Our Origins

The Government planned legislation allowing healthcare professionals to enter the beauty industry, requiring beauticians to use beauty devices only under medical supervision — or even to hand operation of the devices over to healthcare workers. This would worsen the local exodus of medical staff and deepen the doctor shortage: stealing the beauty industry's rice bowls while endangering public health. The industry therefore held a rally against the legislation on 16 January and submitted a petition letter.

Representatives of the beauty industry met Prof Sophia Chan, Under Secretary for Food and Health, to voice the industry's demands — urging the Government to value the beauty industry and face up to the impact the legislative proposals would have on it, and hoping the Government would come to know the industry in depth and understand its needs.

The Panel on Health Services held a special meeting on 13 February to hear the public's views on the proposed regulatory framework for medical devices, in relation to the planned legislation regulating beauticians' use of beauty devices. Many industry representatives took part in the hearing to express their views to the Government.

Before the hearing, industry representatives rallied outside the Legislative Council and submitted a petition letter.

Once the legislation regulating beauty devices passed, the whole beauty industry would take a heavy blow. The industry therefore resolved to form a union to defend its own interests. On 3 March 2017, the Beauty Industry Victims Alliance convened its first general meeting, attended eagerly by salon owners and practitioners, to plan a union representing beauty practitioners in direct dialogue with the Government. The embryo of the Hong Kong Beauty Industry Union was born there.

The Union set up a booth at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai to introduce the Union to the public. Union Chairman Dr Tsang — Chairman and CEO of Modern Beauty Group (fifth from left) — and several Vice-Chairmen attended in support, including Dr Li Shou-yi, CEO of Modern Beauty Group (fourth from left), Ms Maggie Kwok, CEO of Spa Collection Group (centre), Mr Lam Wang-wai, Executive Director (third from right), and Dr Tse Hsin-ling, Chairman of Sheila Holdings (fourth from right). Many other practitioners visited the booth, some signing up on the spot — a show of the industry's unity and its vote of confidence in the Union. The Union hopes to keep helping the industry defend its interests so practitioners gain real protection.

Union Chairman Dr Tsang Yu, together with several Vice-Chairmen, met Ms To Lau Yan-oi, Senior Assistant Executive Director of the Vocational Training Council, to discuss future training programmes for beauty practitioners — hoping they would gain deeper professional knowledge to meet the needs of society's future development.

The Hong Kong Beauty Industry Union held its first meeting after its founding. The Union exists to unite the beauty trade, raise the industry's quality and build a better business environment, so the industry wins wider recognition and support and goes further in the years ahead.

The beauty industry faces real challenges today. Some operators, lacking management knowledge, have hurt their salons' service quality, and a few have traded in bad faith, costing customers their confidence in the industry. The Government has responded by tightening regulation of the trade, making business harder. To rebuild public and government confidence, the Union is preparing a series of programmes — the Quality Beauty Merchant certification scheme, the Mediation and Arbitration Centre, and third-party liability insurance — to raise the standard of practitioners while protecting customers' interests. The Union also hopes to be the bridge between the industry and the Government, helping the trade speak to the Government and reflect the industry's situation and needs, so the beauty industry can grow more smoothly and flourish.