Not Instagrammable but very important
For you as a client:
Choosing your beauty therapist isn’t just about how cute their salon looks on Insta
When you book a tattoo, lip blush, microblading or another semi-permanent make-up treatment, you will probably spend a lot of time thinking about the practitioner.
Are they experienced?
Do you like their work?
Do they understand what you want?
But there’s another question that is just as important:
Is the room they are working from actually suitable – and registered – for the treatment they are carrying out?
Because when it comes to tattooing and semi-permanent make-up, an ‘Insta ready’ treatment room isn’t necessarily a compliant treatment room.
Regulated for a reason – your health and safety matters
Tattooing, microblading, lip blush and other forms of semi-permanent skin colouring involve breaking the skin which creates potential risks including infection, contamination and exposure to blood-borne viruses if appropriate infection-control procedures aren't followed.
It’s for that reason, Leeds City Council requires people carrying out a range of skin-piercing treatments to be registered with the Council and the room they are working from must be registered with the Council as well.
This includes:
tattooing
semi-permanent skin colouring or make-up
cosmetic piercing
ear piercing
acupuncture
electrolysis
It’s not just about having a wipeable beauty bed?
This isn't simply a question of having professional insurance, qualifications and a wipeable treatment bed; the requirements are designed around hygiene, infection prevention and the ability to clean and disinfect the treatment environment effectively.
Among the standards set out in Leeds City Council's skin-piercing guidance are requirements for:
Smooth, impervious flooring
For tattooing, semi-permanent skin colouring and cosmetic piercing, the treatment area should have a smooth, waterproof or impervious floor that can be properly cleaned.
Surfaces that can be disinfected
Beauty beds, chairs, stools, tables and surfaces that could come into contact with blood or body fluids need to have smooth, impervious surfaces so that they can be effectively disinfected.
Treatment couches should also be protected by disposable covering which is changed between clients and disposed of in clinical waste bins.
Suitable hand-washing facilities
Hot & cold water AND Tropic hand wash and hand cream
There must be suitable washing facilities and an adequate, constant supply of clean hot and cold water.
When our Ash and Beech rooms at The Wellness Lounge Leeds were inspected, the Council rep did actually check the temperature of the hot water to ensure it was hot enough to kill any bacteria.
Safe storage
Needles, instruments, equipment and other materials need to be stored in a way that minimises the risk of accidental access and any contamination.
Sterile equipment and single-use items
Needles and other relevant equipment must be sterile, with single-use disposable items used where required. Pigments used for tattooing and semi-permanent skin colouring also need to meet the appropriate hygiene requirements. (Leeds City Council)
Correct disposal of sharps and clinical waste
Used needles can’t simply be chucked into standard waste bin, they must be contained safely, be correctly segregated, stored and disposed of in accordance with waste legislation.
We at The Wellness Lounge Leeds and our practitioners have a legal duty of care for our waste and must make sure waste is transferred to an appropriately authorised business, including checking the registration of waste carriers where applicable. (GOV.UK)
We have all this sorted for you at The Wellness Lounge Leeds, meaning that as a practitioner, it’s all taken care of for you and as a client, you know our premises are being cared for in the right way.
It’s not sexy but it is necessary.
None of the above is particularly fun or creative or ‘sparkly’ but it is all extremely necessary. As a practitioner, you could find that your insurance doesn’t cover you if you’re not working from registered premises which leaves you personally liable should anything go wrong. As a client, you could be receiving treatment from a therapist who is not insured.
For Practitioners:
The Beech Room at The Wellness Lounge Leeds. Regulated and registered with Leeds City Council
The Ash Room & The Beech Room at The Wellness Lounge Leeds
When we created The Wellness Lounge Leeds, we wanted practitioners to have more than a beautiful room to work from.
We wanted them to have the right room.
The Ash Room & The Beech rooms have been inspected and accepted by Leeds City Council for specialist treatments including tattooing and semi-permanent skin colouring and the practitioners have registered with LCC to work from these rooms.
This means we've considered the practical, regulatory details that aren't necessarily obvious when you're looking for somewhere to run your business:
appropriate washable and impervious surfaces
suitable flooring
dedicated washing facilities with hot and cold running water
safe storage
private treatment rooms
appropriate arrangements for sharps
clinical-waste management and collection
an environment that can be properly cleaned and disinfected between clients
A specialist room for a specialist practitioner
For a tattoo artist, fine-line tattooist, microblading artist, lip-blush practitioner or other semi-permanent make-up professional, finding somewhere beautiful to work is relatively easy.
Finding somewhere that also understands the regulatory requirements of your business can be much harder.
And that's exactly why we invested in creating specialist rooms at The Wellness Lounge Leeds.
The compliance side of running your business isn’t particularly exciting or aspirational, these are not the aspects of a treatment that get likes, shares and follows – but having the right space to work from means you can concentrate on the part that is: looking after your clients.
A Huge THANK YOU to our in-house expert
Contact Caroline for treatments and for beauty education
At The Wellness Lounge Leeds we were very fortunate to have Caroline Botsaris, The Skin Specialist and Educator on board as she was the instigator of getting us all regulated. Her expertise has been so beneficial to ensure we do everything correctly.
The Skin Specialist & Educator on Instagram
Caroline is also a tutor in the advanced skincare treatments and techniques and thrives on training and supporting the next generation of practitioners to fulfil their dreams in the beauty industry.
We’ve started a waiting list
Between starting to write this blog and actually getting around to completing it, our Ash and Beech rooms, the ones that are registered with Leeds City Council are pretty much full. We do have a few spaces here and there but it would only be 1 day a week.
If you are you a tattoo artist or semi-permanent make-up practitioner looking for a professional base in the Leeds area, it is still worth getting in touch to see what availability may be coming up.
Practitioners are still responsible for obtaining their own individual Leeds City Council registration and maintaining the appropriate qualifications, insurance and working practices – but the specialist environment is set up, and we can help with the connections to register.
If you'd like to find out more about working from The Wellness Lounge Leeds, get in touch and come and have a look around.
I look forward to welcoming you soon too The Wellness Lounge Leeds
Lucy x
welcome@thewellnessloungeleeds.co.uk
For reference, Leeds City Council's current skin-piercing registration and guidance page: Leeds City Council — Skin piercing registration and guidelines. The underlying registration requirement comes from section 15 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, expanded in 2003 to cover semi-permanent skin colouring and cosmetic piercing. (Statutes.uk)