Hair and nail salons, barbershops and spas are places where customers want to relax and be served. An increasing amount of salon clients has become worried though: "Is my salon safe? How clean are the tools that are being used?" The media has covered these issues in recent years over and over. Infections are so common that many women worry each time they have a service done.  Unfortunately, they have good reason to be extra careful!

Salons in California are not inspected very often by the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology. Some salons haven't seen an inspector in seven or more years. Some regulations have changed and it seems some of the viruses and bacteria have as well, some have become more resistent to regular methods of sanitation. A salon can appear super clean and still have significant compliance, and therefore health issues at hand.

It is our responssibility as beauty industry professionals to be on top of our game in every aspect of the business. But, nobody is perfect and certainly, the "Barbering And Cosmetology Act And Regulations" is not the perfect kind of book you want to spend a relaxing evening with.

If your salon has not been inspected within the past year, we at Salon Inspector recommend to either have a professional company perform a mock inspection on your premises, or at least that you educate yourself, and browse the Board's web site to find the changes in regulations you weren't aware of, and do a self inspection.

The California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology offers a self inspection sheet on their website that you can download for your convenience at http://www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/forms_pubs/index.shtml . You might have to scroll down a bit to find what you are looking for, the check list is also available in vietnamese and spanish.

Many salon owners just simply don't have the time, or feel like the don't know what to look for when researching on www.barbercosmo.ca.gov themselves. In that case Salon Inspector is able to help you and save you a lot of time. Our services are available to all California salons and our inspections are affordable, too. Obviously, the best thing is that we don't fine our clients, and we keep you up to date with the current rules.

Whatever we find is confidential, and it is our mission to help you to fix possible problems and to create a safe and healthy environment for your staff and clientele. With our assistance  you can then create a weekly, monthly and yearly self inspection check list, that is customized to your specific business. It really can't get better than that.

Be proactive and create a salon environment your clients can trust!