The Ease of Cross-Contamination Prevention

Those of you who are seriously concerned about the spread of Coronavirus and other flu viruses should be looking into cross-contamination prevention rather than attempting to defeat contamination with constant hand-washing- which is not a feasible option if you plan on having normal days away from the facilities you would need in order to ‘keep clean’.

In truth, washing your hands constantly doesn’t sterilize them! Only hand sanitizers that have at least a 70% (or higher) ethyl alcohol content can kill most bacteria and similar microbes to 99%. You’re probably wondering at this point if there is any way, then, to prevent the spread of this virus by hand contact!

I feel that the best preventative is to follow the example of surgical physicians who not only scrupulously wash their hands prior to surgeries (and clear up to the elbow, by the way!) but also wear surgical gloves- and often two layers of gloves because it’s so easy for the gloves to be compromised by suture needles and scalpels, etc. (Even double–gloving can’t fully guard against micro-perforations, so doctors, surgical assistants and attendants may change gloves often during a single operation.) This process, however, is the essence of preventing cross-contamination.

     You’re probably wondering how this practice could feasibly be used in an every day consumers day-to-day life that is relevant and comprehensive. Since the break out of the super flu virus COVID-19, I have personally been using disposable gloves on my hands which I don prior to going into stores- before I ever have to manually pull a publicly-used door open! I keep the gloves on while I shop, check out and after I leave the store I pull them off and properly discard them in a wastebasket. You can buy very inexpensive plastic liner gloves in a dollar store for about $1 per hundred. This process makes hand washing irrelevant and unnecessary. It protects you, other shoppers, the checkout clerk and even the stock workers. What could be easier than that, I ask?
     May 28, 2020 update: 
          
In case you’re unfamiliar, here’s a quick recap of how to safely remove your gloves:

• Grasp the outside of one glove at the wrist, being careful not touch your skin.
• Peel the glove away from your body, pulling it inside out.
• Hold the glove you just removed in your other gloved hand.
• Peel off the second glove by putting your fingers inside the glove at the top of your wrist.
• Turn the second glove inside out while pulling it away from your body, leaving the first glove inside the second.
• Throw the gloves into the trash immediately. (Don’t leave them in the store parking lot outside of your vehicle or try to reuse them later.)
• Wash your hands or use hand sanitizer directly after you’ve removed the gloves, if you wish.

      How do I know about this, you say? Well, as a licensed professional manicurist I was trained in sterilization and sanitization while I attended school for my diploma. While in school I did 60 hours instruction and practice in sterilization and sanitization- 20 more hours than is required by law- and I received high grades in every aspect of my training. I received a 100% on sterilization.

     There are some codes and regulations that licensed beauty professionals must adhere to, concerning public safety and health, not just for themselves but the public that they work on every day. The two most important regulations concerning the prevention of spreading viruses are under:

     Section 7312 (e), Busi. and Prof. Code  983 (b) Every licensee or student performing services shall thoroughly wash his or her hands with soap and water and/or any equally effective alcohol-based hand-cleaning product immediately before serving each client.

     Section 7312, (e) Busi. and Prof. Code  984 (a) No establishment or school shall knowingly permit a licensee or student afflicted with an infection or parasitic infestation capable of being transmitted to a client, to serve clients or train in the establishment or school.

     The latter is also under the Health and Safety Code under section 121365 for the California State Board. Colorado and most other states have identical or similarly written and published codes with numerous others under Article 12.

     There are more numerous and extensive laws that prevent us from doing any services on potential patrons who have infectious diseases and illnesses, as well. This is obviously also a cross-contamination prevention measure which should be strictly enforced but many nail salons are being run by unlicensed techs whose salons are often also unlicensed. I’m sure you can see the potential dangers that lurk in ignorance of these laws.

     Application of these laws for both patron and nail techs is imperative in times when virus breakouts like COVID-19 are in a state of epidemic for a nation the size of ours. Obviously, the uses of gloves are not practical or feasible for the patron in these cases, so the nail tech needs to be as vigilant and aware as the patron in discerning problems either way. Get yourself educated. Talk about these concerns with the potential tech before you ever walk through those doors and make certain that you will be protected. If you are sick, quarantine yourself. Think of others. Be responsible. The life you save may be your own.  

