Salon cleaning checklist: stations, shampoo bowls, tools and floors, daily to monthly

Salon cleaning checklist for employees: between clients and at close

Stylists and nail techs own the cleaning that state boards inspect most closely: tools, shampoo bowls, headrests, linens and pedicure basins, between every client. The cleaning crew cannot do this work, because it happens during the day and because the rules assign it to the licensee. Post this list at every station.

The wording differs by state but the duties are the same. California’s Board of Barbering and Cosmetology requires that non-electrical tools be cleaned of visible debris, washed, dried and then totally immersed in an EPA-registered disinfectant with bactericidal, fungicidal and virucidal activity before use on a client, with disinfected tools stored in a clean, covered place labeled “Clean” or “Disinfected”. Headrests, shampoo bowls and treatment tables get a clean towel or paper sheet per client, and shampoo bowls are cleaned with soap and water after each shampoo. Towels, sheets and smocks go into a closed container after a single use and are laundered either commercially or in water of at least 160°F for 25 minutes (commercial laundries may instead use a cold-water chemical process that follows the manufacturers’ instructions).

Florida’s salon requirements rule says the same in its own words: no brush, comb or other article used on more than one patron without disinfection, shampoo bowls, facial beds and neck rests cleaned and disinfected between each use, and pedicure units cleaned with a low-foaming detergent after each client and then disinfected with an EPA-registered hospital-grade disinfectant for at least ten minutes, with filter screens and jets disinfected at the end of each day. Nail salons should treat the pedicure block of this list as a board rule, not a preference.

Hair salon cleaning checklist: the nightly list for the crew

Every night, the crew sweeps and picks up all hair, cleans and disinfects chairs, bowls, counters and restroom fixtures, wipes mirrors and the color bar, and does the floors last. The crew works around the staff’s tool containers and disinfectant jars, never in them.

California’s cleanliness and repair rule requires floors, walls, woodwork, ceilings, furniture and fixtures kept clean and in good repair, with no accumulation of waste, hair clippings or refuse. The minimum equipment rule requires a covered waste container for hair and closed containers for soiled towels. Florida’s rule says hair must not be allowed to accumulate on the floor and must go in a covered receptacle. So the nightly list is built around hair: sweep it, bin it, pull it from drains, and get it out from under the chair bases.

Many salons close between 6 and 9 p.m. and the crew works after the last client, or early the next morning before the first appointment. Agree the window and the alarm procedure, and ask which stations are rented by independent stylists; a booth renter may clean their own station and expect you to leave it alone.

Weekly and monthly salon cleaning schedule

Weekly tasks are chair bases, full-height retail dusting, glass, descaling, dryer hoods and the bins. Monthly and quarterly tasks are high dusting, wall washing behind stations, floor scrubbing, grout, upholstery and ventilation filters.

How often should a salon be cleaned?

Spread the weekly list across the week so each night is about the same length, and use the free cleaning schedule template to show the owner which night gets which zone.

Nail salon cleaning checklist: dust, fumes and pedicure chairs

A nail salon adds three things to the hair salon list: fine acrylic and gel dust on every surface, fumes that need ventilation kept clean, and pedicure chairs whose basins, jets and screens must be disinfected on the state’s schedule by the technicians.

Dust

Filing dust settles on tables, lamps, vents, baseboards and the floor, and it is fine enough to pass through an ordinary vacuum. Use a vacuum with a HEPA or fine-dust filter, wipe tables and lamps with a damp microfiber rather than dry dusting, and clean the table-mounted dust collectors’ outside surfaces; the filters inside are the salon’s to change.

Ventilation

Florida’s rule requires nail extension and sculpting services to be done in a separate area that is adequately ventilated for the safe dispersion of fumes, and other states have similar wording. Your part is to keep vents, grilles and purifier housings clean so the system moves air, and to tell the owner when filters look loaded.

Pedicure chairs

The technicians disinfect the basin after each client and the screens, jets and foot plates at the end of the day, as the Florida rule spells out. The crew wipes the outside of the chair, the footrest, the controls and the floor around the base, and reports any basin that was left dirty, because that is what an inspector will look at first.

Products: EPA-registered hospital-grade disinfectants are what the board rules name for tools and basins. For the crew’s surfaces, any product on the EPA’s registered disinfectant lists works, applied after cleaning and left visibly wet for the full contact time on the label. Never mix products, and keep acetone and other salon chemicals out of your cart; they belong to the salon and have their own storage rules.

