no plumbing › pedicure chair › portable ›

What Is a Portable Pedicure Chair or a No Plumbing Pedicure Chair?

I give pedicures. I am not a plumber.

Sometimes, pipes and plumbing is just not a part of the picture.

If this is your situation, you can still give pampering pedicures.

Simply look for a portable pedicure chair - or a pedicure chair without plumbing.

Portable or No Plumbing Pedicure Chairs

These pedicure chairs are designed to work for spaces that do not have permanent water supply and drain pipes.

What, Exactly Are We Talking About Here?

Since there’s no plumbing at the chair itself, you carry the bowl to a sink to fill it with water, and dump the dirty water afterward.

Some bowls sit in a frame that has wheels to help carry the water between the sink and where the client is sitting. Some are glass bowls you fill with water and carry. But watch out, a bowl filled with water can be really heavy!

Terminology

Even though these chairs are sometimes called “portable pedicure chairs”, that doesn’t actually mean they’re very portable. For the most part, they’re still really heavy, bulky chairs, and a pain to move around.

Some manufacturers call these chairs "portable" right in the title - Pibbs is notorious for this, but don’t be fooled! Other manufacturers are a little more sensible, calling them no plumbing pedicure chairs, or plumbingless chairs.

I wish there were an industry standard term, but unfortunately there’s not. You just have to pay attention to the terminology and description - so if you see something called a portable, no plumbing, plumbingless, or any variation of that, you’ll know it just means there’s no plumbing for it.

Why Use A No Plumbing Pedicure Chair?

Fixed pipeless (plumbed) pedicure chairs are not always the best option, or even an option at all for some salons.

What Is a Portable Pedicure Chair or a No Plumbing Pedicure Chair? - Continuum Simplicity Maybe you own a current salon and are just starting to give pedicures. Quickly adding portable pedi stations to your salon will allow you to start giving pedicures without interrupting your business.

Maybe you don’t own your building - some landlords don’t allow tenants to add plumbing for fixed pedicure chairs.

Maybe construction costs are just too expensive right now.

Or, maybe you just want the flexibility to rearrange your salon without having to rip up plumbing.

Whatever the reason, a no plumbing chair can get you past your plumbing obstacle.

What’s the Best No Plumbing Pedicure Chair?

If you’re looking for a beautiful, quality chair, the Continuum Simplicity (pictured above) is easily the best, and one of the most popular. It comes in two models - the base model SE, and LE Plus, which has a full shiatsu massage and standard manicure trays.

A Truly Portable Pedicure

Now, if you’re giving pedicures at events or clients homes, you’re going to need something that really is portable - that you can take with you.

You’ll want something like the Continuum Pedicute (pictured right) or the Gulfstream Mini Lavender.

They’re great because they’re easy to move around, and you can fill the bowl at a sink and roll it to your client. When you’re done you can quickly put them out of sight.

These kinds of portables are also an excellent choice if your salon is just beginning to offer pedicures, or you don’t have space for a dedicated full-size pedicure chair.

Wrap Up

I hope that clears up an issue that can really be confusing.

To review, you’ll need a no plumbing pedicure chair if:

You don’t have plumbing accessible at your salon
You prefer filling, emptying, and cleaning your bowl at a sink
You don’t want to hook the chair up to plumbing
You want the flexibility to move chairs & rearrange your salon space

You’ll need a truly portable unit if:

You take your services to different locations
You don’t have room for a dedicated pedicure chair
You don’t give enough pedicures to justify the expense or space of a dedicated chair