Need conversation on this subject? Leave a comment. I'd love to help!

 

Keeping your hands healthy and beautiful

    One subject that I have not yet covered but may be quite timely to discuss, is how we may consistently wear artificial nails or strengthening shields (on natural nails) but keep such problems as mildew and fungus- which may occur at any time- cured or under control. In cases of more than 5 outbreaks, on separate nails, in the same occurrence I usually urge the client to have all artificial products removed and go through a series of nail treatments to cure the outbreaks and also to probe for any provoking activity which may have caused the outbreaks. Excessive lifting of artificial product combined with a lot of hands-in-water usage exacerbates the outbreaks of mildew specifically and that is why removal of all artificial products is crucial to quick recovery in extreme cases.

     First, it is necessary for you and your technician to recognize the difference between mildew breakouts and nail fungus. Mildew breakouts are easily treatable whereas fungus is much more difficult to get under control. (You should also know that fungus is discovered in the nail bed and under the nail and is not caused by wearing artificial nail products.)

    Wearing artificial nail products in continuance with either occurrence will make it more difficult if not impossible to treat with any success. Fungus does not just show up in one nail but may infect every single fingernail because the cause is underlying, in underlying tissue (nail bed), and not the nail itself. Mildew, conversely, starts and spreads on top of the nail and can be treated with professionally formulated products, or thymol and/or white iodine quite effectively and easily. It may infect one nail only, several or all the nails. An old cure method of mildew made use of chlorine to treat mildew but has long been abandoned for use because it is too extreme and can permanently disfigure nails. The practice of using chlorine which has a distinctive and strong odor has also been banned for such use as it was never intended to be used on or near human tissue of any kind.

     (Caution note: Primer does not kill or treat fungus. Its unusually strong odor doesn’t create any such effect on the nail. The sole purpose of primer is to soften nail tissue to make acrylic bond tighter to the nail. If your nail tech thinks primer has any such antiseptic properties, find yourself a licensed nail tech who knows how to treat the problem!)

     Mildew infections are a distinctive green color. Treatments will not remove the color stain at all- only the infection. The nail infected with mildew must be left to open air after one treatment and will fade as long as the nails are kept clean and dry. No band aids, tape or any covering that can trap moisture should be on the nails for at least 72 hours after treatment. After that, artificial nails may be applied over the affected area as long as both client and tech are assured that the artificial product will not lift after application. This is because trapped water between overlay and fingernail may start the infection process all over again.

    

healthy set

A fungus infected nail, however, will have a distinctive and bright yellow look to it. It cannot be filed off or treated topically but should be treated as a highly contagious problem very much like athlete’s foot. Nail technicians should know to refer you to a doctor- although treatments by regular doctors are very controversial and may cause worse problems to the client than the limited effects of nail fungus. Sometimes fungus is transferred from toe nails to fingernails. In any case hands would have to be exposed, in some way, with fungus in order to start a fungal infection. If it goes untreated it will not go away with air exposure because it is trapped between the nail plate and the nail bed. You may have more success in ridding yourself of it if you contact a podiatrist because they deal with this type of fungus much more often and most likely, with more success. For obvious reasons, you should not wear artificial nails at this time and certainly not until the condition has been cured. A podiatrist will insist on removal of artificial product in order to treat a patient. It is for this reason that I only recommend visiting a podiatrist rather than a regular MD.

     I have personally taken some statistics down based on my own experience with all my clients over a forty-two year period and have discovered that I have only had to treat 2% of my clients with mildew breakouts. Most of them were limited- one outbreak or a few and never all ten nails. I have seen fungus under the toenails of quite a few people who were not clients. However, I have not yet encountered anyone with fungus under toenails or fingernails as a client. It is very unlikely, according to my decades of experience, that you will ever contract such a fungus. As I said before, artificial nail products are irrelevant and immaterial to fungal infections. However, I cannot stress enough to you that if you are one of the few people who are prone to nail fungal infections, I would advise you to not wear any types of artificial nails because wearing them would only complicate a cure and perhaps exacerbate the condition and prevent a cure, ultimately.

