Let me preface this article by saying I’m not a medical professional and that all the information contained herein is a result of my own research and conversations with other makeup artists and hairstylists in the United States and abroad and is intended as a general guideline or starting point for developing your own protocols when working with your brides.  Make sure to check current recommendations from the CDC and regulations as controlled by your individual state board or cosmetology regulatory organization.  

Not much about my current protocols differs from my pre-COVID ones, except that I quarantine my kits for 72 hours before bringing them inside, and I bring more towels and disposable towels with me and change them out between clients rather than just covering my working area to prevent tool scalds and hairspray overspray from getting on people’s furniture.  Also, the use of masks and face shields is new, but washing my hands between each client and hand sanitizer is not.  

Everything else I do, while it may seem excessive, is how I’ve kept my kits as sanitary as possible and put the health and safety of myself and clients at the forefront.  Universal Precautions teach us to treat each person as if they have an infectious disease, so my methods of dealing with possible contamination are ingrained routines.  When starting out, switching to these methods may be more time consuming, and the extra costs may seem overwhelming.  I recommend to increase your rates to cover those costs, and rest assured that in time you will also be doing these things as second nature and will get used to the few extra moments it takes.

Makeup Standards:

There should be no double dipping, ever.  That should go without saying for all cream products and liquids including foundation, skincare, lipstick, all palette based cream blushes/contours/eyeshadows/etc even under normal circumstances.  Powder products such as setting powers and eyeshadows don’t harbor bacteria the same way and as long as you are using a clean sanitized brush per person, you can dip back into the powder when doing a makeup application.  However, the surface should be wiped with a tissue and sprayed with 70% alcohol or a makeup sanitizing spray such as Beauty So Clean after each use.  However, now that we live in a COVID world, the practice of double dipping into powders should also be rethought to prevent cross contamination between clients.  I recommend switching to loose powders wherever possible and scooping out the pigment onto a clean palette for each person.  

When possible, using cream products also scooped out onto the palette will allow you to keep the products completely clean from potential viral contamination.  Each item you plan to use on the client should be removed from your kit, product removed from the container onto a palette, and then the item placed back into the kit with the lid closed to minimize exposure to contaminants in the air. Gone are the days of laying out your entire makeup kit on the table and picking up as you go.  It will take more forethought on what you’re going to use, or opening the kit multiple times during an application.  

All items such as eyeliners, brow pencils, or lip liners should be sharpened to remove the surface layer then sprayed with 70% alcohol to disinfect.  Make sure to wipe out the inside of your sharpener as well after, spray with alcohol, and set it to the side.  Wipe the pencil again with a clean tissue.  Now it can be used directly on the face.  Again, where possible switch to cream products that can be applied with a brush such as brow pomades, gel liner, and discontinuing the use of lip liners.

All implements such as tweezers, lash scissors, lash curlers, etc should be sprayed and then wiped down with 70% alcohol after each use.  I also will lay them out on a towel and spray them with barbacide or lucacide and let them sit for 10 minutes to disinfect them.  

After you’re finished, your kit should be sanitized by wiping the outside of every product with 70% alcohol.  I quarantine my kit for 72 hours in my vehicle before bringing it into my house, and on weeks when I have multiple bookings I have things broken down into multiple kits and will switch between them.   Yes, that makes things more expensive, but my rates reflect my costs of running my business this way.  I don’t have duplicate kits, but I do purchase multiple of the products I can’t live without and will rotate in things that I get on sale, new products I want to try, etc.  A good way to build an effective second kit is to split everything into smaller travel size containers to that one full size product gets you two “kits” worth, and then when you run out you are refilling from a new full size container.  This is also why creams are so much easier to work with and are twice as economical.  

Each set of brushes should be packed in individual bags for each face you will be doing.  There should be absolutely no “spot cleaning” or cleaning spray used to clean brushes between clients.  You need to invest in a full set of brushes for each person whose makeup you will be doing.  To keep things easily identifiable as “dirty”, I suggest having one container where all dirty brushes are deposited.  This makes it easier to transfer them to your cleaning area after the job and keeps the inside of the organizer bags from being contaminated and needing to be cleaned out, too.  If you put them back into the same bag, make sure to wipe the inside surface thoroughly with 70% alcohol or other hospital grade disinfectant.  After each application, once home, you need to shampoo each brush thoroughly and lay flat to dry.  Once dry, the handles should be wiped down with 70% alcohol and packed back up into clean containers for the next job.  I suggest using clear pencil cases to organize the multiple brush sets.  When you are packing for a gig, you only need to grab as many sets as people you will be working on.

If you bring a chair or table, after the job they should be wiped down with disinfectant and any cloth that cannot be removed and laundered should be sprayed with lysol.  I prefer to carry a large towel to drape over my kit so that the outside of the case comes in as little contact as possible, and I carry several towels to put under the case and over my working surface as well.  Paper towels can be used over these to switch out the working surface between clients if you cannot spray the area down with disinfectant and wipe.  When on location, we do not always have access to surfaces that can tolerate disinfectant, such as tables at the clients home or hotel, so covering the surface with towels that can be changed out is a good compromise.

Hair Standards:

A new brush, comb, and set of clips should be used for each client.  As with makeup brushes, they should be packaged in their own bags ready to use and separate from others.  Dirty items should be combined into one larger bag to keep them easily sorted from clean sets and the inside of the sorting bags clean.

Between each client, heat your tools to the highest setting possible and wait five minutes for the heat to kill any virus, then return them to your working settings.  The handles should be wiped down with disinfectant wipes as well as the outside of each product bottle.

Your working surface should be treated the same as with makeup- if you cannot use disinfectant to wipe down between each person, cover the area with towels, and put a new towel down for each person.  I use disposable towels such as “wubbies” or disposable hair towels from Framar over the top of a large bath towel when I don’t have my own side table that I bring.

To make it easier on myself, I have a separate small case that holds my disposables and a bottle of Clorox wipes, and I’ll use that to deposit my dirty brushes to take inside at the end of the day to be soaked in barbacide and leave the rest of my kit in the car for 72 hours as well.  To clean the brushes, all hair and visible debris is removed, they are shampooed with clarifying shampoo (personally I love the smell of Paul Mitchell Shampoo One!) and then soaked for 15 minutes in either Lucacide or Barbacide then rinsed and allowed to air dry.  All sanitized implements are then repackaged in sets for the next event.

Cleaning products I have on hand:  I bring a spray bottle of barbacide to clean surfaces, a bottle of 70% alcohol, and a container of Clorox wipes.  When available, I’ll bring hospital disinfectant wipes like Cavicide wipes which can be purchased on Amazon, but if those are unavailable Clorox wipes are an ok substitute.

Dirty towels are put into a canvas bag that can be thrown into the wash with them in order to keep them separate from the interior of the kit and prevent contamination. 

PPE:  I live in a state where face masks are mandated, and I believe in their efficacy in preventing spread, so I highly advocate for artists to wear them when working with the clients.  A face shield and or eye protection is also highly recommended.  Between each client, you should be washing your hands after wiping down your area and preparing it for the next person.  In my prep instructions and when choosing my area to set up, I let the bride know about my safety protocols and that I need access to running water in order to wash my hands.  In the unlikely event that you’re somewhere with no sink, make sure that you are prepared with hand sanitizer.  It’s a nice touch to have a small bottle next to where you’ll be working that the client can use as well if they wish.