1. What does hygiene mean?

Hygiene is a set of practices and precautions you can take to promote your health and well-being by preventing, reducing or controlling pathogens and dirt. These measures include washing your hands regularly, cleaning and disinfecting objects, showering and general cleaning. Hygiene refers to both personal hygiene and environmental hygiene.

2. Why is it important to work hygienically in a beauty salon?

Practicing good hygiene is essential to prevent the spread of illness, disease and respiratory infections. By following good hygiene practices, the risk of infection can be significantly reduced, which in turn promotes overall health and well-being. In addition, it is also important to practice hygiene with the well-being of your customers in mind.

3. General salon hygiene

3.1 Hygiene between two customers

To ensure good hygiene between two customers, it is important to thoroughly clean up and disinfect your work materials and work table. These measures are important for both your own health and that of your customers. Below are the steps you should take between two customers:

• Empty your table waste bin
• Wipe the entire table with a disinfectant wipe
• Change the towel that the customers have to place their hands on
• Disinfect the chair the customer was sitting on
• If your customer has had a drink, put the dishes away
• Nail files and buffers should be discarded immediately after use, if this is not possible they should be cleaned and disinfected.
• Disinfect all tools, such as:
  • Milling bits
  • Nail scissors
  • Cuticle pusher
  • Nail clippers

TIP: The safest option is to choose disposable files. However, if you use a reusable nail file, it is possible to clean and disinfect it after each client. It is recommended to use personal files and store them in separate envelopes or compartments.

For metal tools, we recommend disinfecting them after each use and sterilizing them at the end of the day to kill any bacteria.

3.2 Floor hygiene

It is essential to thoroughly vacuum and clean the floor of your beauty salon daily. A thorough disinfection of your beauty salon is essential for the safety of everyone. In this blog, we will discuss different products that you can use to effectively disinfect your nail salon.

In addition to cleaning the floor, it is also important to remove visible dirt from surfaces such as windowsills, cabinets, shelves, doors, door handles, lamps, etc. Also, do not forget to clean the inside of your cabinets and drawers weekly. This not only affects the impression your salon makes, but also the health of your customers. Dust can cause allergies.

3.3 Personal hygiene as a beautician

A professional appearance in your nail salon is of great importance. Personal hygiene plays a crucial role in this. Not only for creating a good impression, but also for your own health. Here are some tips for good personal hygiene:

• Wash and disinfect your hands after each treatment
• Wear gloves and change them after each treatment
• Keep your work clothes clean
• Avoid wearing jewelry
• Make sure your nails look well-groomed and beautiful
• Put your hair up
• Wear a face mask during every treatment

By following these simple guidelines, you will radiate professionalism and ensure a hygienic working environment in your nail salon.

4. Is it better to wash or disinfect your hands?

Washing your hands and using hand sanitizer are both effective methods of cleaning your hands, but they work in different ways. When you wash your hands with soap and water, you remove germs from the surface of your skin by rinsing them away. Using hand sanitizer, on the other hand, is designed to kill any germs that come into contact with it.

When you wash your hands with soap and water, it is not meant to kill germs, unless you are using an antibacterial soap. Instead, its main purpose is to remove germs from your skin through the lathering action of the soap and rinsing with water. This helps to remove germs and dirt from your hands.

Disinfectants kill germs on your hands, but they don’t physically remove them. Both methods are important and can be used in a complementary way to achieve optimal hand hygiene.

5. How often should you wash your hands?

There is no minimum or maximum number of times you should wash your hands. In general, it is recommended to wash your hands regularly and at the right times to maintain good hand hygiene. It is important to be aware of the occasions when hand washing is important, such as after sneezing, coughing, before and after each manicure, after using the toilet, etc. To ensure that you thoroughly clean all parts of your hands, it is recommended to wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

6. Difference between sterilization, disinfection and ultrasonic

In a nail salon, you can use three different cleaning methods: ultrasonic, disinfection and sterilization. These methods are completely different from each other and serve different purposes.

