What should you avoid at nail salons?

What should you avoid when going to nail salons? It’s important to make sure that your nail salon won’t give you a bacterial or fungal infection. More often than you think, this happens.

In light of this, it’s important to know how to spot common health risks at nail salons today. You can find a salon where you can relax and enjoy some well-deserved pampering if you take a few steps before you go.

What should you avoid before you leave?

Bring your own equipment. Skin infections are a common health risk at nail salons, often because the tools aren’t cleaned well enough. Bring your own nail file, clippers, cuticle stick, and callus file if you’re going to a salon you’ve never been to before or if you’d rather be safe than sorry. 

If you use them every time you come, make sure to keep them in good shape: Use an alcohol swab to clean the clippers, cuticle stick, and callus file. Let them dry completely before putting them away, and replace the nail file after a few uses or when it starts to lose its grit.

Skip Shaving. Even if you shave carefully, you can still get cuts or razor burns. These small cuts and skin irritations can make you more likely to get an infection, get red, or feel itchy. If you want a pedicure, don’t shave for 24 hours before your appointment. This will give any cuts or razor burn time to heal. 

Don’t worry about showing your stubble. It’s a small price to pay for a healthy salon experience, and your pedicurist has probably seen it before.

Think about taking off polish at home

Another common health risk at nail salons is damage to the nails. Many salons use removers with acetone, which makes it easy to get rid of even old, dark, or glittery nail polish quickly, but can leave your nails very dry. The protein that makes up your nails is called keratin, and when acetone strips them of their natural oils, the keratin becomes dry and weak. What happened? Nails that are more likely to break and split.

Remove polish at home with a cotton ball and a remover that doesn’t contain acetone. And if even the gentlest formulas leave your nails brittle, talk to your doctor about taking a biotin supplement. Studies have shown that this supplement can help strengthen nails that are weak and break easily.

What Should Avoid At Nail Salons?

Try to find licenses. Some nail salon health risks can be caused by mistakes made by the technicians, so it’s important to go to places where every worker has been properly trained. Before you choose the perfect shade of nail polish, you should make sure that the salon and all of its technicians have valid licenses. 

Different states have different rules, but in most cases, a license must be posted near the front door of a salon. If you don’t see the information you need, be sure to ask before you start your treatment.

Check out How to Sterilize. Even if you bring your own supplies, it’s still a good idea to check how your nail salon cleans (it’s a good way to tell how much they care about your safety).

After each use, tools like nail clippers, metal callus files, and cuticle sticks should be sterilized in a steam autoclave (a type of heat sterilization machine) for at least 10 minutes to kill the bacteria and viruses that can cause athlete’s foot, warts, and more serious infections like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a type of antibiotic-resistant staph infection. 

After each use, tools can also be soaked in a medical-grade disinfectant for at least 20 minutes. Don’t be afraid to ask what kind of disinfectant is being used.

Anything that can’t be cleaned well after each use should be thrown away. This includes nail files, toe separators, and flip-flops made of rubber or paper. And don’t forget about your tech: She should always keep her hands and work area clean and sanitized, especially when she is switching from one client to another.

Pay Attention to Tub Cleaning

One of the best things about going to the nail salon is getting a break from the stresses of everyday life. If you get a pedicure, soaking your feet is an important part of the process. Unfortunately, whirlpool baths are one of the most dangerous things in a nail salon when it comes to your health. 

Yeast, fungus, and fortuitous, a leg-boiling micro bacterium, may grow on filters if not cleaned after each service. It grows in whirlpools. Use soap and a brush to clean whirlpool tubs at salons. Fill with water and disinfectant, drain, and dry. Even safer is to choose a salon with individual footbaths that are easier to clean, like bowls or portable basins.

No need to cut your cuticles. During a manicure or pedicure, your technician may offer to cut your cuticles. However, it’s better if you say no. Your cuticle seals your fingernail and nail bed. It also protects the soft keratin at the base of your nail. 

Cutting or pushing your cuticles back exposes this area, making you more likely to get infections like paronychia, which can make the skin around your cuticles sore and inflamed.

***

Tryaplace.com hopes you like “What should you avoid when going to nail salons?”. If you don’t try, you’ll never know where the best places are near you. Please like our posts, comment on them and share them. Keep in touch with us through our Facebook Fanpage, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, and LinkedIn…to get the latest news, especially about discounts and coupons for services near you.

FAQ