    Mildew is much more common. You should check your nails- with each lifted nail enhancement- to find out if mildew accompanied the problem. It should be treated by your tech as soon as possible and if this is not possible then you should keep white iodine on hand to treat it yourself until you can get to your tech. If other clients of your tech experience a lot of mildew problems your tech may be spreading the condition because she’s not practicing good sanitation habits. It pays to converse with fellow clients! It is possible that metal bit drills, if not routinely sanitized, can spread mildew like wildfire. You can also just develop it on your own with no fault from the tech but when you are being treated check to make sure that the bit used on you is sanitized before and after your service, regardless. The most important part of professional manicure sanitation is prevention measures. I prefer to use disposable, coarse file wraps on bits, which can be used once and thrown away.

Internet DIY vs The Professional Manicure

     I’m starting to become alarmed at the ridiculous and downright conning that is going on in so-called amateur video tutorials, professional-looking web sites that claim to teach people how to do their own nails for $49 (without creds to teach, of course !), DIY nail product selling with dubious tools and products and all types of chicanery in the amateur manicure and nails industry. I cannot emphasize enough that any article, web site, video, T.V. or internet merchandizing that tells you that you can do your own nails with the same knowledge and skill and as good as (or better than) a licensed professional is just a scam to take your money and run.

     The internet videos go on and on with their free advice and clumsy demonstrations (on their own hands, invariably) and impart more misinformation than I have ever read in magazine articles! The other night I watched a video by someone who calls herself a nails enthusiast. She’d taken her acrylics off which she claims has been professionally done for a decade. Taking it upon herself to remove them caused obvious damage to her nails in addition to the damage that the so-called professional did by using a drill on her- and showed how she ‘got her nails back to health’ by rubbing garlic on the ends of her fingers, later digging her fingers into lemons cut in half, etc. Her claims for each one of these was about as far-fetched as any old wives’ tale remedies and it goes on so long that I realized she took months making this long, drawn-out video to the point that I started to think that watching paint dry might be more interesting ! ! OY-VAY ! Not a bit of this video was in any way professional advice nor did it show me anything to prove her point. As a matter of fact it was sheer torture listening to and watching this enthusiast  bungle around with her nails for no less than a half hour. Let me set the record straight right now. Garlic will not make your nails grow faster. Lemons will not whiten your nails but they will make them extremely brittle over a period of time. Professionals use nail white paste or pencils. French manicures are done with a temporary enamel or gel finish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RO_cmsjfgE&pbjreload=10

     I have been doing nails now for forty-one years and when someone sits down at my table I educate them about why I do certain manipulations, use products and tools a certain way and how to go about home maintenance should it ever be necessary. The latter I mentioned is a very rare incidence since I urge my clients to come for regular care if they want to keep up the look I have achieved for them. I don’t know why anyone would think that because they had their nails done by someone for years that they can ‘figure it all out for themselves’ from now on; Perhaps even thinking that they can teach someone else how to manicure or put on acrylic with info that is over their heads is nonsense. Once someone goes to a professional tech- licensed or not- they would know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they could not match the expertise of the work just by messing around with their home remedies or products which can be bought in a Consumer Beauty Supply Store. (Most professionals will not use any product which shows up in a Consumer Beauty Supply for a good reason. Professional Supply Houses drop any product which shows up, under license, in a Consumer Beauty Supply, also, by the way.) I do not recommend that anyone ever go to a non-licensed professional nail tech. The sanitation/ cross-contamination risk is one factor but the damage from incorrect overuse of drills is another reason I would advise potential patrons to avoid them. Another reason is that many of these non-licensed professionals can’t do a simple manicure on hands. They haven’t the expertise or the proper equipment.

  

( cuticle knives sold on internet )

  

     Manicure implements are being sold on the internet which have been banned by the State Boards or have gone out of use by professionals because they have been phased out or proven unsafe or ineffective. One such implement is the cuticle knife (pictured above) which is referred to in consumer-directed ads, sometimes, as dual-ended cuticle trimmers. These implements are not used or recommended by professionals or cosmetology schools. I believed they were banned until I saw them all over the internet to be purchased by consumers recently. I have seen the damage, personally, caused by these horrific-looking implements and it takes a long time to get cuticles to behave and look normal after someone has used them. There is no correct way to use these implements to avoid the damage they do. The actual blade cannot be controlled- it is a non-movable part- and is nearly impossible to use without overcutting. Incidentally, I believe these may be a copy of a surgical tool once used by podiatrists to remove hangnails and agnails (toes) before they cause ingrown toenails. I saw two videos on the internet of amateurs showing how they use these unsafe implements to trim cuticles and loose skin and the videos looked edited.

