EDITORIAL - What price beauty?

Authorities recently raided a beauty clinic in Barangay Cogon Central Ramos, Cebu City, for allegedly conducting beauty enhancement procedures without a license.

The owner of the clinic, a Vietnamese national, has been arrested along with several of the workers.

The Regional Special Operations Unit-7 conducted the raid following reports, and confirmation by their agents, that some procedures there weren’t effective and that the workers also refused to reveal what brands of products they were using during those procedures.

Caveat emptor; let the buyer beware. How sure are you that you’re patronizing a legit or competent beauty service provider?

A license means an establishment has passed standards set by the government. It at least means the people there know what they are doing and they have the proper facilities to carry out the procedures.

Medical procedures carried out by people who may not have the expertise to do what they’re supposed to be doing always have risks. There are many horror stories out there of botched medical procedures designed to enhance beauty; implants that won’t shape into the intended form, deformations caused by surgery, allergies resulting from improper procedures, and so on.

And such aren’t exclusive to beauty procedures either. Remember that boy who died after he was circumcised in a lying-in clinic in Tondo last May? But that’s beside the point already.

Being up front with the name and brand of the products you are using on your customers is also a must. Not all beauty products work the same way on all people; there are different skin types after all. Some products effective for Caucasians may not be good for Asians and vice-versa. Beauty products aren’t one-fits-all items.

Then there is also the concern that some beauty products may be fake. These days there is no shortage of counterfeiters looking to make money imitating everything from branded clothes to food. Beauty products are surely on that list.

What price are some people willing to pay for beauty? If the price is not being sure of the quality of the work you are getting or of the products they are using, then that’s too high a price.