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NailCareStudio.MiamiPedicure & manicure · Miami Beach
[PHOTO · a sealed pouch opened at the chair]

Hygiene · Miami Beach

How we sterilize
every instrument

Sterilized has a legal meaning in Florida. [Every metal instrument that touches you goes through the six steps below, in that order.]

Hygienic pedicure from $100 · about 90 min

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Sterilized instruments · No whirlpool

Every salon says its tools are clean. In Florida that word has a definition, and it covers only the dirt you can see.

Steps 1 and 2

Washed by hand, then an ultrasonic bath

[Instruments come off the tray into a covered container, and we scrub them by hand with soap and water. That removes what you can see: skin, dust, product.]

[Then the ultrasonic bath, in a separate unit for pedicure and for manicure. Sound waves drive the cleaning solution into hinges and grooved handles, where a brush will not reach. Nothing is sterilized yet. This is what lets the heat reach every surface in step 3.]

[PHOTO · the ultrasonic baths and the dry-heat sterilizer, side by side]
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What Florida actually requires

Florida's salon rule, 61G5-20.002, defines the three words that get used as if they were one.

Clean is "the removal of visible debris from a surface such as washing with soap/water". Disinfect is "the use of a chemical to destroy potential pathogens". Sterilize is "the complete destruction of all microbial life, commonly achieved through the use of heat and/or pressure".

The rule asks salons for the middle one: washed, then soaked in an EPA-approved disinfectant. That is the floor. Legal, normal, and not what step 3 does.

Steps 3 and 4

Dry heat, then the strip that proves it

Instruments go into the dry-heat sterilizer already sealed in a pouch. Inside, dry heat is held at a set temperature for a set time, long enough to destroy microbes, spores included.

[Every pouch has an indicator strip printed on it. The strip changes color only if the cycle reached temperature and held it. We date the pouch and store it closed.]

[PHOTO · sealed pouches with their indicator strips, dated]
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Where this goes past the rule

The rule does not ask for a heat sterilizer. It does not ask for single-use files. A salon can wash its metal tools, soak them in disinfectant and pass inspection.

We heat-sterilize the metal anyway, and we throw out files, buffers and liners after one client. It costs more per visit. Nobody can tell after a pedicure whether the tools were sterilized. That is why we open the pouch in front of you.

Steps 5 and 6

Your pouch is opened in front of you

[The pouch reaches your chair closed. We open it in front of you, so you see the strip and the date before anything touches your feet.]

[Files, buffers, sanding caps and the liner are used once and thrown out. Fresh gloves each client. We disinfect the chair, the station and the e-file handpiece between visits.]

[PHOTO · a pouch opened at the chair, beside the single-use kit]
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Licenses you can check yourself

Florida makes a salon show its license and its latest inspection sheet. Each nail specialist shows theirs, with a photo, at the work station.

Salon license [DBPR license number] · Specialist license [DBPR license number]

You do not have to take our word for it. Look up a Florida license (opens in a new tab) on the state's public search.

Why the footbath rules do not apply here

The same rule spends most of its words on footbaths. Clean and disinfect the basin after every client. Flush the system nightly, run bleach through it weekly, and keep a log any customer may ask to see.

There is no footbath here, so none of it applies. Here is why that section is so long. In a CDC-published survey, mycobacteria grew from 29 of 30 whirlpool footbaths sampled in 18 California salons, 97% (Vugia et al., Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2005). The outbreak behind that survey left 110 customers of one salon with boils on their legs (Winthrop et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 2002).

  • Heat-sterilized

    Every reusable instrument goes through a full dry-heat sterilizer cycle and arrives in a sealed, dated pouch.

  • No whirlpool

    A dry pedicure. No footbath, no standing water, nothing shared between clients.

  • Single-use files

    Files and buffers are used once, then thrown away. Fresh gloves and liners every visit.

What to look for in any salon

  1. Ask if they heat-sterilize their metal tools, and ask for the pouch to be opened at your chair.
  2. Look for an indicator strip on the pouch, and a date. A pouch with no strip proves nothing.
  3. Ask whether the file and buffer are new. Emery boards are porous and cannot be sterilized, so a file is either single-use or shared (APMA).
  4. Say no to a foot razor. The APMA is blunt about it: "don't allow technicians to use a foot razor to remove dead skin."
  5. If there is a footbath, ask for the cleaning log. Florida requires one, kept in the pedicure area and shown on request.
  6. Read the licenses on the wall, and the inspection sheet beside them. The state’s search says whether they are current.

About the studio

Come and watch the pouch open

You do not need a foot problem to book. Ask about any of it in the chair.

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