DOWNLOAD the (PDF) Back to Work Plan HERE

A Plan of Action for your Salon, Barber Shop or Spa Following the COVID-19 Pandemic

Given the renewed focus on the health and public safety of beauty professionals and their clients, the following Back-to-Work Plan should be used to make everyone more comfortable when services resume. This plan incorporates best practices according to infection control subject matter experts and the advice may supersede the rules of your state. In this tumultuous time, it is important that best practices be followed for the health of professionals and consumers and it is strongly recommended that this plan be applied to pertinent parts of your business.

The date you may return to work is determined by your state or local authorities and must be followed.

Checklist of Supplies Needed:

• BARBICIDE® Concentrate
• BARBICIDE® Spray bottle (filled with properly concentrated BARBICIDE®)*
• BARBICIDE® Wipes
• Clippercide® (cleans and disinfects) for clippers, trimmers and edgers
• BARBICIDE® Spacide Complete (if pedicure bowls are used)
• King Research Hand Sanitizer
• Ship-Shape® Comb and Brush Cleaner
• Ship-Shape® Professional Appliance and Glass Cleaner
• Clean towels / paper towels
• Gloves
• Trash bags

*BARBICIDE® Concentration ¼ cup (2oz) concentrate in 4 cups (32oz) of water

Disinfection Reminders:

• Disinfectants must be EPA-registered and labeled as bactericidal, virucidal and fungicidal. BARBICIDE® Concentrate is a registered product on the EPA’s N List and all products on this list meet EPA’s criteria for use against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).
• Disinfection only works on a clean item, so cleaning before disinfecting is always the first step. Methods to clean include soap/water, chemical cleaners (Ship-Shape®), wipes.
• Contact time listed on the label must be observed for disinfectants to work. The contact time refers to how long the surface must stay visibly wet with the disinfectant to inactivate or destroy all of the pathogens on the label. Typical contact time for immersion/sprays is 10 minutes, for wipes is 2-4 minutes.
• Disinfectant for immersion must be made fresh daily and replaced if it becomes contaminated sooner. For example, hair/debris floating in solution or a cloudy solution.
• Disinfection is for hard, non-porous surfaces, typically things made of glass, metal and plastic or referred to as synthetic materials.
• Porous/soft surfaces cannot be disinfected, but can be cleaned. This would include but is not limited to items such as towels, chairs covered in a porous material and your hands/body.

Prior to Re-Opening Checklist

Reception and Retail Area:

• Discard old magazines and other non-essential items in the waiting area that cannot be disinfected
• Wipe down all soft surfaces (couches, chairs) with water and a clean towel
• Remember that these soft surfaces cannot be disinfected
• Clean and disinfect all hard, non-porous surfaces such as reception counter, computer keyboard, phones, door handles, light switches and point of sale equipment
• Make sure to follow contact time for all surfaces
• Consider online scheduling in place of written appointment cards
• Clean and disinfect all shelving, glass and display cases; keep product containers clean and dust free
• Place signage in window to notify clients of your diligence in practicing proper infection control

Work Stations

• Clean and disinfect all non-porous implements used in your services, as required by all states (immersion, spray or wipe)
• Store properly disinfected implements in closed, containers that have also been disinfected (wipe or spray)
• Clean and disinfect all electrical implements used in your services as required by all states
• Clean and disinfect chairs and headrests
• Remember that porous materials cannot be disinfected and ongoing use of disinfectants on materials covering chairs, can damage the material
• On initial opening, feel free to disinfect your chairs, but limit that to once daily – consider barrier methods on chairs such as disposable paper drapes or towels that can be laundered after each client
• Clean and disinfect station, rolling carts, drawers and any containers used for storage
• Ensure that single use (porous items) are new
• All items on a nail station must either be new, never used or cleaned and disinfected (stored in a closed container until ready to use)

Treatment Rooms

• Clean and disinfect any appliances used
• Clean and disinfect treatment tables
• Remember that porous materials cannot be disinfected and ongoing use of disinfectants on materials covering tables can damage the material – consider barrier methods on chairs such as disposable paper drapes or towels that can be laundered after each client
• Ensure that all product to be used has not been contaminated by improper removal of product prior to closure
• Ensure all single use items are new
• Empty wax pots, completely clean and disinfect – refill with new wax
• Ensure that multi-use product containers have adequate single use applicators available to safely remove product without contaminating remaining product

Restroom

• Clean and disinfect all surfaces
• Replace any soft goods (toilet paper, paper towels)
• Consider upgrading to touchless faucets, soap and paper towel dispensers
• Consider adding touchless, automatic hand sanitizer dispensers
• Place a trash container near door
• Remove any products that do not belong in the restroom – nothing should be stored in a restroom

Laundry

• Any linens that may have be left in the salon (clean or dirty) prior to the closure, should be washed per the rules of your state
• If no rules exist about laundry, wash on hot with detergent and dry until “hot to the touch”
• There should be no moisture or dampness in any linen
• Launder (porous) or disinfect (non-porous) all capes
• All linens should be stored in closed, covered cabinets until used

Shampoo Bowls

• Clean all bowls, handles, hoses, spray nozzles and shampoo chairs
• Disinfect all bowls, handles, hoses, spray nozzles and shampoo chairs observing full contact time with a properly concentrated disinfectant or wipe

Pedicure Bowls

• Remove all parts that can be removed from bowl
• Clean and disinfect removed parts by immersing for full contact time in properly diluted disinfectant
• Scrub bowl with soap/water or detergent
• Return removable parts to bowl
• Rinse bowl with clean water
• Disinfect the bowl – fill bowl with water and add proper amount of BARBICIDE® or Spacide to achieve the correct concentration
• If your bowl has jets, turn on and let disinfectant solution circulate for 10 full minutes
• If your bowl does not have jets, simply let it sit for the full ten minutes
• Empty water after 10 minutes is complete and allow to air dry
• Ensure all multi use materials that may have been contaminated by improper removal prior to closure are replaced – such as lotions, scrubs
• Ensure that all single use materials are new – such as files, pumice and buffers

On-Going Safety

ALL states have health and public safety rules that MUST be followed at all times. The steps below are best practice and may go above and beyond what a state requires.