     Any cutting of loose skin around the cuticle line or the actual cuticle is removed by a professional with a cuticle nipper. If you look close we all have different-looking nippers which would give a consumer the wrong impression. There are two features however which are invariable and make our training a bit easier. These are the two blades that meet and curved handles which fit the hand for complete control. I have watched consumers use these implements which can be bought in any drugstore. A professional could use these, technically, and would probably do a superior job. Consumers use nippers like they are plucking their eyebrows ! A huge no-no. This only causes a worse problem than they started out with and the damage is painful to watch. If you care about your health at all don’t use these implements unless you can get a nail tech or professional to show you how to use it correctly.

     Curved end toenail clippers have made a comeback in mail order and I can tell you what’s wrong with them if you’ll hear me out. Toenails should only be cut straight across in order to prevent ingrown toenails. If you cut the side of the nail with a curved blade you will most certainly get ingrown toenails. It happened to me when I was very young and it took a podiatrist doing the almost unthinkable in order to straighten the problem out. Only soaking the nails in sanitized, soapy warm water to soften the nails will prevent reoccurrences. Therefore you would never want to use a curved blade on your toenails- only a straight, flat blade. The ads are made to appear as if it’s easier to use these implements but the damage you’ll inevitably do with them will be difficult and time-consuming to correct by a doctor or professional.

     Two ads for fungus cures showed up in coupon inserts, recently, in my newspaper so no matter where you live in the states you’ll see these ads. It looks like the manufacturers finally did their homework but the consumer should read everything well. Fungicure claims to kill 6 types of fungus but doesn’t say what these types are or how to detect them. I suppose some information is on the inside of the package but if you want to save yourself some money my advice is to get in contact with the company at www.fungicure.com and ask them every question you can think of and find out how the product works. Lamisil cream was directly opposite that ad and I know personally that it’s highly effective on athlete’s foot only. The way the ad looks, one may be having diabetic pains and think they have fungus! In very fine print the ad tells you that their triple action formula is for treating athlete’s foot where it’s the most difficult to get rid of- between the toes! A longstanding client of mine had a case that wouldn’t go away and she periodically showed me the progress of its use over a period of time and we were both pleased with the outcome. Both of these products must be used exactly as directed and no other way.

     Some people believe that they should only go to a podiatrist with all their foot needs but I know for a fact that many podiatrists send people to professional pedicurists to get normal foot care. They don’t bother with such- beyond showing people how they should cut their toenails. The first reason is that they don’t have time to sit and do an actual pedicure on patients. Even they concede that the patient is better off going to a professionally licensed pedicurist than relying on them for such a time-consuming task. Many of their patients have serious problems and they prefer to work at what they were educated to do. 
    

One more thing... would you let anyone hook this thing up to your big toe? Didn't think so. OY OY OY ! It looks like some sort of torture device. NOT !

     

Magazine Misinformation

     Today I want to tackle the issue of how you should dissect the misconceptions and downright deceptive information which is published in all sorts of periodicals and magazines about manicures. I recently retrieved a full page article I found in the November 2013 issue of Prevention Magazine titled, “Your Healthy Manicure How-To”. The following is the article verbatim:

Avoid salon chemicals (and potential infections) with these five simple at-home steps

1. File your nails Hold an emery board parallel to your nail’s edge. File across, then round out the corners.

2. Soften your skin Microwave a bowl of lotion for 10 seconds, then soak your fingers in it for 60 seconds.

3. Care for cuticles Don’t trim cuticles; they protect nails from infection. Gently push them back with a damp cloth.

4. Smooth ridges  Run a nail buffer, like OPI Brilliance Block ($6; ulta.com), back and forth across your nails to smooth vertical lines.

