Version 1.1 · Last updated 12 August 2026 · Next review 12 February 2027
Braiding is done with your hands, on somebody’s head, for three hours at a time. That carries real, ordinary risks. This page sets them out, tells you what we do about them, what you must do about them, and where responsibility sits when something goes wrong. It forms part of our Terms of Enrolment.
Please read this before you read anything else. These terms are written in good faith and in plain English, to the standard normally used by training providers in Canada. They are not legal advice, and they are pending review by a lawyer. If any part of this matters to your decision, phone (587) 873-9331 and we will confirm it in writing before you pay anything.
1. What this work actually involves
We would rather tell you now than have you find out in week three. In a braiding class you can reasonably expect:
- Tension on the hair and scalp, which can cause soreness, tenderness, small bumps, and in bad cases traction damage to the hairline. Learning to control tension is one of the main things we are here to teach.
- Reactions to products or to synthetic hair. Itching, redness or a rash from braiding fibre, gels, sprays, oils or latex is uncommon but real.
- Minor injuries from tools. Scratches from a rat tail comb, nicks from scissors, pricks from a needle, burns from hot water when sealing ends.
- Aches from repetition. Hands, wrists, forearms, shoulders, neck and lower back. Three hours of fine motor work is genuinely physical.
- Close physical contact. You will stand over somebody’s head, and somebody will stand over yours if you choose to model.
None of that is a reason not to train. All of it is a reason to train properly, with somebody watching your hands.
2. Your health declaration
Before your first session you complete a short health declaration and sign a waiver. Both are conditions of taking part.
We ask you to tell us about:
- Known allergies, especially to latex, synthetic braiding fibre, hair products, or nickel in tools.
- Skin or scalp conditions, including eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, alopecia and any active infection.
- Anything affecting your hands, wrists, shoulders, neck or back, including carpal tunnel and repetitive strain.
- Conditions that could need help during a session, such as epilepsy, diabetes, asthma, or a heart condition.
- Whether you are pregnant, if that affects how long you can stand or sit.
- An emergency contact.
We use it for one thing only: keeping you safe in the room. It is seen by your instructors and nobody else. It is not shared with an employer or a funder, ever. It is stored securely and destroyed as set out in our Privacy Policy. Tell us if anything changes during the program.
Declaring a condition does not get you turned away. Not declaring one is the thing that causes problems, and it may affect our responsibility if something happens that we could have prevented.
3. Allergies and sensitivities
Braiding hair, gels, sprays, edge controls and the nickel in some tools can all cause a reaction in someone who is sensitive to them. Synthetic braiding fibre is the most common culprit.
When you enrol you sign a declaration. In it you tell us about any allergy or sensitivity you know of, including to hair products, latex, adhesives, fragrance or metals, and you accept responsibility for declaring anything you are aware of. You also agree to tell us if something changes during the program.
What we do with it. We tell you which products and fibres a session uses, so you can avoid anything you react to. If you would rather test a product or a fibre on your own skin first, ask and we will give you some to take away. Nobody is required to use a product they are uneasy about, and choosing not to will never count against your attendance or your assessment.
Declaring something does not get you turned away. Not declaring it is what causes problems, and it may affect our responsibility if something happens that we could have prevented.
If a reaction starts during a session, say so immediately. We stop, remove the product, and if it is anything more than mild redness we call for medical help. We do not diagnose and we do not treat.
4. Scalp and skin conditions we cannot work on
We cannot braid, and cannot let a student braid, over an active infection, open wound, weeping or crusting lesion, or an infestation. That includes fungal infections, impetigo and head lice. This is not a judgement about anybody. It is how those things spread in a room with eight people and shared tools.
If we see something we are not sure about, we will stop and ask you to see a doctor or a pharmacist. We are braiders, not clinicians, so we leave that judgement to someone qualified to make it. Nothing on this website or in our programs is medical advice.
If this means you miss a session, tell us and we will treat it as an authorised absence under Attendance and code of conduct.
