Considering the pride of place CIDESCO therapists hold within the beauty and spa therapy sector, their new qualifications would seem to be bucking where the industry is heading. As Emma, our founder wrote in Irish Beauty Magazine May/June issue. “The beauty industry today is at a curvature, with a defined split between traditional beauty salon treatments and medical device-led aesthetic therapies becoming more pronounced.”
Requiring formal qualifications is a positive step forward for the industry and the general public. However, it has also brought to light what can only be described as rouge trainers. Some salons are offering laser hair removal training and offering a certificate to the participants. However, it is not a formal qualification, the minimum standard being a Level 4 regulated qualification awarded by ITEC, VTCT, CIBTAC or BTEC. We can understand how the cut-price training can be enticing, how words like ‘training from an “insert brand” certified trainer could seem legitimate.
A note on the EU, while we do not wish to make this political, with 27 member States, coming to a consensus for guidelines for non-surgical-cosmetic-interventions is proving to be problematic. The debate started back in 2014, while guidelines (unpublished) have been agreed for beauty treatments, non-surgical-cosmetic-interventions is still held up with no agreed outcome in sight. Even if the EU does publish a set of guidelines, it becomes incredibly problematic for them that the training industry has its foundations in the UK. While the EU has not consulted with the UK organisations, an agreed set of standards have been put in place that is robust and agreed upon by the GMC, NMC, GDC, while a new regulatory body has also been set up, the JCCP.
How robust is the training course and qualification attained at the end of it?
In the age where even regulated courses are being cut down to bare bones to simply pass a test, it is important to inquire how robust the course actually is. If possible compare the course structure to other providers. Two courses may have the same qualification title but the course content, depth of learning, can vary greatly between providers.