What state cosmetology boards require for salon sanitation

Most states license salons through a cosmetology or barbering board, and boards publish sanitation rules they inspect against, often without notice. The salon owner is responsible for meeting them; your scope should show which rules your crew covers and which stay with the licensees.

The common requirements, with the California and Florida versions linked as examples:

• Disinfecting tools between clients with an EPA-registered disinfectant that is bactericidal, fungicidal and virucidal, mixed and used per the label (California § 979; Florida 61G5-20.002). Florida also requires salons to be equipped with and use disinfecting solutions, and that wet disinfection containers have a cover.
• Clean and soiled linens kept separate in closed containers, with a laundering standard (California § 987).
• Headrests, shampoo bowls and treatment tables covered or cleaned per client (California § 990).
• Premises kept clean and in good repair, with hair and waste never allowed to accumulate (California § 994; Florida’s ventilation and cleanliness paragraph).
• Restroom and lavatory standards: Florida requires a toilet and a sink with running water, soap, towels or a dryer and a waste receptacle, kept clean, in good repair, well lit and ventilated.
• Pedicure equipment cleaned and disinfected after each client and at the end of each day, with the screens and jets included (Florida).

Rules change and differ by state, and this page is not legal advice. Before you quote, read your own state board’s sanitation rule and the inspection form it uses, and ask the owner what their last inspection flagged. If you have employees, OSHA’s Hazard Communication standard applies to your company too: labels, safety data sheets and training for the chemicals your crew uses, kept separate from the salon’s own chemical program.

How to price a salon cleaning account

Price a salon from a minimum visit time, not from its square footage. A 1,500-square-foot salon can have ten stations, four shampoo bowls, a color bar, a restroom and hair everywhere, and it takes longer than 1,500 square feet of office.

Walk the salon with the owner before you quote and note:

• Number of stations, shampoo bowls, nail tables, pedicure chairs and treatment rooms.
• Floor type (hair-friendly vinyl, sealed concrete, tile) and whether it has grout.
• Which stations are booth rentals that clean themselves.
• Opening hours, the cleaning window, alarm and keys.
• Nights per week, and whether a mid-week touch-up is wanted on busy days.
• Who supplies paper, soap and liners, and whether laundry is in scope (usually not).

Our commercial cleaning calculator has no salon setting; use the office rate and lower it to about 2,000 square feet per hour to allow for hair and stations, then apply a minimum visit of 1.5 to 2 hours. Those are Broombook’s planning assumptions, not measured standards. Time your first week and adjust.

A worked example, with hypothetical numbers

A 1,800-square-foot hair salon cleaned five nights a week at a 1.5-hour minimum visit is 7.5 hours a week, about 32.5 hours a month at 4.33 weeks. At an $18 wage plus 20 percent payroll burden ($21.60 an hour), labor is about $702 a month. Add 5 percent for supplies ($35) and 15 percent for overhead ($105) for a cost near $842, and a 20 percent margin puts the monthly price around $1,050. Add the monthly floor scrub and the quarterly items as separate lines, and a nail salon’s filtered vacuum and extra dust time to the base.

The commercial cleaning prices guide walks through each step, and the cleaning proposal template presents the two lists, yours and the staff’s, side by side so the owner sees exactly what the board will inspect and who covers it. Salons are usually sold owner to owner; our guide on commercial cleaning contracts covers the walkthrough, the proposal and the agreement, and the cleaning contract template gives you the agreement to attach the scope to.

Printable salon cleaning checklist summary

Print any list above with its Print button, or post this summary in the back room with a column for initials and the date.

Build a version with your business name, the salon name and its own station count in the free cleaning checklist maker. The checklist library has the other commercial lists, and the medical office cleaning checklist is the closest match if the salon also runs a medspa or injectables room, where clinical surfaces stay with the practitioner.

Where Broombook fits for a company that cleans salons

Broombook is booking, scheduling, reminders and checklists on the crew app for recurring service businesses. It fits a cleaning company whose work is mostly recurring visits and that cleans a few salons on fixed nights; it is not a janitorial bid and contract system.

Each salon sits on the same calendar as your recurring home clients, set up once as a weekly or every-2-weeks visit. The cleaner opens the visit from a private crew link with nothing to download, works through the checklist with photos, and clocks in and out from the phone, which feeds the payroll export. Access notes such as the alarm procedure and which stations are booth rentals are translated into Spanish, French or Portuguese for each cleaner.

It does not manage bids, build a per-site scope with nightly, weekly and quarterly frequencies, share inspection results, sync with QuickBooks or install from an app store. If commercial contracts are most of your business, compare tools on our best cleaning business software page, and see the features and pricing for what Broombook includes.