(5) Minimum equipment for each barber or beauty chair at fixed installations
includes a barber chair having a headrest with a changeable cover, at least one covered
container for disinfecting solutions, a closed cabinet for tools and clean linen, a closed
container for soiled linens, and another container for waste papers.
e. Practices. In years past, many barbers and beauticians provided services
not necessarily associated with their trade but which were pleasing to the customer or
thought to be useful by the practitioner. Some of these are health hazards and are
strictly prohibited from use in military controlled shops.
(1) Common brushes (with the exception of plastic hairbrushes that have
plastic projections instead of bristles), neck dusters, shaving mugs and brushes,
sponges, and powder puffs can transfer germs from one customer to another. Their
assumed usefulness to the trade is greatly overshadowed by their health hazard
potential. They are now prohibited in military barber and beauty shops.
(2) Barbers and beauty shop operators are no longer authorized to practice
medicine. They may stem the flow of blood, but the material they use should be a
powder or liquid only and should be applied with a freshly laundered towel or sterile
absorbent cotton. This material must always be approved by the responsible surgeon.
Styptic pencils and lump alum should not be used for stopping the flow of blood or for
any other purpose. Operators, employees, or attendants of barber and beauty shops
should never attempt to treat pimples, moles, or warts or to engage in any other
therapeutic practices. Pulling hairs from the eyebrows, mustache, nose, or ears is
dangerous and should be prohibited; rather, hairs should be clipped or cut.
(3) A barber or beauty shop operator should be cautious when purchasing
and using cosmetic preparations such as lotions, tonics, hair dyes, bleaches, and
astringents. Certain of these preparations are dangerous and have been implicated in
irritation to the skin and eyes, loss of hair, and, occasionally, severe injury. In addition,
Army beauty shops in the United States should be guided by civilian health and safety
regulations in the use of hair dryers, ultraviolet and infrared lamps, and other equipment
and materiels.
(4) A freshly laundered towel will be used on each patron, and the headrest
of the chair will be covered with a clean towel or sheet of paper for each patron.
Individual sanitary paper neck strips or a freshly laundered towel will be placed around
the neck of each patron under the outside covering cloth. The outer covering cloths
should be changed at least daily.
(5) Shaving cream from a tube or automatic dispenser should be used and
applied with a small piece of tissue or other single-use applicator. Powder or lotion
should be applied to a patron with a clean towel or a single-use applicator.
MD0164
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