A client in the chair and a record card nobody can find
A client comes in for a brow lamination and tint. She has had tints here before. The therapist today is not the one who normally does her brows. She checks the client card box on the desk: the card is not in the right place. The booking system notes say "PT done" with no date. The client is sure she was tested last year. Or was it the year before? Was it with the same tint brand you use now, or the one you switched from in the spring?
The therapist has to choose between turning the client away, which is awkward, and going ahead without being sure, which is worse.
Patch tests are recorded, just not usefully
- Paper consultation cards live in a box, filed by surname, and go missing or out of order.
- Notes in the booking system are free text: "PT ok", "tested", with no date, product or therapist.
- Your re-test interval is a salon policy, but nothing reminds anyone when a client is past it.
- When the salon changes tint or lash lift brand, old tests may no longer cover the new product, and nobody can tell which clients were tested on what.
- Therapists who work across more than one salon in a group cannot see tests done at the other site.
Refused treatments, awkward conversations and gaps in your records
When the record cannot be found, you either lose the appointment or proceed on memory. Clients who are sent home for a patch test they believe they already had are understandably annoyed. And if something does go wrong, a salon that cannot produce a clear, dated record of the test is in a weaker position with its insurer. Your policy and your insurer's requirements decide what the record must contain; the system's job is to make sure it exists and can be found.
A patch test record that follows the client
- We add a patch test record to each client in your booking system, such as Fresha, Phorest or Timely where their API allows, or in a small companion app if it does not.
- Each record holds the date, the product and shade family if relevant, the therapist, the result as recorded by the therapist, and the client's acknowledgement, captured on a tablet.
- Your treatment list marks which treatments need a patch test and which product each uses, so the system knows what a tint or lash lift booking requires.
- Every booking for a treatment that needs a test shows a clear status to the therapist: in date, due under your policy, or no record.
- When you change product brand, you mark it, and clients whose test was on the old product are flagged as needing a new one under your policy.
- Existing paper cards can be photographed and attached to the client record during a quiet week, so history is not lost.
| Question at the desk | Paper card | Digital record |
|---|---|---|
| Has she been tested? | If the card can be found | Shown on the booking |
| When and with what? | Sometimes written | Date and product always recorded |
| Is it still in date? | Therapist works it out | Status against your policy |
| We changed brand | No way to tell | Clients on old product flagged |
We do not set the re-test interval or decide which treatments need a test. Your policy, your insurer and the product manufacturer's instructions decide that; we build the system to follow it.
Any therapist, same answer in seconds
On a normal morning the therapist opens the day's bookings and sees a green tick against the brow tint at ten: tested with the current product, within your interval. The lash lift at eleven shows an amber flag: the last test was on the old lift brand. Reception already rang the client last week to book a quick test, because the flag appeared when she booked. Nobody searches the card box. Nobody guesses.
Does your salon recognise this?
- Patch test records are on paper cards or free-text notes.
- Therapists sometimes cannot find a client's test record.
- Nothing reminds you when a client is due a re-test under your policy.
- You have changed tint or lash lift brand and cannot tell who was tested on which.
- Clients have been turned away for a test they say they had.