Choosing scrubs by specialty: from dentistry to the salon

A dentist and a veterinarian make, at heart, the same choice: a set of scrubs they can work in all day. Except their days look nothing alike. One leans over a small working field for hours, under a fine mist of water and aerosols; the other holds a frightened animal on the table, one that sheds hair on everything it touches and sometimes leaves a scratch as a souvenir. The same scrub top, worn in those two practices, ages in completely different ways.

That is why it pays to choose your uniform based on what actually happens during your shift, not on some “one size fits all” model. This guide walks through the fields we make scrubs for most often in our factory: dentistry, veterinary medicine, laboratories, hospitals and clinics, beauty salons and wellness or spa centres. For each one, we note what the work demands of the garment, which fabric properties matter, and which pieces cover the need.

One thing before we start: the recommendations below are practical advice, drawn from working with our customers, not legal requirements. Every workplace sets its own dress code, and where one exists, it comes first. All the medical scrubs we refer to are made by us, in 8 sizes, from XXS to XXXL.

Dentistry: splashes, aerosols and nervous patients

In the dental practice, the first criterion is how the fabric behaves around liquids: choose a hydrophobic weave that does not absorb splashes but lets them bead up on the surface. Working at the dental unit means water spray, coolant mist and fine aerosols, hour after hour, inches from your chest and sleeves. On ordinary cotton, every droplet soaks into the fibre and stays there until wash day. On the PI fabric we use for most of our models, the hydrophobic treatment keeps liquids on top of the weave, where they wipe or shake off.

Quick drying and easy, frequent washing matter in dentistry too: PI scrubs wash at 30-40°C, dry in about 30 minutes on a hanger and need no ironing, so you can change and wash your set daily without it taking over your evenings. The fabric’s antimicrobial treatment is a natural bonus in an environment where hygiene comes first.

The second criterion is less technical but just as real: the patient in the chair is often anxious. The colour of your scrubs is part of how you put them at ease. Calm tones, such as grey-blue, muted green or soft pastels, are frequent choices in dental practices for exactly that reason. We cover what each colour family conveys, and how to choose for your own practice, in our guide to medical scrubs colours.

Veterinary medicine: hair, scratches and endless washing

In veterinary practice, scrubs have to stand up to three things that come with the job: animal hair, scratches and very frequent washing. Hair is the quiet enemy: on a brushed or rough weave it clings and shows from a metre away, especially on dark colours. The smooth surface of a synthetic fabric holds far less hair than cotton, and what does stick comes off with a pass of a lint roller between consultations.

Washing is where a vet’s scrubs live their hardest life: contact with animals calls for frequent sanitising, sometimes after a single rough day. PI fabric withstands over 100 industrial washes without losing its shape, so it keeps up with any washing schedule, and its 4-way stretch forgives sudden movements: a restraint hold, a quick lunge after a patient who has decided the examination table is not for them. And because the fabric dries fast, you can comfortably get by with just two sets in rotation.

And then there are the pockets. Few specialties use pockets harder than veterinary medicine: treats, a spare lead, scissors, a phone, a notebook. Look for trousers with roomy, well-placed pockets, cargo-style or multi-pocket, such as our Smart Cargo trousers, so you are not juggling everything by hand between two consultations.

Laboratory: a gown over scrubs, and disposables where needed

In medical and research laboratories, the basic formula is a gown worn over scrubs: the top and trousers provide all-day comfort, while the gown takes the contact with substances and samples and gets changed as often as needed. The practical advantage is obvious: a protective layer that comes off at the laboratory door, while the scrubs underneath stay clean for the office, the break room or the walk between floors.

With gowns, the choice follows the intensity of the work. For everyday wear, a classic cotton gown breathes well and washes easily. Where a more serious layer is needed, the reinforced version stands up better to wear and to repeated contact with liquids. And for situations where equipment must not carry over from one sample to the next, there is the sterile disposable gown and the full disposable coverall: use once, discard, no hygiene compromises. You will find them all in our gowns and accessories and disposables categories.

