Cleaning and disinfecting your footbaths may not be the most fun thing to do, but it’s arguably one of the most important. Disease-causing germs such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi can use your footbaths as a quick and easy way to spread from one person to the next. But there’s good news – with regular cleaning and disinfection, you can stop these germs in their tracks and keep your footbath clean and disease-free.
Step 1: Make Sure Your Client is Footbath-Ready
Ensure that your clients don’t have any sores or wounds on their skin, including scratches, insect bites, or anything else that could weaken the skin. Have a strategy to explain to your client that they should wait until healed to use the footbath, as germs can enter the footbath from breaks in the skin. In addition, arrange for clients to use your footbaths before doing anything that could risk breaking the skin, such as a pedicure or wax. Again, this helps ensure that the client is not transmitting harmful germs into the footbath.
Step 2: Disinfect Between Clients
After each client, your footbaths should be properly cleaned and disinfected by following a few simple steps:
1) Drain the basin or bowl of the footbath and remove any visible dirt or debris that may be leftover.
2) Clean the basin and all other surfaces with a detergent or a one-step cleaner/disinfectant such as Prevention®. Use a brush to evenly scrub all surfaces to loosen and remove any dirt residue on the surface. Rinse the footbath with clean water and drain.
3) Disinfect with an EPA-registered hospital grade disinfectant. This step is different depending on whether a circulating or non-circulating system is used. For non-circulating footbaths or bowls, wipe or spray your disinfectant evenly across the surface of the basin. Ensure that the disinfectant solution is allowed to remain wet on the surface for the required contact time, which can be found on the product label. Look for the fungicidal claim, which can be as much as 10 minutes! Fortunately, Prevention has you covered with a fast 1 minute contact time to kill nail fungus, athlete’s foot and other fungi.
Step 3: The Deep Clean
At the end of the day, your footbaths and pedicure areas may need a little extra attention to ensure everything is clean and ready to go for the next day. Give everything one more last clean and either wipe or spray with Prevention. You can leave to air dry and know you’re walking into a clean and germ-free salon the next day.
