Protecting Your Nails

For some people, getting a manicure or pedicure is a luxury that helps relieve stress.

But it's also a ritual that can cause stress -- as well as disease and even death -- if cosmetologists and nail technicians haven't properly cleaned and sanitized their tools and stations.

While Kentucky nail salons haven't seen the spread of diseases such as nail fungi, hepatitis, herpes and HIV that have been reported in some other states, customers still need to make sure that their manicures and pedicures are safe, said Linda Alley, state inspector for the salons.

The Kentucky Board of Hairdressers and Cosmetologists requires that those licensed to do nail work keep a spray bottle of alcohol and the disinfectant barbercide, in which they should completely immerse their tools, Alley said. Although inspectors are required to go to nail salons only twice a year, Alley drops in more often than that.

"We inspect nail technicians and cosmetologists often," she said. "We go frequently when we're in a town."

If nail techs and cosmetologists don't have the proper sanitizing equipment, they may be fined or lose their license, Alley said.

"We write them up if they don't have what they're supposed to," she said. "We check their license to make sure they are the person they say they are."

Still, there isn't an inspector standing over each salon worker every day, so people shouldn't simply trust what they see, Jill Wright Spa for Nails owner Jill Wright said.

"I've heard from other people -- not my clients -- that the nail salon they go to 'looks clean' and they have that 'blue stuff' in the sanitizer jars," she said. "Just because the salon looks clean does not mean they sanitize properly. It could be Windex in the jars instead of hospital-grade sanitizer. And the time to change the 'blue stuff' in the jars is every morning before work, not days later when large particles of debris are swirling around in it like a snow globe."

Lynda Upton, owner of Nails by Lynda, agreed that clients should ask questions before getting manicures and pedicures.