Free CA Cosmetology Exam Flashcards

Cleaning removes visible debris and most organisms with soap and water, disinfection kills most pathogens on hard nonporous surfaces, and sterilization destroys all organisms including spores. Salon implements are cleaned and then disinfected; only skin-penetrating tools, such as reusable electrolysis implements, require sterilization.

Debris, oil and product residue shield pathogens from the disinfectant, so a soiled tool is never truly disinfected. California requires the sequence in order: remove visible debris, wash with soap or detergent and water, dry with a new clean paper towel, then totally immerse in disinfectant (16 CCR 979).

It must be EPA-registered with demonstrated bactericidal, fungicidal and virucidal activity, mixed and used exactly per the manufacturer's directions. A household cleaner or an under-diluted mix has no validated kill claim, so the tools count as contaminated even though they look clean.

The container is labeled 'Disinfectant Solution', holds enough solution to totally immerse the tools, stays covered at all times, and is changed per the manufacturer's instructions or whenever it turns cloudy or holds debris. Lift tools out with gloves or tongs rather than bare fingers (16 CCR 978-979).

Multi-use items are nonporous and can be cleaned and disinfected between clients. Anything that touches a client and cannot be disinfected — buffers, pumice stones, wax sticks, toe separators, cotton pads, sponges, emery boards, neck strips — is discarded immediately after one client (16 CCR 981).

Disinfected tools go in a clean covered place labeled 'Clean' or 'Disinfected'; used tools go in a container labeled 'Dirty', 'Soiled' or 'Contaminated'. A pouch or holder that cannot itself be disinfected may not hold disinfected tools, and licensees may not carry tools in a garment, pouch or holster.

The CDC principle that every client's blood and body fluid is treated as infectious, because you cannot tell by looking who carries a bloodborne pathogen. In practice it means gloves for any blood exposure, no service on broken skin, and decontamination of everything the blood contacted.

Stop the service, put on gloves, cleanse the injury, apply antiseptic and a bandage, then clean and disinfect or discard every contaminated item and seal soiled disposables in a bag. Service may not continue on skin that is inflamed, cut or abraded (16 CCR 984(e)).

CDC reports that HBV remains infectious on environmental surfaces for at least 7 days and can be transmitted with no visible blood present. That is why implements are disinfected after every client rather than only after a visible injury.

Tools that penetrate the skin. California requires reusable electrolysis implements to be cleaned then sterilized in an FDA-listed autoclave or dry-heat sterilizer with a chemical color-change indicator and kept sealed in the labeled package. Single-use pre-sterilized needles go straight into a puncture-resistant sharps container (16 CCR 982).

The manufacturer's hazard document required by OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard, written in a standardized 16-section format covering ingredients, first aid, handling, storage and personal protective equipment. Employers must hold an SDS for every hazardous product on site and keep it accessible to staff on every shift.

OSHA sets workplace-safety and hazard-communication rules that protect the licensee, EPA registers the disinfectants used on tools and surfaces, and FDA regulates cosmetics, color additives, drugs and devices used on the client. Exam items usually hinge on matching the rule to the right agency.

Liquids, creams, waxes, shampoos and gels stay in clean closed containers, every bottle is distinctly and correctly labeled with its contents, and poisonous substances carry an added hazard marking unless they remain in the manufacturer's own labeled container (16 CCR 988).

Monomer vapor and filing dust are heaviest right at the work surface, so source-capture ventilation removes them before they reach the breathing zone. An open door or ceiling fan only dilutes the air and does not control exposure at its source, so vapor still crosses your face all day.

Inspect cords for fraying, avoid loading one outlet with several appliances, keep cords out of walkways and away from water, unplug by grasping the plug rather than the cord, and never leave a client unattended with a connected appliance. Damaged equipment is taken out of service, not taped.

It records medications, allergies, prior chemical services and health conditions so contraindications surface before you touch the client, and it is the written record you rely on if a reaction occurs. Update it every visit — last year's form does not reflect today's prescriptions.

You may recognize that a condition looks abnormal, decline or alter the service, and recommend the client see a physician. You may never name a disease, diagnose it or treat it — doing so exceeds the license's scope of practice and risks spreading an infection.

The cuticle is the overlapping protective outer layer, the cortex holds the melanin and most of the disulfide bonds and supplies strength and elasticity, and the medulla is the innermost core often missing in fine hair. