NE Barber cheat sheet

Barbering: Licensure Content Review

• Barbering scope of practice covers cutting, styling, shaving, beard and mustache trimming, shampooing, hair coloring, chemical texturing, and scalp and facial treatments; each state board defines which services licensed barbers may legally perform.

• Sanitation and disinfection are tested heavily: implements that contact blood or break skin (razors, clipper blades, cuticle nippers) are cleaned, then disinfected with an EPA-registered hospital-grade tuberculocidal disinfectant; porous items that cannot be disinfected are single-use and discarded.

• Blood exposure protocol: stop the service, wash the area with soap and water, apply an antiseptic, cover the wound, disinfect or discard contaminated tools, and document the incident per state rules; gloves are required when blood may be present.

• Hair structure: the hair shaft has three layers, the cuticle (outer protective scales), cortex (middle layer holding melanin and moisture and giving strength and elasticity), and medulla (inner core, absent in fine hair); the follicle and bulb at the base produce the hair.

• Hair growth cycles: anagen (active growth, roughly two to six years), catagen (transition, a few weeks), and telogen (resting and shedding, about three months); average scalp growth is about half an inch per month.

• Hair and scalp analysis before every service: determine texture, density, porosity, elasticity, and condition, plus scalp conditions such as abrasions, lesions, or inflammation, which are contraindications to chemical and shaving services and may require referral.

• Facial shapes guide styling and beard design: oval, round, square, oblong, heart, diamond, pear, and triangle; the goal is balance, for example adding height on a round face or narrowing a square jawline with tapered beard lines.

• Shaving safety: hold the razor at a low angle, stretch skin taut, shave with the grain first, and never shave over moles, raised lesions, or inflamed skin; a fresh single-use blade and a clean, disinfected razor are required for each client.

• Infection control vocabulary: cleaning removes visible debris, sanitizing reduces pathogens to safe levels on surfaces, disinfection destroys most pathogens on nonporous implements, and sterilization destroys all microbial life; state law specifies which level applies to which item.