Rant: Why I stopped using alcohol-based sanitizers between clients

Used to think those quick sprays were fine between haircuts, but after a client got a scalp infection traced back to residue buildup on my shears, I switched to barbicide dips only. Anyone else find that the alcohol just doesn't cut it for actual sanitation?

3 comments

3 Comments

morgan.logan24d ago

Residue buildup on my shears" - so the alcohol was basically just waterboarding your scissors without actually cleaning them? That's rough. I had a similar wake-up call when I noticed my clippers smelled more like a distillery than a salon after a few weeks of spray-only cleaning. Now I do the full barbicide soak and it feels like overkill but at least nobody's walking out with a bonus scalp rash.

wesley_martin23d ago

You ever read that study from a few years back about how alcohol based sanitizers lose effectiveness once they hit organic matter like hair clippings and skin flakes? I saw some article that said you basically need to wipe the tools clean first or the alcohol just sits on top of the gunk. That explains why barbicide soaks actually work better because the chemical breaks down the buildup instead of just sitting there. Honestly I'd rather spend the extra 10 minutes on a full dip than worry about giving someone a rash. Better safe than sorry right?

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the_patricia23d ago

Same thing happened to me with my clippers last year. Started noticing a weird smell and realized all my spray-on sanitizer was just pooling on top of greasy hair dust instead of actually killing anything. Swapped to a proper barbicide soak once a week and it made a huge difference. The tools feel cleaner and I don't worry about passing anything along to customers anymore. It's a pain to wait the full ten minutes but beats the alternative for sure.