Formostar shut down by my State, help please

[sunsally]

Good point Brian! It is my understanding that most salon owners can do themselves OTHER than the arms. So they wrap their body and legs, your staff does their arms - voila!

And if people ask about it, complain - explain it was the state regs that forced your hand and you wanted to keep it affordable for your clients which you would not be able to do if you had to hire a Master Eth. to do the wrapping.

[Jag]

Our next move is to take the pads with us and my wife will show them that the client can indeed do the thing themselves. She does it all the time on herself after hours. We plan on telling them the client has the option to do it on their own or be helped. We are not sure at this point if it will work but thats our plan and thats about all we have left.

[Brian Oshman]

Yeah, you can do the arms which is less then 50% and they can do the rest themselves. All well within your guidelines. If they still balk then they are just making up the rules as they go and you will then have a case.

There is more then one way to skin a cat.

[dbl-a]

Updates?

[dbl-a]

Just got the go ahead from a woman on the "Board". MN is not regulated for any body wraps.

[Jim Carlton]

Or, as long as you have to have an aesthetician on staff why not make some real money and offer facials, waxing and other skincare proceedures? Offer the girl a 50 / 40 split with them on the services and a % of any skin care products they sell (oh gosh another way to make money) that you decide to carry?

[Brian Oshman]

Offer the girl a 50 / 40 split

Jim, is that, that southern math again?

[shelleytn1]

now he has to give that xtra 10 to you brian

[Jag]

Update: We have a hearing next Wed Oct 10th on this. I will update then on how that goes. The wife is preparing the case and we will see. I have hired Esthetiticans for now but it is a pain. Just fighting to not have two on staff 16 hours and day and better pool to hire from.

[Kathe]

I wrap myself all of the time. I can't do my arms but I either put those on my lower legs or just under my shoulders and neck and lay on them.

Weird. As Dean said a state that allows more than one wife but disallows this.

Kathe

[Jag]

Update: We ended up going to our hearing on the issues at hand. We drew up a great case, had everything we needed to fight this ruling and citation. Well, the mistake we made is having my wife (who is an Attorney) send in the documents for arguments on her letterhead. When we showed up the Licensing Division had an Attorney for the State of Utah there to handle their side. (When in all the cases before us the investigator handled there own)
We argued over an hour and had a good case, long story but the Investigator even lied and was caught by us 3 different times and was scolded by the Judge for not having the facts right, but bottom line we lost. In fact the Judge for this Division is a hired Judge this is also an Attorney in Private practice (moonlighter) so he is paid for the State. He says it does fall under the Esthetician Licensing and must have Master Estheticians performing the service. He then went on to fine us $400.00 first offense, next time it doubles to $800.00. And he continued on staying we are now on a fine line with the Medical Licensing side as we claim it helps with Back Pain, Arthritis, Blood Circulation, even Insomnia and that if we used or promoted a device to do this then if fall into a Medical Licensing to treat these type of conditions. The Inspector then told me they would be down to visit on that issues soon. (As of yet they have not)

After all this, we end up trying to hire Master Estheticians which is hard to find as none want to work in a Tanning Center, we have extra payroll because of the double coverage and have to pay them a lot more per hour. Now who knows, I may have to have a Doctor on Staff like a Medical Spa does if I claim the pain relief from the machines.

I have too much invested with two machines, advertising, build out of rooms etc. to go back now, so we are dealing with the restrictions that we have and the hard time finding any the Estheticians

[Toasted_Tiki]

The only advice that I can give you is that at anytime you have a certification question, make sure you find out from the city & county you are located in, and of course state.

[Beach Bum]

How often do they inspect to see if you doing this per regs? Wondering if you hire someone now to appease them if they will just go away? So that down the road you could go back to doing it yourself.

[Jag]

I only was inspected when a Day spa turned me in I think. Sure, I could try and go back doing it ourselfs but if caught a second time I face an $800 fine. It doubles each time. Not worth it.

[eyecandytanning]

That sucks!

On the other hand, if you are thinking of selling, let me know! I have been looking for a formostar. Although I hope you can figure out how to make it work.

[Jag]

I won't sell, I have two Formostars now and making a room for a third by years end for what I hope is a busy Jan 2008. Why you ask with all the hassle? If I have to hire these girls, I have to keep them busy with 3 Treatment rooms going none stop. I have spent at least $20,000 plus in advertising alone to keep them busy and so far I have done well by adding more machines, so it is paying off by keeping them full at all times.

[eyecandytanning]

That is awesome! I hope when I get one I am that busy!