Our contraindications and medication guide covered the prescriptions clients forget to mention. This one covers the other half: the conditions you can see — or that a client hopes you won't. An eczema flare under a sleeve. A "quick gel" booked to hide a fungal nail. A tan from a holiday they didn't think to mention before a laser slot.
The skill here isn't memorising a list — it's having a consistent question, an honest look, and a record that proves you screened. Whether you run a single chair in Hackney or a five-room clinic in Marylebone, the standard is the same. None of this is medical or legal advice; your insurer and each product's manufacturer set the definitive rules for your services.
1. Can I treat a client with an active eczema or psoriasis flare?
Not over the affected area while it's flaring. Eczema, psoriasis, and dermatitis all mean the skin barrier is already broken or inflamed, so anything that heats, strips, exfoliates, or pulls — waxing, peels, strong actives, aggressive massage — can crack it further, drive infection in, and turn a manageable patch into a weeping, painful one.
- Avoid the active site. Don't wax, peel, or exfoliate over broken, red, weeping, or cracked skin. Treating clear skin elsewhere is usually fine.
- Drop strong actives. Skip high-strength acids and retinoids on reactive skin; they sting and worsen the barrier.
- Watch for infection. Yellow crusting, oozing, or spreading redness means stop and refer to a GP or pharmacist — that's not a flare you work around.
The flare that catches salons out is the one a client plays down — "it's just a bit of dry skin." Ask directly about skin conditions, note what you saw, and date it before you start.
2. Can I do lashes or brows on a client with an eye infection?
No — not while there's any active infection or inflammation around the eye. Conjunctivitis, styes, blepharitis, and any weeping or crusting lid are all contraindications for lash extensions, lash lifts, tinting, and brow work. The eye area is delicate, the tissue is already compromised, and adhesives, dyes, and tools sitting against an infected lid can spread it, worsen it, or transfer it to your kit and the next client.
- Reschedule until the infection has fully cleared and the eye is calm — for anything contagious, that means properly resolved, not just "looking better."
- Don't tint or lift "carefully" around it. Dyes and lifting solution near an inflamed eye risk a chemical reaction on top of the infection.
- Refer if unsure. Persistent redness, discharge, pain, or vision changes belong with a pharmacist or GP, not the lash bed.
If a condition means the skin is broken, infected, inflamed, or sun-sensitised, treatment over that area waits — and the reason gets written down. A rescheduled appointment costs you one slot; a reaction you can't show you screened for can cost you your insurance cover.
3. Can I do a pedicure or apply gel over a fungal nail infection?
No gel, no polish, no enamel over an active fungal nail. Onychomycosis (fungal nail) and athlete's foot thrive in warm, dark, sealed conditions — exactly what you create when you coat the nail in gel or polish. You trap moisture, feed the infection, and risk spreading it across the client's other nails, your files and bits, and the next client.
- Don't seal it. No gel, builder, or polish over a thickened, discoloured, crumbling, or lifting nail. It hides the problem and makes it worse.
- Refer for diagnosis. Persistent fungal nail usually needs a pharmacist or GP, and sometimes a HCPC-registered podiatrist — it rarely clears with topical salon products alone.
- Protect your kit. Anything that touched the area is single-use or fully sterilised; don't move from infected nails to clean ones with the same file.
Clients often book a "quick gel" to cover a nail they're embarrassed about, so the infection only surfaces once you've removed the old colour. Ask, look, and log what you declined and why, with the date.
4. Can I wax, peel, or do IPL on a client with recent sunburn or a sunbed?
Not on freshly sun-exposed or burnt skin. Recent sun or a sunbed leaves the skin inflamed, sensitised, and full of active melanin — so waxing can strip burnt skin away, acids bite harder than expected, and IPL or laser can chase the pigment and cause burns or blistering. "I caught a bit of sun on holiday" is a contraindication, not a detail.
- Waxing: wait at least 48–72 hours after sun exposure, and never wax over visibly burnt, peeling, or tender skin — it lifts live skin with the hair.
- Chemical peels and strong actives: postpone on recently sun-exposed skin; the barrier is compromised and the pigmentation risk is high.
- IPL and laser: the strictest of all — most protocols require no sun or sunbed for around 2–4 weeks before and after, because tanned or burnt skin sharply raises the burn risk. Follow your machine and insurer's exact wording. Fake tan counts too — it interferes with the device reading the skin.
The catch is that clients don't volunteer a tan, and a sunbed the day before doesn't always show. Ask directly about recent sun, holidays, and sunbeds, and get the answer dated and on record before you start.
5. Can I wax or massage a client with varicose veins?
Work around them, not over them. Varicose veins are weakened, raised veins close to the surface, so direct pressure, heat, or pulling over them can be painful, can bruise, and in fragile cases can damage the vein. It's a "restricted area" contraindication rather than a flat no — you adapt, you don't necessarily cancel.
- Massage: avoid deep or firm pressure directly over varicose veins; light, gentle work around the area only.
- Leg waxing: don't wax directly over a prominent varicose vein — wax the surrounding skin and leave the vein.
- Refer the red flags. Sudden swelling, heat, hardness, or pain in one leg is not a beauty contraindication to manage — it can signal a clot (DVT), so stop and tell the client to seek urgent medical advice.
6. How do I record a skin-condition contraindication safely under UK GDPR?
The moment you note that a client has eczema, an eye infection, a fungal nail, or any condition you treated around, you're holding health data — a "special category" under UK GDPR Article 9. That needs more care than a phone number, and "I had it in a notebook somewhere" is not a defence if a claim lands.
Three things matter. Capture the detail, not just a flag — "psoriasis on left forearm, treated clear skin only, 30 Jun" beats "skin condition." Make it impossible to miss at the chair — a record buried in a separate file gets skipped on a busy Saturday; it should surface when you open the booking, before the service starts. And store it lawfully — a clear basis, restricted access, and a retention limit. A shared spreadsheet or open WhatsApp chat fails all three. That's the gap SAY-OS was built to close: a structured per-client safety record, held to the Article 9 standard, that surfaces the right flag before the treatment — the app that remembers everything for you, so the safety call is the default, not the exception.
Stop Running Client Safety From Memory and Paper Cards
SAY-OS keeps a structured contraindication and allergy record for every client — held to the GDPR Article 9 standard and surfaced before the treatment starts. The app that remembers everything for you, so you can stay behind the chair.
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