The short answer
There is no DC Health form to download, because none exists. 25-E DCMR §502.8 says, in one sentence, what the District wants:
The licensee shall maintain a record or log book containing the dates and times of all pedicure cleaning and disinfection which is kept in the pedicure area and made available for review upon request by a consumer or the Department during an inspection.
That is the whole requirement for the log itself; §212.9 adds how long (three years, at the facility) and §212.8 what an electronic record must be (retrievable as a printed copy). A notebook, a printed sheet, a tablet: any of them satisfies the rule if it holds the dates and times of every cleaning and disinfection on every unit, sits in the pedicure area, and can be handed to a consumer or an inspector who asks. The rest of this guide is what that looks like when it is done well.
| The rule says | What it means |
|---|---|
| “The licensee shall maintain a record or log book” | Any written record, the licensee’s to keep. The rule names no form and DC Health publishes none |
| “containing the dates and times of all pedicure cleaning and disinfection” | The two fields the rule requires: when each procedure was done, to the day and to the time |
| “all pedicure cleaning and disinfection” | Every one: after each client (§502.4), the end of each day of use (§502.5, §502.6), and the weekly (§502.7), on every unit that holds water |
| “which is kept in the pedicure area” | Kept where the pedicures happen, not in the office or at home |
| “made available for review upon request by a consumer or the Department during an inspection” | Shown to a client who asks, and to a DC Health inspector on an inspection. Not posted, not filed |
Why there is nothing to download from DC Health
Some states print a log form (Texas’s is mandatory); the District’s rule asks for the content and stops there. DC Health’s own inspection checklist confirms it. Its Barber, Beauty, Braid Shop, Nail Salon, and Personal Grooming Inspection Checklist, which DC Health publishes in English, Vietnamese and Spanish (all three are in the Sources), lists under Section F, the nail salon requirements, “Record keeping for manicure and pedicure bowl cleaning and disinfection maintained on the premises”. The inspector checks that a record is kept; there is no template and no box for a form number. The checklist’s line names manicure bowls as well, which §502.8’s sentence does not; this guide covers the pedicure record the rule describes. So a search for “the DC pedicure log form” ends at a sheet somebody designed: a log-book seller, a salon, or ReadyPedi. What matters is whether the sheet holds what §502.8 asks for.
The columns a compliant record needs
The rule names two fields. A record that shows only those two is thin, because the same rule asks for three different procedures on every unit, and a row that says “9/14, 8:40 pm” cannot tell an inspector whether that was an after-client clean, the end-of-day soak or the weekly. The table says which columns the rule requires and which are there because the record is hard to read without them.
| Column | What the rule says | Why it is there |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Required: “the dates ... of all pedicure cleaning and disinfection” | The rule’s first field |
| Time | Required: “the dates and times” | The rule’s second field. Written when the procedure is done, not at closing from memory |
| Which cleaning | Not named. Good practice | The record must cover all three procedures; a row that does not say which one cannot show that the weekly was done or that the end of day was not skipped. ReadyPedi’s Cleaning column says it in words: After Each Client, End of Day, Weekly |
| Who did it | Not named. Good practice | The rule asks for no initials, name or signature. A name on the row is how a licensee answers “who ran the weekly on the 14th” without guessing. ReadyPedi prints the technician’s name |
| Which unit | Not named. Good practice | The procedures run per unit, so a record that mixes six chairs on one page cannot show that chair 4 was cleaned after its 3:00 client. ReadyPedi keeps one record per unit |
| Disinfectant used | Not named. Not on ReadyPedi’s record | Some states ask for it; the District does not. Keep the product’s label where an inspector can read it instead |
| Facility name and license | Not named | ReadyPedi prints them in the header so a loose sheet can be tied to the facility. The rule does not ask for them |
Which disinfectant the rule names, and the weekly’s choice of bleach or a fungicide and virucide, is in our guide to how to clean a pedicure foot spa in DC.
A blank record to print
The sheet below is ReadyPedi’s layout, not a DC Health form; it carries no seal and no form number because it is not the District’s document, and it says so on the sheet. It prints the record’s title, the rule’s sentence, lines for the establishment, its license number, the unit and the month, and the four columns (Date, Time, Cleaning, Technician) over a page of empty rows. Print one sheet per unit per month. A shop with eight pedicure chairs starts the month with eight sheets.
What goes at the top of each sheet
The rule names none of these, so they are the sheet’s housekeeping, not the law’s. The facility’s name as it appears on its license, the facility license that §600.1 says is issued by the Mayor. The facility’s license number (the establishment’s, not a technician’s). The unit, numbered the same way every month and labeled on the chair to match. The month, so the Date column needs only the day. Fill them in before the sheet goes out to the floor; every sheet for the same unit carries the same header.
