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How Clean is Your Nail Salon?

How Clean is Your Nail Salon?

Protect your clients and yourself from health risks by following these simple regulations

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Sandal season is here and so is the rush to the salon for a foot soak and pedicure. Just as patrons want to get their feet fit for maximum exposure, salon owners and nail professionals should make sure their service, foot spas, and pedicure tools are clean enough to stand up to scrutiny. The Board of Barbering and Cosmetology reminds all nail professionals to follow these health and safety regulations to protect yourself and your clients from potential health risks.

Disease and Infestation

Salons are prohibited from knowingly allowing a person afflicted with an infectious or communicable disease to serve clients. Conversely, licensees are prohibited to service a person with an infectious or communicable disease. Board regulations also prohibit nail professionals from massaging any person's skin if it is inflamed or infected or where an eruption is present. Thus, if a client has a cut or an open wound, the manicurist must, by law, refuse the service in order to protect themselves and other customers.

Spa Basins

Any foot basin that holds water needs to be cleaned with liquid soap and water, and then disinfected with an EPA-registered hospital-liquid disinfectant identified as a bactericide, fungicide, and virucide after use upon each client. In addition to after-client cleaning and disinfecting, whirlpool foot spas, air-jet basins, and pipe-less foot spas must be cleaned and disinfected at the end of each day and at the end of each week. Each cleaning needs to be recorded in a pedicure-cleaning log.

Tools

No razor-edged tool or other device can be used to remove calluses. Callus removal is not within the manicurist scope of practice and should not be performed by a manicurist, but rather a qualified medical professional. Licensed manicurists, while skilled and trained in cutting, trimming, polishing, coloring, tinting, cleansing, or manicuring the nails, may never perform any act which affects the structure or function of living tissue of the face or body.

Other tools that cannot be disinfected such as buffers, cotton pads, and emery boards, must be thrown out immediately after one use.

Cleaning and Storage

Tools that can be disinfected, such as nail clippers and metal cuticle pushers, must be cleaned with soap or detergent and water and then completely immersed in an EPA-registered disinfectant which demonstrates bactericidal, fungicidal, and virucidal activity. Containers need to be large enough so that all non-electrical items being disinfected can be thoroughly and completely immersed in disinfectant. The disinfectant solution must remain covered at all times and be changed at least once a week or whenever it is visibly cloudy or dirty. Tools that have been used on a client or soiled in any manner must be stored in a container clearly marked as "soiled" or "dirty". Disinfected tools must be stored in a clean, covered place and labeled "clean".

Do a Visual Check of Your Salon

Look at the general cleanliness of the salon. Floors, walls, counters, and chairs must be clean and in good condition. Are towels scattered around the salon? Soiled towels must be stored in a closed container and not used until properly laundered and sanitized. Clean towels need to be stored in a closed, clean cabinet.

Is there an accumulation of waste? Any salon that is visibly dirty can not only deter prospective clients, but can also subject you to a State Board fine. Also, make sure you have the most current Health and Safety Rules clearly posted so it is visible to customers. Contact the Board if you need a new poster.

Show Off Your License

Is your license visible? Your license is the customer's assurance that you have the education and training necessary to perform the job. You must display the original license, not a photocopy.

To download sample foot spa cleaning logs, get complete instructions on how to clean and disinfect the different types of foot spas or to view State Board regulations, visit the Board's web site at www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/. For additional information, you may also contact the Board at (800) 952-5210.

For further information, visit our web site at  www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/, or contact the Board at (800) 952-5210. If you would like clarification on medical procedures, visit the State Medical Board's web site at www.mbc.ca.gov/.

— Reprinted from the California Stylist, June 2009 issue