Privacy Policy For Erothots, How We Handle Your Data

Erothots is a fashion studio and beauty salon operating from 10370 Festival Ln, Suite 109, Manassas, VA 20109. For the purposes of this policy we are the data controller, which means we decide what is collected and why.

This policy covers the website at zerothots.com, our booking and contact channels including email and telephone, and the records we keep about appointments carried out at the studio.

It does not cover other websites we link to. Instagram, Google Maps and any other external site has its own policy, and following a link from here means their terms apply rather than ours.

Information You Give Us Directly

When you contact us or book an appointment, you choose what to tell us. Typically that is:

• Your name, email address and phone number, so we can reply and confirm a time.
• The service you want and your preferred dates, along with the artist you would like if you have a preference.
• Health and skin information relevant to the treatment. This is covered separately in section three.
• Anything else you choose to put in your message, including event dates and previous experiences at other salons.

Information Created During Your Appointment

Your artist keeps working notes so a result can be repeated and so a treatment stays safe on your next visit. For color that is the formula and processing time. For bridal makeup it is every product and placement. For massage it is your agreed pressure and the areas to avoid.

Information Collected Automatically

Like almost every website, this one records basic technical information when you visit, which may include your IP address, browser type, device, the pages you viewed and the site you arrived from. This is covered in sections six and seven.

What We Do Not Collect

We do not ask for and do not want your financial account details by email or through this website. Payment is taken at the studio. If anybody contacts you claiming to be us and asks for card details, it is not us.

Our booking form and our consultations ask about medication, recent treatments, allergies, skin conditions and pregnancy. We ask because it decides what is safe rather than what is possible, and because several of our treatments cannot be performed at all in certain circumstances.

This Is Sensitive Information And We Treat It That Way

Health related information receives greater protection than your name and phone number. Specifically:

• It is seen only by the artist treating you and by whoever is managing the booking. It is not discussed in front of other clients and it is not shared across the team as gossip or as a caution.
• It is never used for marketing. Nothing you tell us about your health will ever put you on a list, trigger a promotional email, or be used to target you with anything.
• It is never sold or shared with advertisers. Not in any form, aggregated or otherwise.
• You may give it verbally instead. If you would rather not put something in writing, tell your artist at the appointment and it will be handled the same way.

We are not a medical practice and we do not diagnose anything. Nothing you tell us is a medical record, and nothing we write down should be treated as one. Where a condition needs clearance we will ask you to speak to your doctor rather than making that judgment ourselves.

You can ask us to delete your treatment notes at any time. The only exception is where we are required to keep a record of what was performed for insurance or legal reasons, in which case we will tell you exactly what is being retained and why.

We use what you give us for the following purposes and no others:

• To answer you. Replying to an inquiry, quoting a price in writing and confirming a booking.
• To treat you safely. Checking contraindications and adapting or declining a treatment where necessary.
• To repeat a result. Color formulas, bridal notes and massage pressure so your next visit starts where the last one finished.
• To remind you. Appointment reminders and any preparation you need to do beforehand.
• To keep proper records. Receipts, deposits and the accounting records a business is required to hold.
• To improve this website. Understanding which pages people actually read and which are broken.

Marketing Is Opt In Only

We will not add you to a mailing list because you booked an appointment. If we offer a newsletter you have to ask for it, and every message includes a one click way to stop receiving them. Unsubscribing has no effect on your ability to book.

We do not sell personal information, we do not trade it, and we do not share it with advertisers or data brokers in any form.

Your information is shared only with the following, and only to the extent each one genuinely needs:

• Our own team, limited to the artist treating you and whoever manages bookings.
• Service providers who run parts of our operation, such as our email provider, our website host and our payment terminal provider. Each processes data on our instructions only.
• Our accountant, for transaction records rather than treatment notes.
• Authorities, where we are legally required to disclose something. We will tell you unless we are prohibited from doing so.

Our email is provided by Google, which means messages you send us are stored on Google's systems and handled under Google's own privacy terms in addition to this policy. If you would prefer not to email, call us instead.

