BUSINESS - Adults Only

Should kids be banned from salons and spas? It’s a tricky question.

Late last year, Sydney based eyebrow salon owner and director Kristin Fisher made headlines when she announced she had decided to put a no children policy in place for her clients. Fisher penned an open letter to her clients on her Instagram explaining the decision.

“This is a very hard post for me because I hate upsetting people and I feel this may do just that, but we have no other option,” she wrote. “We are imposing a new rule that clients must not bring children or babies to their appointments.” Her reasoning for the new rule was the potential dangers that lured in and around her salon when kids were repeatedly unattended while their mothers were getting treatments.

“We have had kids run onto the street, we’ve had clients leave midway through their appointments as they’re too annoyed about the noise being made by children and we’ve had mums call and complain saying their brows are crooked after they’ve been nursing a squirming baby the whole appointment,” she wrote, continuing to argue that it “simply isn’t fair” to those clients that come to the brow salon for a relaxing experience.

While the drastic measure was sure to - pardon the pun - raise a few brows, the question whether children should or should not be allowed in salons and spas is a valid one, for two reasons: the child’s safety, and the potential disturbance of other clients.

A no-child policy is more common in hair salons due to the dangerous nature of them with scissors and chemicals all over the place. Some salons state their policies on their website, such as Texas based Tayler Made Hair, saying “No children under the age of 13 are allowed in the salon during the client’s appointment. Please make sure your children have a babysitter the day of your appointment. It is the salon’s policy not only for the child’s safety, but to make sure every appointment goes in a smooth and timely manner for each client.” Furthermore, a New Zealand hair salon has recently increased their prices for kid’s hair cuts drastically “after 24 years of broken tools, snot rubbed into chairs and vomiting.”

So what about spas that have a focus on wellness and relaxation? Will their clients ever be able to enjoy a massage/body scrub/facial while their toddler is running around in the treatment room? Should staff be responsible to look after the kids during their mother’s (or father’s) treatment? Most industry professionals would probably say no, but of course it’s not as black and white as that.

Banning children completely could see many parent clients look for a new place, whether that’s out of principle, or because they simply can’t be bothered to organise a babysitter when they know their child behaves well. Therefore, a softer approach to keeping your business’ peace and quiet could be a ‘supervised children only’ policy, which asks clients to take another adult with them if they want to bring their children.

It’s a personal decision that every business owner or manager has to make for themselves, but when we asked Kristin Fisher if she regretted her decision, the answer was pretty clear: no.

“Our no-child policy was not an easy decision to make! We had been considering it for a long time for a few reasons. First and foremost it was a safety issue, but we also want to create an environment in which our clients can completely relax. The response has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive from mums and non-mummys alike. I knew that our loyal clients would understand the decision,” the mother of two said. Time will tell if more salons will follow suit.