Filling a row
A row is one procedure on one unit. Date and time, written when the procedure is finished: the rule says “the dates and times”, and a page where every row says 9:00 pm in the same pen is the thing an inspector is trained to spot. Then the cleaning, in words: After Each Client, End of Day or Weekly. Then the name of the person who did it. There are no boxes to tick and no combinations to get wrong.
Three things about rows that trip people up. First, the end-of-day procedure is its own row, after the last client’s after-client row, because the rule lists it as a separate procedure “At the end of each day of use”. Second, on the weekly night there are two rows, End of Day and then Weekly, because §502.7 puts the weekly “In addition to the required end-of-day cleaning procedures”; our guide to how often to clean a pedicure foot spa in DC has the schedule. Third, the rule has no “not used” row: a unit that saw no clients has no procedures that day and no rows, and the rule does not ask for a note saying so. Nothing stops you from writing one in the margin.
“Kept in the pedicure area”: what satisfies it
The sentence has three verbs for the record: maintain, kept, made available. “Kept in the pedicure area” is the one that decides where the binder lives. The current sheets belong where the pedicures happen: on a clipboard at the station, in a sleeve on the chair, in a binder on the pedicure side of the shop. Not in the office, not in the owner’s car, not at home with last month’s receipts. If an inspector walks the pedicure area and has to wait while someone fetches the log from somewhere else, “kept in the pedicure area” is the item being tested.
The “consumer” half is worth a sentence. A client may ask to see the record, and §502.8 makes it available for review “upon request by a consumer”. A tech who can hand over the current sheet without going to find the manager is the whole point of keeping it in the pedicure area.
Paper or electronic: what the rules say
§502.8 says nothing about paper or electronic, but the District’s recordkeeping section does, which is more than most states give you. §212.8: “An electronic record shall be retrievable as a printed copy.” §212.7 is narrower: it speaks of “All files identified in this section”, §212’s own records, and asks that those kept electronically “shall be frequently backed up and accessible from multiple locations, if applicable”. DC Health has published nothing that applies either sentence to the pedicure log in particular. Read beside §502.8, they make the test for a tablet the same as for a binder, plus one thing: is there a record, does it hold the dates and times, is it in the pedicure area, can a consumer or an inspector see it on request, and can it be printed.
ReadyPedi’s record is on every tablet in the shop, prints any unit and any month on demand, and lives in a database that is backed up every night. The app suggests printing a copy for the pedicure area, and a printed month on the clipboard beside the tablet costs a sheet of paper and removes the conversation.
How long to keep it
The pedicure rule names no period of its own; the recordkeeping rule does. §212.9:
The licensee shall maintain all records at the facility for at least three (3) years or longer if required by any other applicable District law or regulation. The records shall be readily available for review by the Department upon request.
DC Health has published nothing that says whether §212.9 reaches the pedicure log, and ReadyPedi reads “all records” as written, the pedicure log included: the District’s three-year floor lifts every plan’s two years of history to three, and Inspection mode opens the last three years ready to hand over. Our guide on how long to keep foot spa cleaning records, by state has every state’s period side by side, the District’s the longest.
Keeping the DC record from a log kept at the chair
In ReadyPedi, each sink, bowl, basin, pipe-less or whirlpool unit is set up once as Whirlpool, Pipe-less or Basin. The tech taps the cleaning at the chair; the date and time are stamped and the tech’s name goes beside them. A Weekly row does not close the day, so the app still expects that night’s End of Day. Any unit and any month prints as the Pedicure Equipment Cleaning and Disinfection Record, the rule’s sentence on every page, no seal and no form number, with three years of history. The rule next to the app is on the District of Columbia page, and a shop can start a free trial today.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official DC pedicure cleaning log form?
No. 25-E DCMR §502.8 says the record must contain the dates and times of all pedicure cleaning and disinfection and names no form; DC Health publishes none, and its inspection checklist only checks that a record is kept. Any sheet that holds the dates and times satisfies the rule. The blank on this page is ReadyPedi’s layout, not a District document.
What does the record have to show?
The rule names two things: the date and the time of every cleaning and disinfection. Which procedure it was, who did it and which unit it was are not named by the rule, but a record without them cannot show that all three procedures were done on every unit, which is what an inspector is reading for.
Where does the log have to be kept?
“In the pedicure area”, in the rule’s words, and available on request to a consumer or the Department during an inspection. At the stations, or in a binder on the pedicure side of the shop; not in the office and not at home.
Can I keep it on a tablet instead of paper?
The pedicure rule does not say paper or electronic; the recordkeeping rule says an electronic record must be retrievable as a printed copy (§212.8). A tablet in the pedicure area that shows the record and prints it meets those words; print a copy for the clipboard if you want both.
How long do I keep it?
At least three years, at the facility, under §212.9’s “all records”, read as written. ReadyPedi keeps three years for District shops.
This guide explains the District of Columbia’s pedicure cleaning record in plain language and is not legal advice. DC Health’s regulations are the authority on District of Columbia pedicure equipment cleaning and recordkeeping requirements.