Cookies are small files a website stores on your device. This site uses them for two things: keeping the site working correctly, and understanding in aggregate how the site is used.

• Essential cookies keep pages loading properly and remember preferences such as light or dark mode. The site cannot function without them.
• Analytics cookies tell us which pages are read, how long people stay and where they leave. This is reported in aggregate and we do not use it to identify individuals.

You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings at any time. Blocking essential cookies may stop parts of the site working. We do not use cookies for advertising and we do not run retargeting on this website.

Some parts of this website load content from other companies. When that happens, your browser contacts them directly and they may receive your IP address.

• Google Fonts. Typefaces on this site are loaded from Google's servers, which means Google receives a request from your browser when a page loads.
• Google Maps. Our address links to Google Maps. Following that link takes you to Google's service under their terms.
• Instagram. Artist profiles link to Instagram. We do not embed Instagram content, so nothing loads from them unless you click through.
• Our website host. Our host keeps server logs including IP addresses for security and diagnostics.

We have no control over what these companies do with data their own services collect. Their privacy policies apply to those activities and we would encourage you to read them if that matters to you.

We sometimes photograph work for our portfolio and social media. We will always ask first, every single time, and a no costs you nothing. Declining has no effect on your treatment, your price or how you are treated afterward.

Permission for one photograph is not permission for all of them. If you agreed once, we will still ask again next time.

You can withdraw permission at any time. Email us and we will remove the image from our website and our own social accounts. We cannot remove copies other people have already saved or reshared, and we will be honest with you about that limit rather than promising otherwise.

We do not photograph intimate waxing, body treatments or anything performed in a private room. There is no version of that we would ask about.

• Inquiries that do not become bookings are deleted within twelve months.
• Client contact details and treatment notes are kept for two years after your last appointment, then deleted.
• Financial and transaction records are kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires, generally seven years.
• Photographs are kept until you ask us to remove them.
• Website analytics are retained for the period set in the analytics tool, typically fourteen months.

You can ask us to delete your records sooner. Where we are legally required to retain something we will tell you what and why rather than simply refusing.

This website is served over an encrypted connection. Access to client records is limited to the people who need it, accounts are individually password protected, and devices holding client information are locked.

Any paper consultation forms are stored securely at the studio and are not left where other clients can see them.

No system is perfectly secure and we are not going to claim otherwise. If a breach occurs that puts your information at risk, we will tell you and the relevant authorities as required by law, and we will tell you what actually happened rather than a sanitized version of it.

Whatever your legal rights happen to be where you live, we will honor the following for anybody who asks:

• Access. Ask what we hold about you and we will send you a copy.
• Correction. Tell us something is wrong and we will fix it.
• Deletion. Ask us to erase your records, subject only to anything we must legally keep.
• Objection. Tell us to stop using your information for something and we will stop, unless it prevents us from treating you safely.
• Withdrawal of consent. For photographs, marketing or anything else you previously agreed to.
• A copy of your data. Provided in a readable format so you can take it elsewhere.

Email us to exercise any of these. We will respond within thirty days and we will not charge you for it. We may ask you to confirm who you are before releasing records, which protects you rather than us.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled a request, tell us directly and one of the founders will look at it themselves. You also retain the right to complain to the relevant data protection authority in your jurisdiction.

This website is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under thirteen. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we will delete it.

Where a minor attends the studio for a treatment we permit, a parent or guardian must give consent and provide the health information, and that consent is recorded alongside the booking.

We update this policy when what we do changes. The date at the top of this page always reflects the current version, and we do not backdate it.

If a change materially affects how we handle information we already hold about you, we will tell you directly rather than quietly amending this page and hoping you notice.

For anything in this policy, including a request to see, correct or delete your data, email info.zerothots@gmail.com with the word Privacy in the subject line, or call the studio on +1 571 662 8717.

Privacy requests are read by the founders rather than routed to a form that disappears. You will get a real answer from a named person.