As a beauty and wellness professional, your job is to make clients look – and feel – their very best. But what happens when clients are unsatisfied with their service, or misunderstand the process or aftercare instructions?

The nature of your work necessarily opens you up to liability. You may have even heard horror stories of:

• Hairstylists who were sued because their client didn’t disclose a box color and refused a consultation and strand test before processing.
• An esthetician that lost a client who spent a weekend sunbathing on a boat two days after a chemical peel – against the pro’s clear aftercare instructions,
• Other beauty professionals who have had to turn clients away because of medical contraindications that could result in unintended consequences and even a lawsuit.
  

So how can you protect yourself and your business? The best thing you can do is leverage waivers. GlossGenius now provides the option to add waivers in your app, so clients can acknowledge your waivers right after booking their appointment, directly on your salon, spa, or studio booking site.

Try GlossGenius free for 14 days!

What Are Waivers?

You’ve seen them before – you’ve probably signed a few yourself. A waiver is a legal document that a client will acknowledge (usually by checking off a box) to confirm they understand the risks of a specific procedure, or to waive their right to press charges against you – the beauty and wellness professional – for something outside of your control.

Waivers are crucial for protecting your business from risk. Yes, you might (and should) have salon liability insurance, but getting clients to sign waivers before their appointment can help you avoid having to claim on your insurance at all, and therefore avoid higher premiums in the future.

What’s more, because GlossGenius' Waivers integrate with the relevant client’s appointment, it’s so much more convenient than using multiple apps and services, or worse, paper waivers. Your client will be invited to complete the waiver ahead of their appointment, which saves time for you and them, and keeps your schedule humming smoothly.‍

Types of Salon Waivers

There are several different types of waivers you can use, depending upon the concerns and liabilities of your specific business. For instance, if you’re a hairdresser, you may prefer a waiver for clients who are getting chemical treatments done. Estheticians may prefer waivers for injections or laser procedures. Lash and makeup artists may opt for waivers covering adhesive allergies and sensitivities.

Get to know the different types of waivers so you can see what will fit best for your business:

• General liability/hold harmless waivers: This is a catch-all waiver that protects you and your team in the event of common incidents, including but not limited to minor injury, illness, property damage, financial loss, etc.
• Photo/video release waivers: If you love featuring your clients on social and in your portfolio, use a photo or video release, sometimes called a model release, to confirm that your client is happy with their likeness being used in conjunction with your business.‍
• Covid-19 waivers: This is a relatively new waiver, designed to protect you and your business from being held responsible should someone catch covid in your chair.
  

You might also want to consider other types of waivers like aftercare instructions, which you can easily do in your GlossGenius app by creating a blank waiver and adding your custom language.

How to Use Waivers in Your Beauty Business

Ready to get started protecting yourself and your business? Here’s how you can incorporate client waivers into your services and routine.

1. Identify who needs to complete a waiver

You may decide that all of your clients should complete waivers, or you may want to narrow your focus just to some of your clients. Consider the different ways you can break it down:

• Clients receiving any of your services: If you work in a high-risk field, or prefer all of your clients to acknowledge a waiver, add the waiver to All Services in your GlossGenius app.
• Clients receiving high-risk services: This may go without saying, but providing a waiver before a service with added risk – think your chemical treatments, procedures involving needles or other sharp instruments, or services that involve beautifying the eye area (lash and brow artists, looking at you!) – can protect you and your clients.
• Clients doing a total transformation: If your client is looking for a #transformation, consider asking them to complete a waiver so you can use their photos for a before and after post on social, or to add to your portfolio.
• New clients: If a new client is booking a service, or if you have an existing client booking a service that’s new to them, you can have them fill out the corresponding waiver just once, rather than every time they book the service.

2. Get your waiver language in order

Once you’ve identified who should acknowledge a waiver in your salon or spa, you should involve an attorney – they can help draft one or many waivers you can use, and validate that the language in the waiver offers the most clarity and protection.

Additionally, your location (country, state, even town) may have specific language you should use or avoid using, and a lawyer in your area is better equipped to navigate these requirements for you.

As a GlossGenius member, you have access to waiver templates written and validated by our legal team – so you can protect your business and save time for you and your clients ahead of their appointment.

3. Add waivers to your salon management app

Within GlossGenius Gold, you can select from three waiver templates (general liability, photo release, and covid-19 waivers) or you can copy and paste your own custom waivers to save.

Try GlossGenius free for 14 days!

Here’s how you add your waivers: Settings > Create a Waiver (blank or from template), then select which services you want associated with that waiver > Save.

From your clients’ perspective, when they go to book a service with you, they can click into the waiver from the Booking Complete page. Additionally, they can access and complete the waiver within their confirmation and reminder emails, and from their appointment details page.

On your end, you can also share the link to an uncompleted waiver with a client ahead of their appointment to remind them to complete it. (This is also a convenient way to share a waiver with a client who shows up for their appointment and is yet to complete it.) Share the uncompleted waiver link to their email, over text, or through social media so they can save time before their service.

With waivers digitally and seamlessly integrated with your booking process, you won’t have to worry about printing, manually sharing your waivers, and keeping track of who has acknowledged a waiver and who hasn’t. Within GlossGenius, you can easily add and remove waivers by service, and you can see, at a glance, when your clients complete their waivers.

Take advantage of our new Waivers feature with a free 14-day trial of GlossGenius! Already loving your new waivers in GlossGenius? Share your referral code with a friend!