The Shave Down Season Survival Guide - Part 3 & 4: Tool and Salon Cleaning

Published by Groomers Pro on 4th Apr 2022

Time for some Spring Cleaning! A clean space is a safe space. Being proud in your professional cleanliness shows that you care about the health and safety of everyone that steps in. In Part 1: Blades & Clippers, you learned the importance of blade and clipper care to make them last. This goes the same for all your tools and the space you work in. Before you start cleaning, declutter first. Check your clippers for broken cords, loose screws, and check the blade drive. Go through your drawers for dull blades, combs missing teeth, broken handles on brushes or anything else you've just thrown in there. The golden rule is: if it's damaged or you simply don't use it, throw it away. Once you declutter and reorganize your work space, you save time by knowing where everything is.

Tool Care

For our full blade and clipper care guide, read Part 1. Let's talk about cleaning your brushes, combs and shears.

Maximize the lifetime of your tools by keeping them clean and disinfected. Like the brushes and combs we use on our own hair, if they are not cleaned regularly, they collect dead hair, dirt, oil and build up. We do not want to cross-contaminate. We want to avoid cross-contamination of bacterial or fungal infection caused from tools not being sanitized after each pet. There are many ways to clean your tools, but the Groomers Pro way to clean brushes is using Chris Christensen OC Magic Foam and Chris Christensen Brush Cleaner.

How To Clean Your Brushes:

First, remove all the hair from your brush with your hands and/or a comb.
Go back and use a bristle brush like the Chris Christensen Brush Cleaner and brush across the pins removing any additional hair and debris.
Before the next step, please remember to NOT apply OC Magic Foam directly to the brush you're cleaning.
Next, apply a pump of Chris Christensen OC Magic Foam to the bristle brush and gently brush across the pins several times. The magic in OC Magic Foam breaks down product build-up, dirt and grime.
Finally, dry your brush face down over night until completely dry

You can also use warm water, dish soap and vinegar. Combine 1 tablespoon each of dish soap and vinegar into the warm water and let your brushes sit for an hour maximum. Then rinse with water to remove buildup, shake off excess water and dry your brush facing down. Letting your brushes soak is risky because this can deteriorate the rubber pads over time, that is why we recommend using OC Magic Foam.

Cleaning Your Combs

Remove all the hair from the combs with your hands, then place all the combs in the warm water, dish soap and vinegar mixture for a few minutes. Scrub with a toothbrush if needed, then rinse with water and let dry.

Shear Care

Clean your shears after each use. Use a fine, soft brush to brush away any hair or use a damp cloth with disinfectant or a cotton ball with disinfectant/rubbing alcohol. After cleaning and disinfecting your scissors, make sure they are completely dry to avoid rusting including the tension screw before oiling. Lubricating your shears not only helps removing hair and dust, they also keep blades stay sharper longer! We love Chris Christensen's Shear Oil.

Always store your shears in the closed position.

Salon Care

Especially during The Shave Down Season, we are blowing hair into every nook and cranny of the salon/truck. The way we like to start is cleaning from top to bottom then in sections. Clean grooming tables, cage banks, fans, shop vacuums and everything in between.

Dryers need to be cleaned out weekly and even depending on your work load, daily. Dryers with too much hair in them overwork and overheat which can lead to fires.

The Bathing Room is also a breeding ground for cross-contamination. Make sure you're washing your tub after every appointment. If you are using a bathing system, make sure to flush out any skin/medicated shampoos before moving onto another dog.

Smelly, nylon loops in the tub are in the past! Upgrade your bathing loops to Jelly Pet! Jelly Pet is made of nonporous Biothane so it is waterproof and easy to clean! Easily move from tub to table with durable, colorful Jelly Pet.

This is also the time you want to get rid of any broken mixing bottles and shampoo pumps and replace them for new ones like the 32 oz Envirogroom Mixing Bottles and Shampoo Gallon Pump.

Storage

Storing your tools and keeping them organized goes paw in paw with keeping them clean. What's the point of taking care of your tools if you'll just throw them in the drawer? Protect your investments! We have a wide range of storage for everything you need! Blade caddies, shear rolls, dryer bags and more!

If there's one thing we all learned from Covid, it's to disinfect everything! We can't risk it nor do we want to. We carry a line of disinfectants for everything you need!

We hope The Shave Down Season Survival Guide gave you some insight on how to be prepared before the storm comes! Read Part 1: Blades & Clippers and Part 2: All About Deshedding! Good luck this season and happy grooming, we appreciate your hard work!