What to ask any home beauty service about hygiene

In a salon you can see the room, the sink and the steriliser. At home you see only the bag that comes through your door. That makes the questions more important, not less. These are the ones worth asking any home beauty service, ours included.

1. How are your metal tools sterilised?

Cuticle nippers, pushers and tweezers touch skin and sometimes break it. Wiping them with alcohol or leaving them in a jar of blue liquid disinfects the surface. It does not sterilise.

A good answer names the method. Tools are washed first, because a steriliser cannot work through residue. Then they are sealed in pouches and put through an autoclave, which uses steam under pressure. Ask how often: the answer you want is after every client or every client day, never "regularly".

2. Can I see the pouch opened?

Sterilised tools should arrive sealed and be opened in front of you. The pouch has an indicator that changes colour when the cycle has run. If tools come loose from a drawer, a roll or a pocket, you have no way of knowing what happened to them since they were last cleaned.

3. Which items are single-use?

Anything porous cannot be sterilised: nail files, buffers, orange sticks, wax spatulas, wax strips, mascara wands, sponges, toe separators. These should be new for you and thrown away afterwards. A worn file with someone else's dust on it is the easiest warning sign to spot.

With wax, ask about double dipping. A spatula that has touched skin should never go back into the pot.

4. What happens to towels and linen?

Towels, sheets and face cradle covers should be fresh for you and leave with the therapist for laundering. For a massage, look at the table before you lie on it.

5. How is the pedicure tub cleaned?

A foot soak is warm water, which is exactly what bacteria like. Ask whether the tub has a disposable liner that is changed for every client, and how the tub itself is cleaned between visits.

6. Is there a record?

Anyone can say "we sterilise everything". A record is different. Ask whether the kit coming to your home is identified, and whether you can find out when it was last sterilised. A service that logs each cycle will be glad you asked.

7. What if I have a cut, an infection or an allergy?

A careful therapist asks you this before you ask her. She should decline to work on broken or infected skin and should want to know about allergies before she opens a product. If a service will do anything regardless, that tells you something.

What you can check yourself

• Tools arrive in a sealed pouch and the indicator has changed colour.
• Files and buffers are new and are left behind in the bin, not packed away.
• She cleans her hands before she begins.
• The surface she works on is wiped before she sets up.
• Product is taken out of the pot with a clean spatula, not with fingers.

You are entitled to ask, and to stop a service if something does not look right.

How we answer

Every Hamd Beauty therapist carries a numbered kit. Its metal tools are cleaned and sterilised in an autoclave after every client day, and each cycle is logged. Your booking shows the kit ID and when it was last sterilised, and you can look up any kit yourself. The full protocol is set out in the Hygiene Promise.