Beauty treatment hygiene standards

A beautician can carry out a variety of different procedures. Some procedures penetrate the skin, others cause blood or other body substances to surface while others treat various skin conditions. All of these procedures carry risk if not undertaken by a trained professional who adopts good infection control practices.

Last updated: 05 August 2011

What are beauty treatments?

A beautician can carry out a variety of different procedures. Some procedures penetrate the skin, others cause blood or other body substances to surface while others treat infected or broken skin. Minimum hygiene standards should be adopted for all scenarios. The following recommendations are made to help achieve these standards.

Premises

All beauty treatment salons that carry out skin penetration procedures including waxing must be registered with the local council. The register is to be made available for public viewing.
The premises must be kept in a clean and hygienic condition at all times.
The construction of the premises should meet with local council requirements.
The finish on all surfaces within the salon should be made of materials that are easily cleaned.
Treatment areas such as benches should be cleaned between each client and/or a clean covering placed over the treatment surface.
Adequate lighting is recommended.

Premises that carry out skin penetration procedures require:

A hand wash basin with hot and cold running water. It is recommended that the hand basin be in the treatment area.
Soap or another hand cleaning substance is required to be at the hand wash basin.
Paper towel or other single use hand drying equipment is required to be at the hand wash basin.

Personal Hygiene

Beauticians should wash their hands before and after attending a client.
A clean gown or apron must be worn for skin penetration procedures.
Cuts or wounds must be covered with a sealed waterproof bandage.
When carrying out a skin penetration procedure, single use gloves must be worn.

Equipment

All equipment must be cleaned between uses.
If equipment is used to penetrate the skin it must be thoroughly cleaned then sterilised before it is used and maintained in a sterile clean condition. (See fact sheet "Sterilisation information for the skin penetration industry")
All necessary equipment should be set up just prior to proceeding with the treatment.
All single use equipment should be disposed immediately after use.

Procedures

Towels or other types of linen used for covering or protection during the procedure must be clean at the start of each treatment.
Oils, ointments, creams or wax should be dispensed using a single use applicator or, dispensed into a separate container for each client.
Beauticians should wash their hands if a procedure is interrupted.

If the procedure involves penetrating the skin such as electrolysis, then the following should be adopted:

The skin to be treated should be cleaned with a skin antiseptic.
Sterile equipment should only be used.
Sterile packaging should be opened just prior to starting the treatment.
Sterile parts of the equipment that will penetrate the skin should not be handled.
If handling sterile equipment is necessary, a sterile insertion tube, a fresh pre-packed sterile alcohol swab, a fresh sterile dry swab, or sterile single use gloves should be used.
When using wax for hair removal, regardless of the type of wax you must throw it out after it has been used.
Botox and other treatments requiring the use of injectable anaesthetics or other scheduled substances must be dispensed by a registered medical practitioner.

After Treatment

All equipment must be cleaned after a procedure.
Single use equipment must be disposed of after use.
Single use sharps must be disposed of into an approved sharps container.
Re-useable sharps must be sterilised before reuse.
Details of the sterilisation process must be recorded. (See fact sheet "Sterilisation information for the skin penetration industry")
All waste should be bagged appropriately and disposed daily. It is illegal for sharps or other clinical/biohazard waste to be disposed of in the general waste stream.