Are there any states, countries or organisations with official hygiene protocols for professional MUAs?

Question

This is perhaps a slightly odd question. I am a hobbyist make up artist, and work mostly on myself doing drag and editorial looks, but sometimes I get involved at my local amateur theatre to do makeup for them. I try to be as hygienic as possible, and follow all the obvious rules like not double dipping, spraying down products with 70% alcohol before using them on someone else, washing brushes between each person, etc. However I’m never quite sure if I’m following ALL of the right hygiene protocols, and I worry there are things I’m not doing that I should be doing. Similarly sometimes I worry if I’m doing too much - backstage is very busy/chaotic before a show so if there’s anything unnecessary in my cleaning routine it would be great to know about it so I can save some time! I also have really specific questions that I can’t seem to find definitive answers for - like, do you need to spray an eyeshadow with 70% ethanol AND scrape the top layer off, or is the spraying alone ok? Are there products where alcohol spray isn’t effective because of the physical or chemical structure of the product? Which infections are resistant enough to cleaning to require complete disposal of tools and product after contamination? (I know conjunctivitis is one of them, are there any others?) And so on.

I was wondering if there was an organisation of some sort that has official hygiene guidelines that their professional MUAs are required to comply with. That way I can have something definitive, and backed up by professional knowledge, as guidance. Or alternatively, if there are any countries/states that have legislation about hygiene standards for makeup artists? I can’t find anything for the UK, but having hygiene legislation from another country would serve the same purpose of telling me exactly what I need to be doing to keep my work clean and safe.

Posted Oct 2, 2025, 1:47 PM UTC

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