Hairdressers a cut above for helping detect skin cancer

Joanna Guelas | June 7, 2023

Hairdressers could be saving Australians from skin cancer as well as split ends.

Barbers, hairdressers and apprentices will be able to access a free training course on how to identify danger skin lesions.

The practice is not unusual, with almost half of hairdressers in the US examining clients’ scalps, according to researchers.

At least 10 per cent of scalp and neck melanomas were detected by hairdressers in the US.

But there are no Australian statistics regarding hairdressers finding lesions, despite the country having the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world, medical student Brodie Campbell says.

Almost 17,000 Australians are expected to be diagnosed with melanoma in 2023, according to the Melanoma Institute Australia.

“Since early detection is a key factor for improving survival, the need for improved initiatives is clear,” Ms Campbell said.

“I was speaking to a few salons in Townsville as part of my research and one woman had found 12 melanomas within her career.”

She partnered with Skin Cancer College Australasia to develop an online training course on how to recognise possible skin cancers.

It is important hairdressers know how to approach the topic with clients and encourage them to seek a medical opinion, Ms Campbell says.

The course will be available until the end of June to hairdressers and barbers working within Townsville in north Queensland.

Ms Campbell hopes this will increase the chance of early cancer detection in low socio-economic and rural populations often missed by checks.

“If we can get TAFE and the other providers of these education courses to include something whether – it’s our course or something similar – everyone gets educated, everyone benefits,” she said.