Hairdressers learn to detect melanomas to save lives
Hairdressers, barbers, and beauticians often find themselves wearing multiple hats, taking on the role of confidant and listener. Now they could also soon be called life savers. A new course is teaching people how to spot the early signs of skin cancer. It is expected more than 16 thousand Australians will be diagnosed with melanoma this year.
Transcript
00:00 This came about as I'm the National President of Hair and Beauty Australia.
00:07 We're a national body, Melanoma Australia approached us and I actually said to our CEO,
00:17 "This is a very, very good program and we should get on board with it."
00:23 So consequently, we formed a partnership with TAFE New South Wales, CUNE and of course Melanoma Australia.
00:33 And from that, with a team of people, we grew a micro-skill which is becoming invaluable
00:41 because we're an industry, not just hairdressing but barbering, beauty therapists,
00:48 other allied industries like podiatry, people that just do pedicures and all,
00:54 they all need to know about this.
00:57 We have been subconsciously aware but now there's a micro-skill and now there's a lot of talk about it as well
01:05 and we were ever so lucky that Deborah Hutton actually helped and did work for our micro-skill in developing it,
01:14 which was really great because as we all know, she was also a victim of it, a high profile.
01:20 There's many victims of it but she was one of the high profile ones, yes.
01:24 It's a fascinating program because I think most Australians probably have, you know,
01:28 in many ways more intimate and regular contact with their hairdresser or their barber or their beautician
01:34 than their doctor, than their GP.
01:36 But obviously hairdressers are not doctors, so tell us what the training involves
01:40 and what the professionals here are learning.
01:44 Well, that's definitely right.
01:47 Hairdressers are not doctors.
01:49 I say we're hair doctors, not medical doctors, which is correct.
01:54 However, we're in very close contact with people.
01:58 We see their scalp, we see behind the ears.
02:01 There's a lot of places that we see that people can't see when they go to hairdressers or barbers, etc.,
02:09 even beauty therapists, massage, masseurs and all.
02:13 So what we tend to do when we have them in front of the mirror, we might be touching.
02:19 And we'll say, "Are you aware of that?"
02:21 If they weren't, we would say, "Well, it's probably good to go and see someone about it."
02:26 We're at the basin and we're combing the hair.
02:29 You can comb through and you can check and see if there's any lumps or anything like that.
02:34 Now, one thing with this micro skill we were very aware of that we did not want it to be a diagnosis skill.
02:41 We wanted it to be an awareness skill because we're not doctors, as you said originally.
02:49 We are professionals in another arena and we're not there to diagnose,
02:54 but we're there to give people encouragement of being aware and how to have a conversation.
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