Hairdressers May Take Up New Role To Help Customers, And It’s Not About Fashion Or Style

Hairdressers in the United States are likely to take up a new additional role, keeping in mind the wellbeing of their customers. The role: detect skin cancer on the face, neck and scalp of the customers, said a study.

The study stated that hair stylists at the barber shops and salons could be interested in getting trained from the experts to help their customers in detecting this chronic disease.

There is a rapid rise in the number of cancer cases worldwide and skin cancer is the most common type of cancers among Americans.

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, over 9,500 people in the country are diagnosed with this disease every day and more than two people die due to this illness daily.

The study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology earlier this month focussed on skin cancer surveillance practices and attitudes among hairdressers. The research stated that hairdressers can easily find out any kind of unusual changes or spots on the customer’s body since they are seeing the neck and head skin up regularly and close.

“Hairdressers are uniquely positioned to be part of screening teams to find skin cancers early. People are more loyal to them than most other professions,” lead researcher Suephy Chen of Emory University in Atlanta, told Reuters.

“Previous studies have shown that hairdressers are willing and eager to do this. They want to be taught by dermatologists,” the researcher added.

For the study, the research team asked stylists working at 15 salons near the university to fill up a questionnaire in fall 2017. They received nearly 230 completed surveys from 12 salons. The questions included in the survey focussed on the relationship between the hair professionals and their customers.

Some of the questions included in the survey were if a client ever asked the hairdressers to check for skin lesions, if they had checked a customer for skin lesions or if they ever referred a customer to a dermatologist for an abnormal mole.

The researchers also asked the hair professionals if they are interested in getting trained in skin care detection from a dermatologist and if not, why.

At the end of the study, the researchers found that 93 percent of the participants were interested in learning about skin cancer detection and 73 percent of hair stylists wanted to get training in it. Some 40 percent of the hair professionals believed it should be a part of the professional course.

The Skin Cancer Foundation has already launched an education program to promote a salon-help training session for skin cancer detection. It is called Heads UP!