Salon ventilation is the combination of extraction at the work station and fresh or purified air in the room that keeps the dust and vapour a salon produces away from the people in it. When the budget is tight the question is not whether to do it - the law requires exposure to be controlled - but in what order. Ravair supplies extraction to UK salons, and this guide sets out the order we would spend in, starting with the steps that cost nothing.
The order: 1. the free habits · 2. extraction at the station that produces most · 3. the right filter for the hazard · 4. the room · 5. the paperwork. Skipping to a big purchase at step 4 is the commonest way to spend money without controlling anything.
Reference throughout: HSE COSHH Essentials SR13, Nail bars and other beauty services.
What can you fix for nothing?
More than most salons expect, because several of HSE's controls are habits. SR13 asks for caps back on containers "immediately after use," with the outside wiped clean - which cuts the vapour coming off an open dappen dish and open bottles for no cost at all. It asks for products to be stored in a cool, dry, dark, ventilated place, only in the quantity you need, so the shelf is not a second source of vapour. It asks for contaminated wipes and files to go in "a lined, lidded bin" rather than an open basket where dust is stirred up every time it is knocked.
Add the positioning habit: SR13 wants the client's nails "over the downdraught or as close to the extraction hood as possible." If you already own an extractor, moving the work to sit over its intake costs nothing and may be the most effective single improvement available. And clean daily with methods that capture - a damp cloth, a vacuum with a fine filter - rather than a duster that lifts settled dust back into the air.
Which station should get extraction first?
The one that makes the most dust and vapour: usually the enhancement station where acrylic is built and filed all day, not the manicure table. SR13's first equipment control is "local exhaust ventilation (LEV) in the form of a downdraught table or a movable hood," and if you can only afford one unit this month, put it where the file and the dappen dish are busiest.
A desktop or on-desk unit is the sensible first purchase for a tight budget: no fitting, movable between stations if your layout changes, and a way to prove the principle before equipping the whole salon. A flexible-arm unit lets the intake follow the work. What matters is the geometry, not the format - the intake at the nail. Our fume and monomer extractors and dust extractors are built for exactly that position; read the buying guide for how the formats compare.
Why does the filter matter more than the box?
Because SR13 requires extracted air to be "correctly filtered before being returned" if it is not vented outside, and "correctly" depends on the hazard. Filing dust needs a particulate stage. Monomer vapour needs activated carbon, because a particulate filter passes vapour straight through; a station using acrylic generally needs both. A cheap unit with a thin pad that smells of the room within weeks has a carbon stage that was never large enough to do the job.
On a budget, the running cost matters as much as the price. Ask how often filters are changed under a full day's use and what they cost, and buy from a supplier who keeps them in stock. We sell our carbon refills by weight for this reason - granular carbon, a quantity of it - and we keep replacement filters for every unit we supply. SR13 asks salons to maintain equipment as the manufacturer advises and to keep a log of replacements; a filter you cannot afford to change is a control that stops working.
When should you spend on the room?
After the stations. SR13 asks for "a good standard of general ventilation" and suggests powered wall- or window-mounted fans to supply a through flow of clean air; the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, regulation 6(1), require every enclosed workplace to be ventilated by a sufficient quantity of fresh or purified air. Both matter. But room ventilation is the second line: dust and vapour that have crossed the room have already passed the technician's face, which is why extraction at the desk comes first in the spending order.
The budget version of the room step is often already in the building - a window that can be opened safely, a wall fan that can run - plus a purifier with HEPA-grade and carbon stages sized to the room, positioned where air moves rather than behind reception. What not to buy is a large purifier for the room while the enhancement station still has no extraction; it treats the symptom in the corner and leaves the source at the desk.
What paperwork costs little and saves most?
A COSHH assessment written around SR13's headings, a filter log, and a diary entry for the extraction's statutory test. SR13 says LEV "require[s] a statutory 'thorough examination and test' (TExT)" by a competent person "at least once every 14 months," with records kept "for at least five years." The test costs money; missing it costs more, because an inspector treats extraction without a test record as an unmet duty.
Two free items complete the set. Check the labels on your products for "May cause sensitisation by skin contact" or "May cause sensitisation by inhalation" - SR13 says health surveillance is required where those appear. And write a short training record: SR13 asks that workers know the hazards, "how to recognise early signs of asthma and dermatitis," when and how to use the controls, and what to do if something goes wrong. Our pillar guide, Nail Dust and Your Lungs, covers the health background.
What should you not spend on?
Masks as the plan. SR13 says respiratory protective equipment "is not normally needed" where the controls are in place, and that face coverings "are not acceptable as a control measure" - a box of masks is money that did not buy control. Scented products to cover the smell: odour is the vapour telling you it is there, and covering it changes nothing. And any unit whose filters you cannot source or afford in a year.
Ravair has been developing practical clean-air and energy products in the UK since 2015, and our approach is to say what suits a room and what does not rather than sell a machine that is not suitable. On a budget, that conversation is worth having before the first purchase.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest way to improve salon ventilation?
The free habits HSE names: caps back on immediately, products stored away, contaminated waste in a lidded bin, the work positioned over the extractor's intake, and cleaning that captures rather than scatters. Then one extractor at the busiest enhancement station.
Should I buy an air purifier or an extractor first?
An extractor at the station. HSE's first control for nail bars is local exhaust ventilation at the desk; a room purifier is general ventilation, which supports it but does not replace it.
Is an open window enough for a salon?
It is part of general ventilation, which the Workplace Regulations require, but SR13's first control is extraction at the station. A window alone does not capture dust and vapour at the nail.
How much do filters cost to run?
It depends on the unit and the hours it works; ask the supplier for the change schedule and the price before buying. We sell carbon refills by weight and keep filters for every unit we supply in stock.
Do I have to pay for an LEV test?
HSE says LEV needs a statutory thorough examination and test by a competent person at least once every 14 months, with records kept for at least five years. It is a cost of having extraction, and the record is what an inspector asks for.
This guide is general information, not health and safety advice. Check current HSE guidance and take competent advice on your own premises.
Tell us your budget and your stations on 01892 750777, or see the fume and monomer extractors we supply.
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