now. LOL

In the end, I do believe either way we go, we rise up. We are a strong and devoted community. We’ll go through a rough patch and come out stronger. It’s a cycle. It’s the circle of life!