Getting through to salon owners about hygiene standards

[Jo's Nails]

HI,
over the last two years I have worked 5 salons. I go to the interview get the job work happily away untill a problem arises.
I know that the nail industry has changed alot and standards have changed.
I am a fellow geek and the advice I have recieved from this site is something I apply to every client that sits at my table, aswel as advice from Doug Schoon and other leading industry experts.

I thought salon owners also knew this, so when client asked for hard skin to be removed from feet and I am given a big heavy wooden file that's 20 years old that's been at the back of a cupboard, or the client says that they have either a veruccu (sorry I can't spell it) or they are not sure if it's a corn on the bottom of there foot but it hurts and I refer them to doctor I am seen as being awkward because I refused treatment.
This is the type of thing I have come across as a new employee in many of the places I have worked ...
Dirty tools with things growing on them
Dirty tables
Dirty pedi baths with no liners
Dirty files and dog eaten buffers
Power tools/Drills used for screwing nails into walls used on nails of the hand.
No sanitation process
No cleaning products
Hands not washed before services
I worked for one lady who never washed her hands after going to the toilet!!!!!??????
I've been told to over buff natural nails.
To use products which come in unlabled bottles and put into a branded bottle.
Mixing gel and acrylic together so the gel is more able to sculpt causing massive heat spikes and majore discomfort to the clients. And when I explained what an exothermic reaction is and the fact that their nail plate has been over zealously buffed with a power tool which causes a friction burn when going under the lamp with too thickly applied gel, my boss tried to sack me.
Told to cut cuticles.
To remove hard skin from feet with razor blades that have been previously used and swiled out.
To reuse water in a pedi spa from previous clients.

Most of the people I have worked for are not fellow geeks but I assumed they knew what I did and that it's obvious not to do these things.
I am seen as being awkward because I can educate my clients and look after them but the salon owners have no product information or hygiene standards. I am there to make them money no matter what. I feel like I am talking to my self.
Everybody has a different idea to me how things should be done and I am seen as wrong when I try to implement some sort of standard or try to educate myself,my clients, their staff or the salon owner.
It's really hard!

 

[rachelizabeth]

All I can say to this is

Honestly those horror stories would be enough to make me run for the hills and never work in the beauty industry again!

Don't put up with this. It sounds like you are well-educated and know that all these things are very very wrong. Have you thought about setting up for yourself or going mobile?

I personally couldn't work for someone else anymore, and that's without experiencing these things you did! I set up my own business and never looked back. Although I know not everyone is in the position to do so, in that case I would keep trying to find a decent salon as I am sure there is at least one out there!

 

[AcidPerm]

Dreadful, but I'm not surprised. I think most of us have some experience of salon owners with a bad attitude to the business where corner cutting is the name of the game. In hairdressing, it's not using clean fresh towels for each client or refilling the branded backwash bottles with cheap unbranded shampoo.

There are some excellent salons out there but they're rarely hiring. You generally find that a good salon has a low turnover of staff, so you need to keep an eye out and target those types of salon. Make an appointment to speak to the owner so that they remember you when a position becomes vacant.

Otherwise, you may have to look at going self employed where you set the standards.

 

[fluffycloudland]

I think you need your own room somewhere instead of working for these people.

 

[Jo's Nails]

I would love to set my self up but I'm not in the position to do so and I think most of the people I've worked for know that I can't afford to be out of work. I have found myself bouncing from job to job with no holidays or time off because I have standards and want to work with/for someone who has the same passion as me. When told to do treatments on clients and they haven't got the fundamental basics hygiene or product knowledge in place and the equipment isn't available to me or what is available is absolutely filthy and I ask for clean ones or disinfectant and told no get on with it. I did a set of lashes the other day and my adhesive was drying on the way to the lash so I couldn't complete a full set. Trying to explain about humidity levels in the room and that the adhesive was opened more than three months ago and the lashes I did manage to get in were shock cured and won't last, trying to explain why things don't work or why I can't use a dirty file or why a foot spa needs a liner it's like I am speaking in tongues to them. I don't claim to know everything and would love to know more. It's frustrating and I'm fed up of it!