Germs from a person may be found on any object, tool or item used upon them during a treatment. Some germs can survive months without cleaning and disinfecting! Germs on any surface can pass from person to person.
This is why all tools used should either be cleaned and disinfected or disposed of if a single use item such as wooden orange sticks, wipes, disposable files. A well defined cleaning and disinfection procedure eliminates the following risks as much as possible:
Infection and cross contamination
Reputation
Your business could be shut down on health and safety grounds if found to be incompetent due to poor cleanliness/disinfection practices
Cleaning
What do we mean by cleaning?
All nail tools including reusable files and buffers are placed in hot water with dish detergent and scrubbed with a nail brush to remove any dirt, oil and any residue left after the nail service/treatment. The tools are then dried thoroughly before going through the disinfection process.
Disinfection process
What is the disinfection process? Does washing not remove the germs?
Washing tools alone does not remove germs or pathogens that can still survive the cleaning process. The tools must be dried thoroughly after cleaning. If they are still wet and placed into the disinfectant solution, it will dilute the solution reducing its effectiveness.
Disinfection is the process of killing of most microbial life that can lead to infection in humans—such as Influenza, Staphylococcus, HIV/AIDS, Herpes, COVID-19, Salmonella and Hepatitis. This step is done following cleaning and requires the use of a disinfectant such as Barbicide.
The tools must be fully immersed in the disinfectant solution for to allow the disinfectant process to be fully effective. 10 minutes is the required time to achieve complete disinfection using Barbicide.
Any tools which are not able to undergo the cleaning and disinfection process are single use tools only for example disposable nail files, wipes, orange wood sticks. These tools are disposed of following the end of the service/treatment performed on a single person.
My preparation
Metal cuticle pushers, cuticle nippers and nail clippers can all be cleaned and disinfected. I keep all of these types of tools (I have several of each) in one case to ensure they remain clean and avoid cross contamination.
Once my appointment has finished, all the tools that I used during the service that can be cleaned and disinfected are placed into a dirty tools case ready to undergo the cleaning and disinfection process at the end of the day.
For my next appointment, cleaned and disinfected tools required for the treatment are taken from the clean case to be used in that appointment.
The logistics of being a mobile nail technician prevent me from cleaning and disinfecting my tools whilst on site at an appointment. It is my preferred method to wash and disinfect my tools in a barbicide solution.
My issues with using Barbicide in a mobile capacity are:
The time required to use it - the disinfection process takes at least 10 minutes, followed by rinsing and drying again before use.
Transportation - Liquid disinfection between appointments is difficult, it doesn’t travel well. Spillages will stain and any leaks could potentially leave you without the capability to disinfect your tools.
Disposal - Barbicide cannot be disposed of down the kitchen sink and should enter the main sewage system. Once my barbicide solution has been used, I soak up the liquid with paper towels and leave to dry. These are then put out with household rubbish.
My Cleaning & Disinfection Process
All tools are placed in the sink with warm water and dish detergent
All tools are washed to remove dirt, oil and any debris.
Dry tools thoroughly
Place tools into disinfectant tray and immerse them in liquid disinfectant (barbicide).
Leave in disinfectant solution for 10 minutes to ensure all germs are killed
Rinse and leave to dry before use
There are alternative solutions to using Barbicide as disinfection, some mobile technicians use detergent and disinfection wipes to clean and disinfect their tools between appointments. Others use a disinfectant spray and saturate their tools in it and leave to dry. Both are effective methods, even some salons use the method of wiping tools, although I find it expensive.
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