Magazine for the professional nail industry.
Issue link: http://nailsmag.epubxp.com/i/190368
Crack Down on Grime When client health and salon reputation are on the line with every service, it's important to know the ins and outs of tool disinfection like the back of your hand. Shoo away bacteria BY BRITTNI RUBIN with proper products and protocol. What if you received a dollar every time you heard the words fungus and nail salon in the same sentence? It's an unfortunate association but one that's grounded in reality. When the same tools are used day-in and day-out to scrape calluses and clean beneath the nail surface, bacteria will get cozy unless proper disinfection takes place. Disinfection is the second of three levels of decontamination. When you disinfect an implement, you're effectively destroying microorganisms on its surface, killing most disease-causing pathogens (so long as the implement was pre-cleaned). But how do you know if a disinfectant is suitable for professional salons? Standards vary from country to country, but in the U.S., EPA-registered hospital-grade disinfectants with bactericidal, fungicidal, and virucidal claims on the label are most commonly accepted for use in salons. EPA approval isn't easy — in some cases, manufacturers must show testing results for each microbe they claim to kill. The most important components of disinfection are following state board guidelines as well as a product's required contact time. The following pages provide a collection of disinfectant products on today's market that can help your salon go above and beyond. 150 | NAILS MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 The Three Levels of Decontamination Sanitation: the killing or significant reduction of the number of disease-causing microorganisms to levels that are considered safe by public health standards; sanitation is the lowest of three levels of decontamination. Disinfection: the middle level of decontamination; destroys microorganisms on non-living surfaces; kills most diseasecausing pathogens on pre-cleaned surfaces. Sterilization: a multi-step process that achieves the complete destruction of all living organisms on an object or surface; sterilization is the highest of three levels of decontamination. >>>