Disinfectants / Personal Protective Equipment:

1. Disinfectant must be EPA-registered and labeled as bactericidal, virucidal and fungicidal
   • No product will be labeled for COVID-19 yet, but many will have human coronavirus efficacy either on their label or available on their websites
   • The EPA has approved any product that has tested as effective against human coronavirus, to make a claim for COVID-19 at this time
2. Disinfectant for immersion must be made fresh daily and replaced if it becomes contaminated sooner
3. Any Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) used is single use and must be changed after each client, for example gloves
   • Mask may be required and changing them would be dependent upon availability
4. Hands must be washed after removing gloves

Practical changes:

1. In the short term, consider staggering appointments so that waiting areas have minimal congestion
   • Staggering of appointments also gives adequate time to properly clean and disinfect in between customers
   • Even if you haven’t used an appointment system before, now may be the time to implement one. If you continue to take walk-ins, be conscious of how many people are in your waiting area and be responsible about keep those numbers low
2. Consider how to make your POS terminals safer
   • If you are using an iPad, asking the customer read you their card number means that you are the only one touching that screen
   • Encourage the use of applications like Apple Pay that do not require any interaction between your consumer and your surfaces. If you must you a touch pad, this should be disinfected frequently
3. In the short term, do not re-introduce things like magazines, self-serve coffee or candy jars
4. Disinfect reception counter, door handles, phones and writing implements at the beginning of the day and every 1-2 hours, based on traffic
5. Consider use of masks/gloves for all esthetics/waxing services
6. Consider a mask for licensee and client for nails services
7. Discontinue the practice of shaking hands
   • While this handshaking has long been considered a sign of welcoming and respect, there are safer ways to welcome someone in 2020
8. Decline services for any client that exhibits signs of illness 

Hand Hygiene:

1. Wash hands with soap/water for 30 seconds before/after eating, smoking and using the restroom
2. Wash hands immediately before and after providing a client (hand sanitizer where allowed)
3. Provide hand sanitizer at reception desk and all stations for clients to use
4. Maintain intact skin by frequent use of lotion

Cleaning and Disinfection:

1. All implements (non-porous) being used on more than 1 client, must be cleaned and disinfected for the full contact time on the disinfectant label before being used
2. Stations, chairs, rolling carts and any other storage containers disinfected daily
3. All pedicure bowls fully cleaned and disinfected before EACH client
   • All removable parts removed and thoroughly cleaned and disinfected
   • Bowl scrubbed with brush and detergent/soap
   • Bowl rinsed
   • Removable parts replace
   • Properly concentrated disinfectant in bowl and allowed to sit or run (jets) for full contact time listed on the disinfectant label
   • Bowl drained and rinsed
4. All hand/foot nail drying tables cleaned and disinfected after each client or barrier method used

Laundry:

1. All towels/capes laundered (porous) or disinfected (non-porous) after a single use
2. All towels/linens dried until “hot to the touch”
3. All towels/linens stored in a closed, covered container

Cleaning and Disinfection of Implements and Surfaces:

1. Clean item or surface: Cleaning is intended to prepare the item or surface so that disinfectant can make full contact with the material and be effective against all pathogens listed on the label
   • Cleaning may be done with soap/water, chemical cleaner or wipe
2. Rinse and dry implement or surface
3. Disinfect using a properly concentrated disinfectant made for immersion, a spray or wipe
4. All disinfectants must be EPA-registered as bactericidal, virucidal and fungicidal
5. Observe full contact time on manufacturers label
   • This means that implement or surface must stay visibly wet for full contact time listed
6. Immersed items should be removed at the end of contact time, rinsed and dried with a paper towel or clean, freshly laundered towel

Cleaning and Disinfection of Electrical Implements:

1. Clean implement with wipe or spray and remove any debris, such as hair
2. Use an EPA-registered bactericidal, virucidal and fungicidal spray, foam or wipe to disinfect implement for full contact time listed on the manufacturers label
3. When contact time is complete, dry with paper towel or clean, freshly laundered towel

Letter of Reassurance to Provide to Customers

Valued Customer,

We understand your concerns, so we have outdone ourselves in preparing our business for you! The safety of our staff and our customers is essential to us, so we have:

• Cleaned and/or disinfected all surfaces and implements
• Laundered and/or disinfected all capes, towels and linens
• Removed any non-essential items throughout our business
• Initiated contactless methods of scheduling and payment
• Acquired appropriate personal protective equipment to be used when necessary or requested
• Discontinued the practice of hand shaking and other non-essential contact
• Re-trained our staff on essential infection control and hand hygiene practices

Feel free to ask any of us at any time about all that we do to provide for your safety.

Please relax and enjoy your services!