Solo Beauty Therapist with Lash Education Services

A solo, owner-operated beauty therapist in Victoria was operating a mobile and home-based practice. Services included eyelash extensions, lash lifts, brow shaping and tinting, waxing, hair braiding, cosmetic teeth whitening, and tooth gems.

The practice also offered eyelash extension education, including practical training sessions conducted on live models. Annual turnover was approximately $60,000 with no staff beyond the owner.

They needed Public Liability for the treatment side and Professional Indemnity to cover the training and education component of the business.

We went to market across three specialist beauty and wellness insurers: Vero, Dual, and BHSI. The approach was to obtain combined PI and PL quotes covering the full scope of services, including the training and education activities.

The quotes obtained were:

• Vero: ~$575
• Dual: ~$590
• BHSI: ~$1,100

The spread between the lowest and highest quote for identical cover was nearly double. This is a consistent pattern we see in the beauty and wellness insurance market - pricing varies significantly between insurers for the same risk profile, which is why going to market matters.

The key risk consideration here wasn't the treatments themselves - it was the training component. A beauty therapist who teaches eyelash application on a live model is providing professional instruction. If a student applies a technique incorrectly based on that instruction and a client later experiences an adverse reaction, the claim traces back to the training, not just the physical treatment.

Public Liability covers physical injury from treatments. Professional Indemnity covers the professional advice and instruction provided during education sessions. Without PI, the therapist is personally exposed for any claim arising from the training side of the business - which is a meaningful exposure even for a sole operator at $60,000 in turnover.

BHSI came in at roughly double the other two quotes, which is not unusual for this occupational category. Some insurers price beauty therapists with education activities at a significant premium. Others take a more measured view. This is where insurer selection matters.

We placed the policy with the lowest quote insurer at approximately $575, covering $5M Public Liability and $500,000 Professional Indemnity. The client has renewed twice and remains active with Tank.

This case is a good example of why beauty therapists who offer any form of training or education need to think carefully about PI - not just PL. The treatments create physical liability. The advice and instruction create professional liability. Both need to be covered, and they require different policy types.