11.3 Tools, Equipment, and Materials
Key Takeaways
Nippers, a cuticle pusher, and a metal curette used only to clean under the free edge are cleaned of debris and then sanitized after each client. The disinfectant label sets the contact time.
Porous files, buffers, orangewood sticks, and pumice that cannot be disinfected are single-use and go into the covered waste container.
On a foot file with a replaceable abrasive, the abrasive is single-use and the handle is disinfectable when the handle is nonporous.
Section 7.71b requires a manicure table with a light and a pedicure basin and stand. Chapter 7 does not name a credo blade, and standard instruction avoids blades that can remove living tissue.
A lower grit number is coarser: below about 180 grit is for product, about 180 to 240 shapes the natural nail, and 240 and higher buffs, while used paraffin is discarded and never returned to the bath.
What the station holds
Tools are the implements in your hand. Equipment is the station a nail technology salon must have. Materials are the products and single-use supplies the service consumes. Pennsylvania lists the containers and large pieces. Standard nail technology sorts what is sanitized and reused from what is thrown away.
Metal implements that return to the drawer
Nippers, a cuticle pusher, and a metal curette are multi-use metal implements. Nippers can trim nonliving skin at the cuticle area after softening. The nipping method is part of the next chapter. The cuticle pusher moves softened tissue. A metal curette, if used, only cleans under a free edge and does not cut skin. Section 7.92 requires tools, instruments, utensils, and appliances that contact a client to be sanitized immediately after each use and kept in a sanitary condition. Clean off debris first, then sanitize. Dust, cream, and skin left on the metal keep the sanitizer off the surface.
The disinfectant label sets the contact time. Chapter 7 does not print a number of minutes. Use the time on the disinfectant actually in the wet sanitizer. Section 7.71b requires one wet sanitizer and a closed container for sanitized implements. A sanitized metal tool waits in that closed container, not on an open towel. An implement dropped on the floor stays out of service until it is handled under the sanitary-use rule.
Porous tools and the foot file
Porous files, buffers, orangewood sticks, and pumice that cannot be disinfected are single-use. Pores hold skin and moisture where a soak does not reliably reach. Discard them in the covered waste container when that client's abrasive work is finished. An orangewood stick is wood. It is not a metal pusher, and it is not saved because it still looks pointed.
A foot file with a replaceable abrasive is two objects. The abrasive is single-use. The handle is disinfectable when it is nonporous. The grit goes into the covered waste container. The handle is cleaned of debris and sanitized. A wooden paddle with a permanent abrasive is porous as a whole, so the whole paddle is single-use. Do not rinse it in the pedicure basin and call it clean.
Grit numbers and the rest of the kit
Grit is the number of abrasive particles per square inch on a file, and the scale runs backward from what many students expect: the lower the number, the coarser the file. Standard instruction groups abrasives this way. Coarse files, below about 180 grit, reduce the length and thickness of enhancement product. Medium files, about 180 to 240 grit, shape the natural nail and refine product. Fine files, 240 grit and higher, buff, smooth, and remove fine scratches. A coarse file on a bare natural plate thins keratin quickly and leaves heat and ridges. Chapter 7 does not set a grit number.
Other multi-use implements belong in the closed container after they are cleaned and sanitized: nail clippers, including the larger toenail clippers with a straight jaw; tweezers; and a nonporous nail brush used to scrub the nails and under the free edge. A finger bowl holds the soak for a manicure and is cleaned and disinfected after each client, the same as any surface the next client's skin will touch. A client cushion on the table is covered with a clean towel for each client.
Paraffin is heated wax used for a conditioning treatment, and the bath that keeps it melted is equipment. Ask about circulation, sensation, and heat tolerance first, because a client who cannot feel heat cannot report a burn. Skip paraffin over broken skin, a rash, a wart, or an inflamed area. Test the wax temperature on your own inner wrist before the client's hand goes in. Dip only clean, inspected hands or feet, or use a method that keeps the shared wax clean, such as brushing or a single-use portion. Used paraffin is peeled off and discarded. It never goes back into the bath. Electric mitts and booties warm a treatment under a plastic liner and are wiped and disinfected between clients. A UV or LED lamp cures gel and is taught with the gel service.