5. Polish  Polish fortifies the nail. Try peptide-infused toxin-free Dermelect ME in Sophisticate ($14; dermelect.com).

   It further states, on a side bar, to reconsider your polish remover by advising you to try a nourishing one like A Beautiful Life Soy Polish Remover ($20; abeautifullife.com), stating that the acetone is replaced by soy!

*

    Most of this article is not only in error, a large amount of it is even dangerous advice and naïve, at the least. The first premise which is completely false is that you will be avoiding potential infections without proper sanitation and educated precaution. None of the info in this article alerts you to this fact and given the likelihood that readers of this magazine consider it to be backed by medical professionals- the premise is totally inexcusable.

     No less than three sources were listed for the support of this article. They are Zoe Draelos, MD from Duke University; Richard Scher, MD, Weill Cornell Medical College and last, but not least, Donna Perillo from Sweet Lily Natural Nail Spa. The latter source could’ve lent a credible and experienced source were it not for the fact that many nail spas are not regulated by Barber/Cosmetology Boards nor any other licensing board at present. In fact, the words ‘nail’ in conjunction with ‘spa’ may be an indication that the nail technicians hired may not be professionally licensed personally. State boards across almost all states in the U.S. require a person’s license to be displayed prominently in or above their stations. To know for sure, look for them and if you don’t see credentials that match your techs name with the official state logo on it then most likely you are not safe from potential infections. Look to see if implements to be used are actively soaking in disinfectant solution. Is the table clean? Both manicurist and patron must wash their hands prior to the service. These are just some of the precautions.

     Assuming that you still want to try to work on yourself, re-read the five steps above and I’ll tell you why they’re wrong and written by someone who did not speak with a licensed professional at all- leave alone two doctors. Emery boards cannot be sanitized and therefore are potential hazards. Licensed professionals use materials kinder to the nails than a standard emery board and most of these filing implements can be sanitized. Microwaving a bowl of any lotion you have available will create a disastrous effect. Professionals use preparations specifically formulated to emulsify when they are heated and they have apparatuses which will heat the hot oil nail soak to a proper temperature which can be controlled.

      Licensed professionals can trim your cuticles and generally do if anything is extraneous and a potential to worsen if the cuticles are unkempt or forward growth needs to be cleaned off of the nail plate. Cuticles unattended need softening and to be trimmed where they are loose or jagged. This is our job and is best left to us because we were trained how to deal with these issues with our specific implements. It is our raison d’etre. Compris ? If you must do this yourself, wash your hands thoroughly being sure to wet the hands thoroughly for five minutes in warm water. When you dry your hands just gently push back on the cuticle lines with a towel and then leave them alone.

    

The rest of the article starts pushing products which are generally only used by professionals! This article is suggesting that perhaps it might be a good idea to use products that you have not been educated to use correctly- and then tells you the wrong way to use them- to the tune of no less than $40. I’m fairly certain that a manicure of this caliber in a licensed salon would not set you back that far in cash and you’ll rest assured knowing that this person most likely knows how to use them correctly.

     The OPI Brilliance Block is intended for finishing artificial nails- not to try to excoriate ridges on a natural nail. What may initially feel smoother to you will eventually start cracking right along those ridges or lines because you have removed the top tissue which fuses the nail together as a layered unit- being as how your nail is actually epithelial tissue- (horny tissue)!

  

   Regular polish is a fortifier for nails-true! But a peptide-infused version without the so-called toxic three (dibutyl pthylate, formaldehyde, toluene) will most likely bubble after a manicure done with heated lotion. I doubt that anyone is going to like spending $14 on a bottle of polish only to have it look like they have some weird nail disease. I’ll be brutally honest here and tell you that probably an old polish you have on your vanity table would do just fine and won’t hurt you a bit. Here’s another hot flash! I haven’t a clue how soy could be formulated to take polish off ! Whatever they’d have to do to the soy I’m sure it wouldn’t work or if it did you may not want it to. So much for avoiding salon chemicals. It might be worth it to try taking off that insidious gel polish that chips but won't come off. In that case, it would be worse than ketone from which acetone is a diluted version- right!

Just setting the record straight !

The Castle Lady