Body Art and Personal Care

Personal service settings, like hair salons, tattoo shops, and nail salons, can carry risks if proper safety measures aren’t followed. This guide helps you make safe choices and what to look for in personal care services.

Why should you be careful when choosing a personal care provider?

Personal care services like haircuts, tattoos, and piercings mean close contact and, sometimes, contact with blood or other bodily fluids. This can spread germs if proper safety steps aren’t followed. Picking a provider who follows safety rules helps protect both you and them from getting sick.

How do I choose a safe personal service provider?

1. Find a safe business: Choose a provider that has regular health inspections. You can ask them about their latest inspection results or contact Southwestern Public Health to confirm they’ve been inspected.

2. Look for cleanliness: Make sure the space looks clean and well-organized. Tools and surfaces should be in good condition and not cluttered.

3. Ask how they handle equipment: Ask how they clean and store their tools. Items meant for one-time use should be new for each client. Reusable tools should be disinfected or cleaned properly after each use.

4. Check reviews or ask friends: Reading online reviews or talking to friends can help you learn about other people’s experiences with the service.

5. Understand the risks of different services: Some services, like tattoos or piercings, involve contact with blood or bodily fluids and have higher risks. A good provider will take extra steps to prevent infections.

What do public health inspections cover?

Public health inspects personal service settings once a year, based on infection prevention guidelines. These inspections ensure that the service providers follow safe practices to reduce infection risks. For services like hair, beauty, tattoo, and piercing, inspections are especially important.

Want to see a provider’s latest inspection results? You can access inspection reports for providers in Oxford, Elgin, and St. Thomas through the Health Inspect Disclosure website.

What are signs of a safe personal service setting?

When you visit a personal service provider, here are things to check:

• Clean hands and gloves: Workers should wash their hands and wear disposable gloves when handling equipment.

• Sterile packaging: Single-use items like needles should come in sealed, sterile packages and be opened in front of you.

• Proper storage: Reusable tools like scissors or tweezers should be stored in a clean, closed container.

• Separate clean and dirty items: Used items should never mix with clean ones. Ask to see where they store clean tools.

• Proper disposal of single-use items: All single-use items should be disposed of immediately after use in a designated waste container.

• Visible infection control practices: Look for visible signs that the provider is following infection prevention measures, like using hand sanitizer, keeping workstations organized, and regularly disinfecting surfaces.

What questions can I ask before I book the service?

To ensure your safety, ask your personal service provider:

1. What infection prevention and control steps do you take?

2. How do you disinfect or sterilize reusable equipment?

3. Can I see your most recent inspection report?

Additional resources:

• Learn about the Infection Prevention and Control in Personal Service Settings Protocol for Public Health’s guidelines for service providers.