Many lash artists have experienced the accidental dipping of tweezers into the lash glue. The problem then becomes getting the glue off and keeping them thoroughly clean. Your lash tweezers are some of the most important tools you have as a lash artist. And because you use them around clients’ eyes, you have to keep them sterilized at all times. In this article, we share the step-by-step process of both cleaning your tweezers and getting the glue off them.
Cleaning Your Tweezers – Step-by-Step Process
You should always disinfect your tweezers after using them on a client, no matter what. If you do so well after each use, unwanted infections, germs, or bacteria won’t spread from one client to the next. We suggest you clean your tweezers and other tools as soon as you’re done with a client to prepare for your next appointment. It’s also a good idea to have extra tweezers and tools in case you find yourself short on time between appointments.
For this, you’ll need:
- Acetone
- Cotton swabs
- Implement Tray
- Barbicide
Step 1
Check your tweezers to see if an adhesive may have gotten on the tip. You must always remove this because it will affect how well your tweezers work. Of course, this will then affect how well the full set of eyelash extensions turn out.
If your tweezers don’t have any glue on the tip, you can move on to the next step. But if you have any bit of glue, you need to get rid of it. If your tweezers are colored or have a finish, be careful not to get any acetone on the colored or finished part.
To get the eyelash glue off the tips of your tweezers:
- Take a cotton swab and put a small drop of acetone on it.
- Swipe the acetone-soaked swab all over the area with adhesive on it.
- Keep doing this until all of the adhesives are gone.
Step 2
Once you’ve removed all the glue from the tip of your tweezers, it’s time to clean and disinfect them. Get your implement tray and read the directions on the Barbicide. Follow the instructions provided and mix the Barbicide with water in the implement tray.
Step 3
Put your tweezers in the tray and let them soak for about 10 minutes or as long as the directions say. Do not soak your tweezers for longer than recommended, especially if they are colored or have a finish. This is why we think you should have two sets of tools since it takes time to clean them, and you may have clients coming back to back.
Step 4
After soaking your tweezers, you should always wash them in warm water to get rid of any extra product. The color or finish may change or get damaged if you don’t get all of the product off the tweezers.
Step 5
Let your tweezers dry. This is also important as you don’t want your tools to become damaged or begin to rust! You can wipe them down with disinfectant wipes or a paper towel.
Step 6
Finally, of course, repeat these steps after using any of your tweezers on any of your clients.
Alternative Cleaning Chemical Solutions for Your Tweezers
If you don’t want to use acetone, you can employ other chemical solutions. The goal is to get our lash tweezers as clean as possible.
Gollee Cosmetics Glue Remover Ball
This ball is as effective as using acetone. All you have to do is stick your tweezers in for a few minutes for them to get cleaned. Then before removing them, hold the ball with your tweezers for a few seconds. After getting your tweezers out of the bottle, dry them with a paper towel. And remember, dry them properly. But yes, the ball pretty much works like magic, and it is stress-free.
Alcohol
Yes, you can clean your tweezers with an alcohol concentration of at least 70%. There are even higher concentrations of alcohol, like 99.9%, but that doesn’t make it better. When the concentration is lower, it has more water, which makes it dissolve more slowly and kill bacteria.
The tweezers should be submerged for at least 10 minutes if you want them squeaky clean. But there’s a catch with using alcohol. And that is, it needs to get replaced every day. Since it needs to be changed daily, it can be expensive in the long run.
Isopropyl Alcohol (Medical Spirits)
If you can’t find acetone or don’t have easy access to it, you can use medical spirit instead. It would also work because it is an organic solvent. Even though it doesn’t work as well as acetone, you can also use it to clean the glue off tweezers with a little work.
It’s optional, but you can have a little bottle of it nearby and use one set of tweezers to dip in it as you use the other. Plus, you also get the bonus of being able to clean your tools with spirit.
Now, a few countries have made it illegal to sell medical spirits openly because of how popular the Molotov Cocktail is. So if you are in such a country, you can use medical prep pads. Most of them are cotton pieces dipped in alcohol and can be used to clean tweezers. We recommend cleaning your tools with medical prep pads for your safety.
An Autoclave
Yes, you can use an autoclave. This is a machine that uses pressurized steam to clean your metal tools. This method is the go-to for important things, like things that go through the skin or mucous membranes or touch the bloodstream directly.
This is used a lot in the medical field. So using an autoclave in a salon is going above and beyond. These machines can be very expensive and must get serviced every week.
Cleaning Solutions You Should Not Use
Glass Bead Sterilizer
A glass bead sterilizer consists of a stainless steel pot filled with glass beads, with the core heated to 300 degrees Celsius to eradicate mold, germs, and viruses quickly. Yes, we know this sounds quick and easy, but we don’t recommend this sterilization method.
First, you can’t clean the whole length of the tweezers (so what’s the point?!). Second, you would have to stick the tweezers in from the tip, which means you could bend or damage the tip and make it useless.
Boiling
To sterilize metal tools by boiling, you would put the washed tweezers in a pot of water and bring it to a rolling boil of at least 93.3°C (200°F) for at least 30 minutes. Unfortunately, this technique takes too long and is impractical for use in a salon. So boiling is a no-no.
UV Light
UV Light for cleaning lash tweezers? No, we don’t think it’s a good idea. Here’s why. UV light is a type of electromagnetic radiation that moves through space as waves and particles of different lengths and speeds. For UV light to kill a germ or virus, it needs to have the same wavelength as the germ or virus.
Using a UV light alone would not be enough to clean your tweezers properly. If there is dirt or other stuff in the way of the light, you won’t get to clean that area well. But this can be a great way to keep your tweezers hygienic even after you’ve cleaned them.
What to Do and What Not to Do With Your Lash Tweezers
What to Do
- Keep more than one pair of tweezers in case you break one pair.
- Sterilize your tweezers after each use.
- Before putting the tweezers away, make sure they are completely dry.
- Keep the rubber tip on to make sure the point stays sharp!
What Not to Do
- Please don’t use a nail buffer to remove the dried glue because it could scratch the metal and make the tweezers less accurate.
- Don’t try to peel off the dried glue with your fingernails.
- Don’t leave the tweezers overnight in the disinfectant.
Storing Your Tweezers Properly
Once you clean your lash tweezers and don’t plan to use them immediately, you need to put them away in the right way.
If you put your tweezers on your desk or, worse, in your bag, they will probably pick up dust, dirt, and bacteria. Unless you want your cleaning efforts to be in vain, you need to store your tweezers properly.
We suggest you get a hard case for your tweezers to keep your tools in place. So, you’ll know your tweezers are in good shape for the next lash extension service. Having a case for lash tweezers is also great because it keeps the tip from getting bent. We promise nothing is worse than finding out your favorite pair of tweezers is bent!
Conclusion
There you have it — all you need to know and do about cleaning your lash tweezers. We hope it’s all you ever need! Before we go, we’d like to recommend one more thing. And that is working with clean hands. Keep your hands clean, whether you are disinfecting your tweezers and other lash tools or working a lash session! Wash with soap and water. Hygiene is important in this business.