The ultrasonic cleaning method removes visible dirt that can be seen with the naked eye, but it is not effective against mold, viruses and bacteria. Although ultrasonic cleaning has a cleaning function, it does not ensure complete disinfection of the material. Therefore, it is necessary to disinfect or sterilize the materials after ultrasonic cleaning.

Disinfection is the most common method used in a nail salon. In this method, the instruments, floor and surfaces are cleaned with disinfectants. This kills the majority of bacteria, but not all. To remove all bacteria on the equipment, sterilization is necessary.

Sterilization is the only method to completely eliminate bacteria and infections. This can be achieved by using an autoclave, a device that uses high pressure and steam to sterilize the instruments. This kills all bacteria, fungi and viruses. Only metal objects can be sterilized.

7. Which disinfectant to choose to maintain your beauty salon

Bleach is one of the most effective disinfectants recommended for use in your nail salon, even by the Federal Public Service Health . It is important to make sure that the bleach or disinfectant you buy is approved by the FPS Health. You can admission number found on every label.

If you use bleach, you should dilute it with lukewarm water according to the instructions on the label.
For bleach at 15° use 20 ml per litre of water
For bleach of 8° use 40 ml per litre of water

Here are some effective and approved disinfectants that you can use in your beauty salon.

Hand disinfection:

• Hansaplast
• DAX Clinical hand disinfection
• Clinell Universal Wipes – for hands and surface disinfection
• Iso betadine
• Desderman pure
• …

Floor and surface disinfection:

• Alcohol dentior 80%
• Dettolpharma
• Clinell Universal Wipes – for hands and surface disinfection
• Alco spray Boma
• Spectramed
• Sanytol aniacaros
• Surfanios premium
• …

8. Ventilation and extraction in your nail salon

Proper ventilation in your nail salon is crucial. Ensuring good air quality is essential for both your own health and that of your clients. Poor ventilation can lead to irritated eyes, nose and throat, as well as symptoms such as headaches, difficulty breathing, nervousness or drowsiness.

8.1 What is about exposure to dust?

Each type of substance has a safe and unsafe exposure level. Problems can arise when the safe exposure level is repeatedly exceeded or when exposure is prolonged above this level. Ventilation is not only intended to control odors, vapors and substances, but above all to prevent excessive exposure. It is important to keep the air quality in your immediate environment under control. Good ventilation can solve many problems.

8.2 Good air quality in your beauty studio

There are three types of ventilation systems that are of great importance in a nail salon: outside air ventilation, inside air ventilation and source extraction.

• Outside Air Ventilation
  This is a built-in system that ensures that the air in your nail salon is regularly refreshed with fresh outside air. It helps to remove dust and fumes from the salon. It is advisable to consult a specialist to determine the right ventilation system for your nail salon. One possible system is the HVAC system.
• Indoor air purifier
  A good indoor air purifier should be equipped with a HEPA filter and a thick carbon filter of about 5 cm thick. The active carbon in the filter reacts to harmful substances and vapors, which neutralizes the air. A carbon filter that is too small will not neutralize the air effectively and will only spread the vapors and substances throughout the salon. It is therefore important to choose a professional air purifier of high quality.
• A source extraction
  A source extraction system works in basically the same way as an indoor air purifier, but is specifically designed to capture and extract fumes and substances directly at the source, so that they do not end up in the breathing zone. This extraction system usually has a washable pre-filter to capture coarse dust particles, followed by a HEPA filter that can capture ultra-fine dust. Finally, there is a carbon filter, similar to that of an indoor air purifier, which must be sufficiently thick.

9. What are the consequences of poor hygiene?

Poor hygiene can have serious consequences for both you as a nail technician and your clients. Maintaining good hygiene is very important to prevent the spread of disease and to ensure the health and well-being of both yourself and your clients. Some possible consequences of poor hygiene are:

• Skin infections
• Respiratory infections
• Rash and irritation
• Poor wound healing
• …

Maintaining good hygiene is very important to prevent these consequences and live a healthy life.