How To Make Beauty Safe

The beauty industry is one of the least regulated industries in the world. In the United States, there is no legislation regulating the claims made by beauty companies about their products and the ingredients that go into it. Companies that claim to have “clinically proven” or “tested” products can do so regardless of whether that is true or provable. Nothing stops someone from branding themselves as a beauty therapist, even if they lack training. This makes the beauty industry very dangerous. Here’s how to make the industry safe.

Regulate the Industry

The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the cosmetics industry, but, cosmetics products do not need regulatory approval before they are sold. Companies need not meet any criteria to sell products. The FDA shifts the burden of regulation to cosmetics companies. This is very different to Canada and the European Union, where the cosmetics industry is heavily regulated.

In addition, there is no regulation that compels practitioners to have a certain level of expertise to start performing beauty treatments. For instance, a person can start performing beauty treatments where they use chemicals, or break skin, even if all they have is one-day of training. The huge number of beauty salons in the country is a testament to how easy it is to become a practitioner. That is just a recipe for disaster.

This brings us to the first thing that needs to change: the industry has to come under more regulation. We need to regulate the products sold by the industry, so that cosmetics companies can’t sell products without getting FDA approval. Secondly, we need training standards to ensure that practitioners are adequately trained. If Canada and the European Union can effectively regulate the industry, then we should be able to do so.

Many people have taken to using injectables, but, done wrongly, this can result in disastrous consequences if they are not used properly. Even routine treatments such as lash extensions and waxing, can go terribly wrong. We’ve all seen what a bad beauty treatment looks like, and it isn’t good. It’s simply too easy to get qualifications as a practitioner, without any extensive or even high-quality training. Many of these so-called certificates deserve to be thrown into a fire once you’ve received your firewood delivery.

Practitioners should also be forced to get insurance. Why? Insurers would impose standards even if the government cannot. Insurers would be unwilling to payout claims for someone who was not qualified to perform a procedure.

We also need a register of therapists, where their qualifications are verified so that people can see who has the expertise to perform the treatments that they are offering.

Fund the FDA

One of the difficulties that the FDA has had is that it is underfunded. The reason why the FDA has shifted regulation to individual companies is because it is outgunned by the industry. The FDA simply does not have the funds or the staff to effectively regulate the industry. Funding the FDA gives them the ability to do all the things that it needs to do to effectively regulate the industry.