Our focus in this article will be to discuss the best ways to ensure that your pedicure chairs and equipment are kept as clean as possible in your salon.
Making sure that your pedicure chairs are kept clean is essential to maintaining the high standard of service that your customers have come to expect from your salon. Not only is it hygienic to keep your salon clean and sterile, but it can be reassuring to your new customers as they’ll know that they’re dealing with the professionals. With this in mind, in this article, we are going to be showing you how to keep your pedicure chairs and equipment as clean as possible.
How Often Should Pedicure Chairs and Equipment Be Cleaned?
This is a common question and regardless of how long a client’s session with you was, or if a piece of equipment was only used for a few seconds, everything should be cleaned and disinfected, or disposed of, immediately after the pedicure session has come to an end.
Equipment such as foot spas, abrasive files, and any cloths that are used should all be cleaned effectively and stored appropriately.
On the other hand, if you have equipment which hasn’t been used in a while and it has been catching dust, it’s a good idea to give that piece of equipment a thorough clean before using it with a customer again.
The Basics of Keeping Your Salon a Clean and Hygienic Place
Before we get into cleaning equipment, here are some basic tips on cleanliness that all salon employees should be aware of and should follow.
- Wash your hands using an anti-bacterial soap between each client session.
- Any equipment which isn’t disposable should be disinfected and washed properly between uses.
- Always use high-quality cleaning and disinfectant products as the cheap and less effective products can cause damage to your equipment over time.
- Wipe down all surfaces at the end of each day using an anti-bacterial surface cleaner.
- Never use disposable products more than once even if they have been cleaned (they are only designed to be used once and won’t work as well as they did initially).
- To streamline communication and ensure that all employees are on the same page, keep a cleaning log. This makes it easy to see whether or not equipment has been cleaned and is ready to be used again.
In regard to keeping a cleaning log, this is also a good way to assure your customers that your employees are cleaning the equipment regularly.
Cleaning Foot Spas
The first thing that we’ll be showing you is how to clean a foot spa.
Step #1 – Start by draining any water that is in the foot spa.
Step #2 – Using warm soapy water, clean the inside of the basin using either a brush or a cloth.
Step #3 – With cold water, fill the foot spa to rinse it and drain it once again.
Step #4 – Next, fill up the basic with a mixture of warm water and disinfectant. Make sure that you read the disinfectant bottle so that you use the appropriate water to disinfectant ratio.
If your foot spas are equipped with water jets or any other water circulation features, it’s a good idea to turn those on while the disinfectant is in the basin so that the foot spa gets cleaned as thoroughly as possible.
Step #5 – After 5-10 minutes, drain the foot spa and wipe it down using a clean cloth.
Even though it might not seem like it, our feet are one of the dirtiest parts of our bodies (even after being cleaned) so making sure that foot spas are cleaned and disinfected properly is important.
Cleaning Cloths
Even if you only used a cloth to wipe up a few droplets of water that spilt out of a foot spa, you should still have the cloths cleaned to ensure that you are only using clean equipment.
Washing cloths is fairly simple and rather than cleaning each cloth after they have been used, salons will typically clean all of their used cloths at the end of each day (doing so can prevent cleaning products being used needlessly and will save a lot of time throughout the day).
Simply throw your cloths into a washing machine and clean them on a high-temperature wash with a detergent that is suitable for your cloth’s fabric.
Cleaning a Pedicure Chair
Even just giving a pedicure chair a quick wipe-down with a disinfectant wipe can go a long way but being more thorough and using warm water and soap, as well as a quick wipe down with disinfectant afterwards, is preferable.
Once your client has left the salon, use the warm water and soap to wipe down the chair (especially the footrests) before wiping it down with a clean rag or cloth. After wiping it down, use a disinfectant spray and again, wipe down the pedicure chair so that it’s ready for your next customer.
Dealing with Bodily Fluids
It’s unpleasant to think about but every so often, you’ll have to clean up bodily fluids (whether it’s on the pedicure chair or on your equipment). Sometimes it’s only a minor clean-up where a customer has sneezed on your equipment while other times it can be a bit messier and someone’s cut their finger.
Regardless of what happened, bodily fluids need to be cleaned off of pedicure chairs and equipment as soon as possible to prevent germs and bacteria from spreading.
Warm water and soap won’t do here. You’ll need to use disinfectant to ensure that everything is as clean as it was before and if it’s a big clean-up job, make sure that you’re wearing appropriate protective clothing.
To Conclude…
Learning how to clean pedicure chairs and any other pedicure equipment isn’t difficult; the difficult part is getting into the routine of doing so after each customer and sticking to that routine. With the right cleaning products and a salon team who are dedicated to providing a top-notch service, keeping your salon clean won’t be a difficult task and you’ll quickly realise that.
