Hair today
 In the words of the St. Augustine Campus Deputy Principal, Professor Rhoda Reddock, ‘UWI belongs to all of us’ and ‘we should strive to be lifelong learners.’ These were the greetings and sentiments offered to cosmetologists, professional practitioners in the field of hair styling, staff and students at the UWI’s lecture, “Hair This.”
The Department of Chemistry hosted “Hair This! A Public Lecture on Health and Safety Challenges for the Hair Styling Industry” on Thursday 19th April, 2012. This lecture was the fourth in a series of lectures by the Chemistry Department as part of UWI’s public outreach initiatives. Members of the hair styling community and trainees from YTEPP were among the 175 participants.
Dr. Linda Forst, the Director of the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Science in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois, Chicago and an external lecturer in the Occupational, Environmental, Safety and Health (OESH) graduate programme, was the key speaker.
The lecture engaged academics, researchers, prominent hairstylists and students of hairstyling institutions on issues affecting the hair grooming industry. The lecture also sought to identify health and safety challenges affecting the hair styling industry, generate discussion and awareness on health and safety concerns in the industry and share knowledge on some of the preventative measures referencing research and legislation from the USA. Of great significance was the framework that was presented by Dr. Forst to understand if a disorder can be classified as occupational. This offers a new direction for research and analysis in the hair styling industry. |
