HYGIENE ROUTINE AT BEEHIVE
At Beehive Tattoo Studio, we pride ourselves on our safe environment and hygiene practices. We ask every guest artist visiting our studio to read the instructions below as a quick reminder of hygiene protocols.
It’s very important that the artists working at our studio understand cross-contamination and agree to follow these steps—this ensures a safe space for everyone, preventing the spread of diseases and keeping our workspace clean 🙂
When guests arrive at the studio, we also give them a tour, showing them in person how we maintain hygiene. We’re here to help each other, and you’re welcome to share your own experiences with us. ^^
💡 Please keep in mind that if we find it necessary, we’ll let you know if you’re not following our hygiene guidelines—and we’ll be happy to help you.
ARRIVING AT THE STUDIO
✻ Remove your shoes before crossing to the tattoo area and change it to one of the slippers available.
✻ Always wash your hands with water and soap upon arrival.
✻ Clean your cellphone and tablet with alcohol spray.
✻ Do not place your belongings on the floor.
SETTING UP YOUR STATION
✻ Sanitize your hands and always wear new gloves when preparing the station.
✻ Use Surface Disinfection spray on all surfaces (tattoo cart, tattoo bed, arm rest, soap bottle, etc) and clean/dry with paper towel.
✻ Protect all surfaces with plastic wrap (tattoo bed, table, bottles, machine, cables, etc.).
✻ Cover the tattoo bed with plastic, even if you’re tattooing only on the arm rest.
✻ Do not use only grip wrap as a protection to your machine (nor reusable grip).
✻ Always use plastic before the grip wrap around the whole machine–the plastic has to cover even the top part.
WHEN DEALING WITH THE CLIENT
✻ Always wear gloves when touching the client, even when putting the stencil, drawing on the skin, taking picture, etc.
✻ Never touch the clients skin without gloves.
✻ If you’re using Sharpie to draw on the client and the skin is open – shaved or tattooed – do not reuse the Sharpie on another person.
✻ Remind the client they should not to touch the tattoo or stencil. If they do, immediately clean the tattoo area and help them sanitise their hands.
✻ During breaks, cover the tattoo, so it doesn’t get touched by accident.
WHILE TATTOOING
✻ The clients must be tattooed over protected surfaces.
✻ While wearing dirty gloves from tattooing, do not touch anything that is not wrapped by plastic, including your own clothes, face, hair or cellphone.
✻ If you need to touch something that is not protected (e.g. phone, hair, etc), you should remove your dirty gloves and sanitise your hands. Afterwards, sanitise your hands again and put on new gloves to start tattooing.
Remember to always sanitise your hands when changing gloves!
✻ In case you have touched an unprotected surface with dirty gloves, change your gloves and sanitise that surface before getting back to the tattoo, to avoid cross-contamination.
✻ Do not put unwrapped or non-disposable material (inks, tape, etc.) on the tattooing table.
✻ If something falls on the floor (e.g. gloves, paper, ink cup, etc.) it has to be thrown away.
If it’s something that can’t be thrown away (e.g. your machine), it needs to be completely sanitised.
Floor is lava! Always use gloves if you need to touch something on the floor and then, change gloves.
CLEANING THE STATION
✻ Always wear gloves when undoing the station. You’ll be touching used needles, used papers and contaminated surfaces.
✻ Remove all plastic without touching the surface inside the protected plastic (e.g. bottles, cord or machine).
✻ Throw away the unused paper that was in contact with the tattooing table.
✻ Never touch the unwrapped material at the work area or inside the tattoo cart with contaminated gloves.
✻ After removing the dirty gloves, always use hand sanitiser.
✻ Use the Surface Disinfection spray to clean all the surfaces after each client.
✻ NEVER!!!!! touch or change the trash without gloves, under any conditions
TIP: HOW TO UNDO THE STATION
One of the most critical moments for cross-contamination prevention is at the end of each session, when cleaning your station and disposing of contaminated materials.
To help visualize best practices, we’ve created an instructional video covering the essential aspects of proper station cleanup.
While we respect that every artist has their own workflow, we require that all methods maintain our strict hygiene standards throughout the entire process.
Please review the full video and:
✓ Confirm you follow all recommended steps;
✓ Identify any areas for improvement in your routine;
✓ Share any additional tips you might have
Let us know if you have any questions about any of these steps, we’re happy to help! ^^
GENERAL INFORMATION
✻ Do not wear watch or jewellery on hands and arms, nor a long-sleeved shirt, during work.
✻ If you have long hair, tie it up while tattooing.
✻ Never use alcohol gel directly on your gloves (meaning, you should not sanitise your hands while wearing gloves as it can deteriorate faster).
✻ It’s always recommended to change the gloves often and sanitise your hands in between.
