Many salon and spa owners were probably cringing and covering their ears when Tabatha Coffey and secret salon employees went on an all-out expose on the Dr Oz show today. In case you missed it, Tabatha and her secret cohorts spilled the beans on the dirtiest, most disgusting and downright dangerous practices that go on at salons and spas across the country. For a long time, many more prestigious salons and spas pointed the finger to smaller ‘nail salons’ as the ones who don’t sanitize, disinfect or change the wax stick. But Tabatha and her secret insiders pointed the fingers right back at them revealing that a staggering 75% of salons DO NOT disinfect, sanitize and clean up to industry standards and regulations. OUCH!!!!!!!
Sounds like a nightmare for salon owners, right? WRONG! This is an open invitation for salon and spa owners to set themselves apart from the rest. My advice to owners is to NOT sweep Tabatha’s comments under the rug, but bring them right back into the open. Yes, I said it. I want you to publicize Tabatha’s remarks to your clients. Chances are, a few of your clients saw the episode and are now wondering about your salon. They are thinking to themselves….”Hm…..is that sanitation solution they use for the nail utensils ever changed??? Tabatha said it wasn’t…” Or “Hm…..do they double dip that wax stick????? Tabatha said that could cause STDS!!”
In case you missed it, Tabatha revealed that SOME salons/spas don’t change the sanitizing solution for nail utensils often enough, making it practically useless against bacteria, refill expensive backbar products with cheaper products to save money, use Windex instead of Barbesil to clean cutting scissors and combs, double dip wax sticks and others…
Don’t let your clients wonder. Don’t let Tabatha’s comments be the elephant in the room.
Update your website, Facebook, Twitter, in-salon literature, email marketing, etc….with a blurb that talks about how your salon takes cleanliness and hygiene to the highest level possible. Let your customers know that you are NOT one of the 75% of salons who don’t. Talk about your stringent cleaning procedures, talk about using a new wax stick for every dip, talk about bleaching the pedicure bowls thoroughly after each and every pedicure!!! Most of all…assure them that what they heard on Dr Oz is NOT in any way how things are done at YOUR salon.
A video message from the owner would really hit the ball out of the park. Walk through the salon while being video taped and SHOW how you clean, what types of sanitation cleansers you use. Remind your clients why they pay more to come to YOUR salon…because they don’t want to take the chance of ending up in a chair at one of the other 75%.
Happy cleaning my friends!
