The Sun is Life® Trade School is taking tanning industry training by storm!
Arguably the most comprehensive training program tanning salon operators have ever seen, the four-tiered approach to professionalizing salon businesses thru standardized education is exactly what our industry has needed.
It’s no secret that for several years, the tanning trade has been under the media, legislative and regulatory microscopes. The problems started when certain entities within the industry decided it was best for salon operators to practice medicine, rather than practicing the trade of cosmetic tanning. Any claims of health or medical benefits from indoor tanning promoted by factions within our industry have a significant impact on the entire industry. The FTC, FDA, media, legislators, medical societies and dermatological societies are frankly, “frothing at the mouth” in anticipation of the next medical/health claim about tanning to be exposed. Being devoid of medical doctors, our industry’s very hint at health improvement due to UV exposure will ultimately be the demise of our livelihoods and our industry. Untrained/undertrained staff working behind our salon counters represent a big part of this problem. They are sales focused, and will say what it takes to make the sale. This practice has to stop.
What the medical societies have working in their favor (aside from the “M.D.” behind their name) is the word “dose”. When the tanning industry makes any health claim pertinent to UV exposure, the medical society will ultimately respond with, “Okay, what dose will substantiate that claim for all people, all genders, all ethnicities, all ages, all genetic factors”… and then ask, “What is the frequency at which that dose should be administered?” When these questions are asked of our industry, our answers are empty.
As it relates to dosage, the medical society can hang their hat on a 500-year-old saying that came from the father of toxicology, “Paracelsus”. That saying is simply this: “All things are toxic; it is all relative to dose.” Our 35 years of cosmetic tanning history can’t compete with 500 years of medical practice. We can never escape what Paracelsus said 500 years ago. Consequently, it’s imperative that our industry gets off that playing field.
Training your staff about the negative impact of making health/medical claims is extremely important for the longevity of our trade. Sun is Life® can promote the rebirth of our industry, simply by training tanning tradespeople to be exactly that… members of a skilled trade who do their job to produce the results desired by our salon guests: a COSMETIC tan.
joined Sun is Life in January, 2013. As the educational program’s director, Brown brought a vast wealth of academic, industrial and political experience to his position. His goal was to help spread the program’s message of moderate tanning and salon operator professionalism, a standpoint that he – like ist Magazine – believes the indoor tanning industry must embrace in order to remain strong.
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