Professional Practices, Ethics, and Business Operations
This domain tests the business and ethical frame around the service: scope of practice, records, consent, insurance, pricing and honest marketing. Items often present a client request that pushes past your training and ask for the correct professional response.
Scope of practice and referral
Lash technicians do not diagnose or treat eye conditions. A stye, suspected infection, unexplained swelling or a lash loss pattern that looks like alopecia is referred to a physician or optometrist. Declining a service on contraindication grounds is a professional act, not a lost sale, and it should be documented with the reason.
Records, consent and confidentiality
Keep a signed consent form, intake, patch test result, service notes, products used and before-and-after photographs for every client. Retain records for the period required locally, commonly several years. Store records securely and never share client images or details, including in marketing, without specific written permission.
Pricing, policies and insurance
Price from your true cost per set, which includes adhesive, extensions, consumables, laundry, rent and your time, plus a margin. Publish a clear cancellation and no-show policy, typically with a 24 to 48 hour window and a deposit for new clients. Carry professional indemnity and public liability cover, and confirm your local licensing or registration requirements.
Ethical marketing
Avoid medical claims and never state that an adhesive is approved by a regulator unless it is. Use real, consented before-and-after images, describe retention honestly, and disclose when a photograph is filtered. Testimonials must be genuine.
Worked example
A regular client points to a tender, swollen bump on her lid margin and asks you to squeeze it before her fill. Reasoning: this is outside scope of practice, and squeezing risks spreading infection. The correct response is to decline, explain that it needs a medical assessment, reschedule the fill until cleared, and note the referral in her record.
Traps that cost marks
Making medical or regulatory claims; posting client photographs without written consent; treating a contraindication refusal as poor customer service; and operating without insurance or required registration.