Hairdressers: to register or not to register - that's the question

The concept of registration has cropped up a couple of times over the past few days - in two very different contexts.

At the beginning of the week I heard from a very angry salon owner in the Hampshire borough of Rushmoor. The reason said hairdresser was so disgruntled was news that she was expected to fork out nearly £2,000 in order to register her premises and all her stylists with the local Environmental Health Service.

Rushmoor council are demanded registration fees of £118 per salon and £86 per stylist. A spokesman for the Rushmoor Environmental Health Service said the council would consider spreading payments to lighten the load, and pointed out that it was a one-off fee and that, strictly speaking, the salon owner wasn't responsible for paying fees on behalf of staff.

One thing is certain, timing couldn't be worse for salon owners already coping with the worst recession since the early 1990s and I certainly wouldn't want to be the salon owner forced to ask individual staff members to find £86 each.

On the flips side, can it really be a bad thing for councils to be demanding certain levels of hygiene from businesses - particularly when that business involves so much physical contact between staff and clients?

Also raising a registration issue was top colourist, Jo Hansford, who said in a letter to HJ: "Anyone who works with chemicals should have extensive training and I'm not talking about a quick week's course at a product manufacturer. As thorough as these courses are, it is my opinion there should be a much more rigorous training procedure, and a national register or database that is mandatory for colourists to be on."

It's hard not to agree with Jo on this one. Looking at it rationally, if hairdressers, quite rightly, want to be recognised as skilled professionals - once seen on a par with surgeons - than shouldn't they also expect to be subject to the same level of scrutiny?

Jo certainly feels the issue can't be ignored any longer. "These days, health and safety is such an imperative part of out daily lives and no-one wants to be drowned in red tape, but how can an issue as major as this be totally ignored?"

Okay, Jo, let's not ignore it: what does everyone else think about this? Leave your comments here!