Health, Safety, and Infection Control (Disinfection and Sterilization)
The Chain of Infection
Every infection-control question reduces to breaking the chain: a pathogen, a reservoir, a portal of exit, a mode of transmission, a portal of entry, and a susceptible host. In a salon the critical control points are your hands, your implements, your linens, and contaminated product containers. Know the vocabulary precisely, because exam questions hinge on it.
Cleaning, Disinfection, Sterilization
Cleaning removes visible debris with soap and water and must happen before any disinfectant works - organic matter inactivates disinfectants. Disinfection destroys most pathogenic organisms on nonporous surfaces using an EPA-registered hospital-grade disinfectant at the label dilution and contact time. Sterilization destroys all microbial life including spores and is not required for routine nail implements. Traps: choosing "sterilize" for porous items, skipping cleaning, or ignoring the manufacturer's contact time (often 10 minutes).
Practical Controls
Wash hands with soap and warm water before and after each client. Wear gloves when contact with blood or body fluids is likely. Discard single-use items - files, buffers, wooden sticks, cotton, toe separators - after one client. Porous items that cannot be disinfected must be thrown away. Implements must be washed, dried, immersed in disinfectant, removed with tongs or gloved hands, rinsed, dried, and stored covered in a clean drawer. Blood exposure requires gloves, stopping the service, cleaning the area, and disinfecting everything touched; know your facility's exposure policy.
Worked Example
A client arrives with a red, swollen nail fold. Correct sequence: do not service the area, refer to a physician, and disinfect anything already used. Incorrect: apply an antiseptic and continue.
Rule of thumb: clean first, then disinfect for the full label contact time; if an item cannot be cleaned, it cannot be disinfected - discard it.