spa star What concerns do you have regarding a lack of government recognition of the industry? I think that our industry still struggles to get credibility. There are a lot of really intelligent, talented people who are part of this industry, who have amazing things to contribute, and I sometimes wonder whether we’re being represented as effectively as we could. I think there is a lot of old-school thinking out there, particularly when it comes to our government. Try to get any type of statistical information on our industry. You can’t get it, because the government doesn’t track spas. They lump us into the personal service sector, with tattoo parlours and nail bars and hair salons. It makes it difficult for businesses in Canada to plan, develop, expand and grow. If people who want to invest or expand into the Canadian market ask for statistics for the spa industry, they can’t get them. This is not just a Canadian issue. Businesses globally have struggled with trying to change the image of the spa industry. I do think we are starting to see a change. There is a shift happening in terms of credibility for our industry, so that’s encouraging.
KATHRYN GALLAGHER BY ABIGAIL CUKIER
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ith more than 30 years of industry experience – including working in day spas and department stores, as a resort spa manager and as a spa consultant – Kathryn Gallagher is passionate about upholding and strengthening practice standards and policies for estheticians, and bringing increased government recognition to the industry. The current chair of the board of directors for Leading Spas of Canada, Gallagher has organized and opened several spas across Canada, including the country’s first Aveda training institute in Victoria, B.C. Since 2005, Gallagher has been a professor in the Esthetician, Esthetics & Spa Therapies program at Seneca College in Toronto. After all of your experience in the spa industry, what inspired you to teach? I think that after a period of time in the industry, you want to share what you’ve learned with the future of the industry. I had also witnessed poor practices and wanted to contribute to making a difference in improving the standards.
You earned your Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Guelph’s College of Business and Economics. As part of that program, you wrote a research paper, “The Need to Professionalize Estheticians” (published in 2017 in the Routledge Handbook of Health Tourism). What were some of the major issues the paper discussed? It looked at how we can get the government to listen to us when it comes to the way that our industry is evolving. I was looking at this crossover between day spas and medical spas and how it’s blurring [with treatments such as laser hair removal and laser skin rejuvenation being done in day spas, destination spas and hair salons]. The type of equipment and technology being developed and used in spas is concerning. The lack of regulation on high-risk machines and on operators has put a lot of people who want these services unwittingly at risk. In a 2012 survey by the Canadian Dermatology Association, 73 percent of dermatologists said they had treated patients for scars, burns and other wounds sustained after receiving laser treatment. People are being harmed. And I think that should be something that would catch the attention of the government. When it comes to these machines, Health Canada does regulate the manufacture and the sale quality of lasers, but it doesn’t regulate who’s using them. Once they go on the market, there is no oversight. The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has an infection prevention control unit for personal service settings. But one inspector in Toronto I spoke to [in 2015] for my paper told me there were 10 inspectors responsible for conducting health inspections on approximately 3,500 businesses offering hair, esthetics, tattoos and nail services. So, quality control and oversight are not going to be consistent. They’re not going to be able to see every single business on a regular basis. S pa I nc .c a
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