5. Tension, and the right to say stop
Anyone whose hair is being worked on can say stop, at any moment, for any reason, and the work stops. That applies to models, to students acting as models, and to you. Nobody has to explain, apologise, or wait until the section is finished.
Instructors check tension throughout a session and will make you take work out and do it again if it is too tight. Being asked to redo a section is normal and is not a criticism. It is the entire point of supervised training.
6. Looking after your own hands and back
Repetitive strain ends braiding careers, and it usually starts in training. We build breaks into every session, we teach station height and posture from module one, and we would rather you stopped early than pushed through pain.
If your hands, wrists or back start hurting, tell your instructor the same day. Do not save it up.
7. Your belongings
We are not responsible for your personal property. Bags, phones, laptops, jewellery, coats, kits, mannequin heads and hair are your responsibility, in the classroom, in the store, in the salon and in the car park.
The building is shared with a working store and salon and is not a secure site. Do not leave valuables at your station. Anything left behind is kept for 30 days and then donated or disposed of.
If we damage something of yours through our own carelessness, that is different, and section 10 applies.
8. First aid and emergencies
There is a first aid kit on site, at least one instructor holds a current first aid certificate, and an instructor is in the room at all times. For anything beyond a scratch, we call 911, then your emergency contact. We do not give medication, including painkillers and antihistamines.
Every injury, however small, is written down the same day, and you get a copy if you want one.
9. Insurance, and what happens after you leave
Any insurance the Academy carries covers the Academy. It does not cover you, and it stops at our door.
Before you take your first paying client, arrange your own professional liability and general liability insurance, and check whether you need a City of Edmonton business licence. We cover this properly in the business program, and we will point you at it in the last week of every in-person program, because leaving here able to braid and uninsured is a bad combination.
10. Who is responsible for what
We are responsible for:
- Supervising the room competently, with a qualified instructor present whenever anyone is working on a person.
- Teaching and enforcing sanitation, tension and safety standards.
- Providing equipment that is clean and fit to use.
- Making sure models are properly briefed and have consented before any work starts.
- Stopping work that is unsafe.
You are responsible for:
- Giving us complete and honest information on your health declaration, and updating it.
- Following instruction, first time, particularly on sanitation and tension.
- Declaring any allergy or sensitivity you know of, and telling us if it changes.
- Stopping and telling an instructor the moment something feels wrong, on your head or on somebody else’s.
- Your own belongings.
- Your own work once you leave, and everything you do with a paying client.
The waiver you sign records that you understand the risks in section 1 and choose to take part anyway. It does not, and cannot, excuse us from being careless.
11. Limits on our liability
Where the law allows us to limit our liability, we do, as follows.
- Our total liability to you, for everything connected with a program, is capped at the tuition you actually paid us for that program.
- We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss: lost income, lost clients, lost business opportunities, lost data, or wasted travel, childcare and accommodation costs.
- We are not liable for loss or damage to your personal property, except where we caused it carelessly.
- We are not liable for what you do after you leave, or for work you carry out on a paying client.
- We are not liable for the acts of another student, or of a model you brought with you, beyond our duty to supervise the room properly.
None of this applies to death or personal injury caused by our negligence, to fraud, or to anything else the law does not permit us to limit. Nothing in this policy removes a right you have under Alberta’s Consumer Protection Act or any other legislation that cannot be contracted out of.
12. Your indemnity to us
You agree to cover us for any claim, loss or cost that arises from:
- you deliberately or carelessly breaking these terms;
- information you gave us on your health declaration that was wrong or incomplete;
- a claim by a model you brought to a session, other than one caused by our own negligence; or
- your use of our course materials in a way section 11 of the Terms of Enrolment does not permit.
This does not extend to anything caused by us.
13. If something happens
Tell an instructor immediately, and tell us in writing at info@celegantbraidingacademy.com within a reasonable time so we can look into it while people still remember it. Our complaints process, with stages and deadlines, is in Complaints and dispute resolution.
See all Celegant Braiding Academy policies and terms
Have a health question before you enrol?
Phone us and ask. We will tell you honestly whether we can accommodate it.