What happens if a client reacts and you have no patch test on record

What 'no record' actually means

It does not mean you are a bad tech. It means you cannot show this client, this date, this product, this result. The test might have happened. It might be a photo on a phone you reset. It might be a first name in a notebook from 2023. To an insurer, that is the same as no test.

Hairdressers: read this as skin test / allergy alert test. Lash and PMU: patch test. The hole in the file is the same.

This is a working explanation for people who do the job, not legal, insurance or medical advice. Read your own policy, your local authority, and the current wording from the bodies named. Glow records what you set. It does not decide the rule and it does not claim a salon is compliant.

The first 24 hours

Tell them to seek medical help if they have not already. Do not diagnose over Instagram. Write down what they said, what you did, which product and batch you think was used, and who was on the column. Photograph what you still have — leftover colour, adhesive bottle, the card if it exists.

Do not offer to 'sort it' with a refund and a hope they will go away, and do not post about it. Notify your insurer when the policy says you must. Late notification is its own way to lose a claim.

If you have a batch number, keep that bottle. If you do not, say so early. Inventing a batch later is worse than a gap.

What insurers typically do

They ask for the consent, the test, the aftercare, the notes, the product. If the test is missing, many schedules let them decline a reaction claim. That does not mean the client has no other route — they can still complain, review, or instruct a solicitor. It means your insurance may not stand behind you.

This is why the test is not 'best practice' in the vague sense. It is often a condition of cover. People learn that on the day they need the cover.

What you still should not do

Do not write a test card after the fact and back-date it. That is a different kind of problem. Do not ask them to sign something that says they never reacted. Do not blame them in public for 'sensitive skin' while a claim is open.

Do not keep treating over a reaction because they have a wedding on Saturday. Stop, document, send them to a GP or A&E if it warrants it.

The conversation with the client

Be plain. You are sorry they are unwell. You are informing your insurer. You will not keep applying product. You will share the batch if you have it. You will not argue about whose fault it is in the first message.

If you did test and you can find the record, say so and produce it. If you cannot, do not pretend. A missing record is bad. A forged one is worse.

What a usable record looks like next time

Test booked or paired, dated, product and batch, result, signature, expiry. Consent for the treatment. Aftercare with a timestamp. The same fields on every visit, not only on nervous new clients.

Paper can do this if you are ruthless about filing. Most columns are not. Software that refuses the booking when the test has lapsed does the part humans skip when the diary is full.

Glow is built for that refusal. See how long a patch test is valid, Glow for lash techs, Glow for hair salons, and pricing.

Staff, booth renters, and 'I thought she did it'

The hole in the file is often a people hole. The owner thought the renter tested. The renter thought the receptionist booked it. The Saturday girl used the owner's adhesive and wrote nothing. A rule that only lives in one person's head will fail on a bank holiday weekend.

Put the rule on the category so every login sees the same block. If someone overrides it, that override should be a conscious choice you can see, not a quiet slot in a paper diary. Training still matters. Software does not replace a conversation about what you do when they turn up early and beg.

If you have more than one pair of hands on the column, the record has to be shared. WhatsApp photos in a personal camera roll disappear when that phone does.

If you are reading this after the fact

Gather what exists. Call the insurer. Do not edit old cards. Then change the system so the next new client cannot sit without a date on file. That is the only useful ending this story has.

If you are a renter and the salon owns the book, say so to the insurer. If you are the salon and the renter used their own adhesive, say so. Gaps in who owned the product are how these files get messier. Write the brand you actually opened, not the brand on the price list from 2022.

Then look at the next ten new clients on the diary. If any of them can still book a full set or a bleach without a date, the system did not change. A poster on the mirror is not a system.

Expect reviews. A client in pain will write one. Do not argue the chemistry in public. Point them at medical help, tell them you have informed whoever you have to inform, and stop treating. The record you wish you had will not appear because you posted a story about sensitive skin.

If this is the second time this year, the product or the process is the story, not bad luck. Change the bottle, change the rule, or stop offering the service until you know which. Two reactions on one lot is a supplier conversation. Two reactions on two lots is a process conversation. You cannot have either conversation without the numbers written down on the day.