The table, the basin, and the blade that is not required
Section 7.71b sets the minimum equipment for a nail technology salon with one nail technician. This service uses one manicure table with a light, a chair, and a stool, and one pedicure basin and stand. The light is how you see the free edge, the sidewall, and a color change. For each additional nail technician, equipment and supplies increase so each person can work safely and efficiently. The same list includes a covered waste container, closed soiled-linen storage, a closed cabinet for clean linen, twelve sanitary towels for each work station, one wet sanitizer, a closed container for sanitized implements, and a sink with hot and cold running water readily accessible to each work station.
Materials on the table include closed polish, acetone or other polish remover, cuticle remover, callus softener, cream or lotion, cotton, and single-use abrasives. Jars are scooped with a sterile spatula. Liquids stay capped. None of those chemicals go into the basin. Read the label before you mix anything.
A credo blade, sometimes called a callus razor, is not on the § 7.71b list. Pennsylvania Chapter 7 does not name a credo blade. Chapter 7 does not ban the blade by name, and it does not require a salon to keep one. Standard instruction is to avoid blades that can remove living tissue. Callus work here is smoothing dry skin on an intact surface with a file or pumice. A client who wants a closer heel does not turn that blade into required equipment. Nippers are a different object: a multi-use metal implement that is cleaned and sanitized, not a callus razor.
| Item | After this client | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Nippers, cuticle pusher, metal curette | Clean off debris, then sanitize | § 7.92; the disinfectant label sets contact time |
| Porous file, buffer, orangewood stick, pumice that cannot be disinfected | Covered waste container | Single-use; pores are not reliably disinfected |
| Replaceable foot-file abrasive | Covered waste container | Single-use even when the handle is kept |
| Nonporous foot-file handle | Clean and sanitize | The handle can be disinfected; the grit cannot |
| Manicure table with light | Keep the lamp usable for inspection | Required salon equipment under § 7.71b |
| Pedicure basin and stand | Use for a soak only when the procedure allows | Required salon equipment under § 7.71b |
| Credo blade or callus razor | Leave it out of the required kit | Chapter 7 does not name it; avoid blades that remove living tissue |
Scenario
Before the first client, the station has a lighted manicure table, a pedicure basin on its stand, a wet sanitizer, and a closed container of metal implements. You set out a new porous file, a new buffer, and a new orangewood stick. The foot file has a fresh abrasive and a nonporous handle sanitized after the previous client. You do not add a credo blade for a thick heel. The curette only clears debris from under a free edge. Afterward you clean debris from the nippers and the pusher and sanitize them for the contact time on that disinfectant label. The porous file, buffer, orangewood stick, and used abrasive go into the covered waste container. The nonporous handle is sanitized again.
What should happen to a porous file, buffer, orangewood stick, or piece of pumice that cannot be disinfected?
Rinse it in the pedicure basin and dry it on a clean towel
Treat it as single-use and discard it in the covered waste container
Sanitize it in the wet sanitizer and store it for the next client
Keep it for the rest of the day if the client's name is written on it
How does Pennsylvania Chapter 7 treat a credo blade or callus razor, and what is the standard instruction?
Chapter 7 does not name it, and instruction avoids blades that cut living tissue
Section 7.71b lists a credo blade as required minimum equipment for nail salons
A callus razor is required whenever a pedicure includes dry skin on the heel
Chapter 7 bans the credo blade by name and fines any salon that owns one
What is required after nippers, a cuticle pusher, or a metal curette has been used on a client?
Soak it for the number of minutes printed in 49 Pa. Code Chapter 7
Clean off debris, then sanitize for the time on the disinfectant label
Discard it, because every metal nail implement is meant to be single-use
Wipe the metal on a cloth towel and return it to the clean-towel cabinet
A student must pick the coarsest abrasive from four files. Which grit number is the coarsest?
100 grit
180 grit
240 grit
400 grit
Sections you finish are checked off in the contents.