How to disinfect in the beauty salon

Everyone in the beauty field has hopefully heard of barbicide solution, but a worryingly large amount of beauticians refer to this as sterilizing. This isn’t sterilising it is disinfecting. They are very different things. I strongly believe everyone working in a beauty salon needs to keep their infection control training up to date.

Three points to always remember when using Barbicide solution in the beauty salon:

1. Contact time – tools must be in the solution at least 10 minutes for it to destroy pathogens (a bacterium, virus, or other microorganism that can cause disease)

2. Correctly follow manufacturers instructions. Keep out of sunlight. Mix the correct ratio with water.

3. And that the solution has to be changed daily.

If you haven’t done these three things you aren’t disinfecting correctly and destroying pathogens. Barbicde has a free online course. I suggest you do it.

Porous items can’t go into Barbicide. Don’t put nail files in there. These are seen as a single-use item. To cut back on single-use. I often just give these items to the client and factors those costs into the treatment.

How long do items need to be in Barbicide before they disinfected?

10 minutes

After wiping down couch how long do I have to wait till the next customer?

2 minutes.

How often do I need to change the Baricide solution?

Daily.

What is the ratio of water to Baricide do I need to do?

1:16. Read the bottles, not every brand is the same.

What other brands are available?

HS EuroSept Plus Instrument Disinfection, Ultraclean Instrument Disinfection, Bomix® plus Instrument Disinfectant… loads if you get googling “Instrument Disinfectant”.

Sterilization is for tools that come into contact with blood. This is done in an autoclave under pressurised heat. It destroys things like Hep B and HIV. I would definitely recommend this for salons that offer pedicures and more invasive treatments. Autoclaves are best practice.