Hospital and clinic: the long shift decides everything

In hospitals and clinics, you choose scrubs for the toughest scenario, the 12-hour shift or longer, because scrubs that feel good in hour twelve automatically feel good in hour one. That means a fabric with 4-way stretch that follows the body through every bend and lift, a breathable weave with thermoregulation that neither turns into a sauna on the ward nor leaves you shivering in the corridors, and cuts tested on medical professionals, with triple stitching at the stress points. We go through everything that matters for long wear in our guide to scrubs for long shifts.

For night shifts and chilly rooms, an extra layer quickly earns its place in the locker: a fleece gown over your scrubs takes care of the cold hours without getting in the way of your work.

At the level of the whole unit, colour becomes an organisational tool: many hospitals and clinics assign one colour per department or per staff category, so patients and colleagues can tell at a glance who they are talking to. Our palette of 24 colours, 18 on the PI fabric and 6 on Gofra, leaves room for a clear split between any number of departments, with the same cut for everyone.

Salons, beauty and wellness: aesthetics come first

In beauty salons, cosmetic practices and wellness or spa centres, the uniform is part of the client’s experience, so silhouette and tone matter at least as much as durability. This is where flattering cuts prove their worth: a wrap-neck top, a tapered trouser that lengthens the leg. The client comes for beauty and relaxation, and the team that greets them shows the standard of the place through what they wear.

The practical side never goes away, though: wax, massage oils and cosmetic products inevitably end up on the uniform. On a hydrophobic fabric they stay on the surface instead of soaking into the fibre, and they come out in a 30-40°C wash without special treatment; quick drying means the set you wash in the evening is ready to wear the next morning. As for colours, salons usually go for warm, light tones, cream, dusty pink, natural shades, which suit the warm atmosphere of the place better than clinical white.

The whole team, dressed as one

Whatever the field, a team dressed uniformly sends a single message, order and professionalism, and the road there is shorter than it looks. Pick one base model and one colour per role or department, then let each colleague choose their own size from the same range, XXS to XXXL. The result: a coherent image in which nobody wears scrubs that do not fit them.

The identity is completed by personalisation: we embroider or print your clinic’s, practice’s or salon’s logo directly onto the garments, using embroidery, screen printing, heat transfer or DTF printing, depending on the fabric and the complexity of the logo. How to choose between them, and what works on which piece, is explained in our guide to personalised scrubs for teams. And for team orders, from a three-person practice to an entire facility, the simplest route is a quote request on our business orders page: tell us your field, how many people you are dressing and what you would like on the uniforms, and we come back with a concrete proposal. For buyers who need supplier documentation, our factory is certified to ISO 9001, 14001 and 13485.

Frequently asked questions

Can I wear scrubs at a salon?

Yes, and more and more salons wear exactly that: scrub tops and trousers have become a natural choice in beauty and wellness, because they are comfortable, easy to wash and look neat all day. What sets a salon apart from a medical practice is the cut and the colour: choose the feminine lines and the warm tones, and the uniform blends naturally into the salon’s atmosphere.

Gown or disposable coverall in the lab?

For the daily routine, a reusable gown over scrubs is the practical answer: it washes, changes easily and costs less in the long run. Disposables come into play where nothing may carry over from one job to the next, or where cleaning up after a procedure would cost more than the garment itself. The two are not mutually exclusive: many laboratories use both in parallel, each in its place.

What colour should I choose for a veterinary practice?

Practically speaking, mid-tones hide the traces of a working day best: on white every stain shows, and on very dark colours light-coloured hair stands out. A green, a blue or a grey of medium intensity stays presentable between washes. Beyond the practical side, the choice is yours: with 24 colours in the palette, there is plenty to choose from.

Can the same scrubs work across several fields?

Yes, the base is shared: the same top with the same trousers works perfectly well in a clinic, at a veterinary practice and in a salon, because the fabric covers everyone’s needs. You build the difference out of colour, cut and accessories: the gown for the laboratory, the warm layer for night shifts, the personalisation for the team. That is why it makes sense to start from your field, as we did in this guide, and build your work wardrobe around it.