Although most salons are already open or beginning to reopen across the country, it's never too late to update your safety and sanitation procedures. BARBICIDE, a widely-known brand used to ensure safe services, released a plan of action for salons, spas and barbershops following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Given the renewed focus on the health and public safety of beauty professionals and their clients, the following Back-to-Work Plan should be used to make everyone more comfortable when services resume. This plan incorporates best practices according to infection control subject matter experts and the advice may supersede the rules of your state. In this tumultuous time, it is important that best practices be followed for the health of professionals and consumers and it is strongly recommended that this plan be applied to pertinent parts of your business.
Checklist Of Supplies Needed:
- BARBICIDE® Concentrate
- BARBICIDE® Spray bottle (filled with properly concentrated BARBICIDE®)*
- BARBICIDE® Wipes
- Clippercide® (cleans and disinfects) for clippers, trimmers and edgers
- BARBICIDE® Spacide Complete (if pedicure bowls are used)
- King Research Hand Sanitizer
- Ship-Shape® Comb and Brush Cleaner
- Ship-Shape® Professional Appliance and Glass Cleaner
- Clean towels / paper towels
- Gloves
- Trash bags
*BARBICIDE® Concentration ¼ cup (2oz) concentrate in 4 cups (32oz) of water
Disinfection Reminders:
- Disinfectants must be EPA-registered and labeled as bactericidal, virucidal and fungicidal. No product will be labeled for COVID-19 yet, but many will have human coronavirus efficacy either on their label or available on their websites. The EPA has approved any product that has tested as effective against human coronavirus, to make a claim for COVID-19 at this time.
- Disinfection only works on a clean item, so cleaning before disinfecting is always the first step. Methods to clean include soap/water, chemical cleaners (Ship-Shape®), wipes.
- Contact time listed on the label must be observed for disinfectants to work. The contact time refers to how long the surface must stay visibly wet with the disinfectant to inactivate or destroy all of the pathogens on the label. Typical contact time for immersion/sprays is 10 minutes, for wipes is 2-4 minutes.
- Disinfectant for immersion must be made fresh daily and replaced if it becomes contaminated sooner. For example, hair/debris floating in solution or a cloudy solution.
- Disinfection is for hard, non-porous surfaces, typically things made of glass, metal and plastic or referred to as synthetic materials.
- Porous/soft surfaces cannot be disinfected, but can be cleaned. This would include but is not limited to items such as towels, chairs covered in a porous material and your hands/body.
Prior To Re-Opening Checklist
Reception and Retail Area:
- Discard old magazines and other non-essential items in the waiting area that cannot be disinfected
- Wipe down all soft surfaces (couches, chairs) with water and a clean towel
- Remember that these soft surfaces cannot be disinfected
- Clean and disinfect all hard, non-porous surfaces such as reception counter, computer keyboard, phones, door handles, light switches and point of sale equipment
- Make sure to follow contact time for all surfaces
- Consider online scheduling in place of written appointment cards
- Clean and disinfect all shelving, glass and display cases; keep product containers clean and dust free
- Place signage in window to notify clients of your diligence in practicing proper infection control
Work Stations
- Clean and disinfect all non-porous implements used in your services, as required by all states (immersion, spray or wipe)
- Store properly disinfected implements in closed, containers that have also been disinfected (wipe or spray)
- Clean and disinfect all electrical implements used in your services as required by all states
- Clean and disinfect chairs and headrests
- Remember that porous materials cannot be disinfected and ongoing use of disinfectants on materials covering chairs, can damage the material
- On initial opening, feel free to disinfect your chairs, but limit that to once daily – consider barrier methods on chairs such as disposable paper drapes or towels that can be laundered after each client
- Clean and disinfect station, rolling carts, drawers and any containers used for storage
- Ensure that single use (porous items) are new
- All items on a nail station must either be new, never used or cleaned and disinfected (stored in a closed container until ready to use)
Treatment Rooms
- Clean and disinfect any appliances used
- Clean and disinfect treatment tables
- Remember that porous materials cannot be disinfected and ongoing use of disinfectants on materials covering tables can damage the material – consider barrier methods on chairs such as disposable paper drapes or towels that can be laundered after each client
- Ensure that all product to be used has not been contaminated by improper removal of product prior to closure
- Ensure all single use items are new
- Empty wax pots, completely clean and disinfect – refill with new wax
- Ensure that multi-use product containers have adequate single use applicators available to safely remove product without contaminating remaining product
Restroom
- Clean and disinfect all surfaces
- Replace any soft goods (toilet paper, paper towels)
- Consider upgrading to touchless faucets, soap and paper towel dispensers
- Consider adding touchless, automatic hand sanitizer dispensers
- Place a trash container near door
- Remove any products that do not belong in the restroom – nothing should be stored in a restroom
Laundry
- Any linens that may have be left in the salon (clean or dirty) prior to the closure, should be washed per the rules of your state
- If no rules exist about laundry, wash on hot with detergent and dry until “hot to the touch”
- There should be no moisture or dampness in any linen
- Launder (porous) or disinfect (non-porous) all capes
- All linens should be stored in closed, covered cabinets until used
Shampoo Bowls
- Clean all bowls, handles, hoses, spray nozzles and shampoo chairs
- Disinfect all bowls, handles, hoses, spray nozzles and shampoo chairs observing full contact time with a properly concentrated disinfectant or wipe
Pedicure Bowls
- Remove all parts that can be removed from bowl
- Clean and disinfect removed parts by immersing for full contact time in properly diluted disinfectant
- Scrub bowl with soap/water or detergent
- Return removable parts to bowl
- Rinse bowl with clean water
- Disinfect the bowl – fill bowl with water and add proper amount of BARBICIDE® or Spacide to achieve the correct concentration
- If your bowl has jets, turn on and let disinfectant solution circulate for 10 full minutes
- If your bowl does not have jets, simply let it sit for the full ten minutes
- Empty water after 10 minutes is complete and allow to air dry
- Ensure all multi use materials that may have been contaminated by improper removal prior to closure are replaced – such as lotions, scrubs
- Ensure that all single use materials are new – such as files, pumice and buffers
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