Hairstylists Upset over Health and Safety Guideline Changes
Charlie Taylor is a three-time winner of the Scottish Hairdresser of the Year award. She has spoken out about the new guidelines hairdressers may have to follow based on European health and safety rule changes.
Hairdressers all through Europe are being told they will need to wear arm length rubber gloves and are no longer allowed to wear high heels during work. It has seemed as though most individuals in the hairdressing business wear high heels and only wear gloves when they work with chemicals. These long-standing traditions are now being targeted as incorrect by health and safety consultants.
The restriction on high-heeled shoes makes some sense considering what high heels can do to a body. After years of working on one’s feet wearing high heel shoes, there can definitely be pain. The safety concern surrounding high heels is the potential for slipping. If a spill occurs on the floors where hairdressers work, one could slip easily because high heels are not slip resistant. It is not fun to consider this possibility, but it is one of the reasons that high heels may be banned. As for wearing gloves during the entire hair styling process, it is said to be because of cuts. In case cuts happen during the hairdressers’ work they should have gloves on for health and safety reasons, but for generations gloves have not been used, so why now? This is the very question Taylor is asking.
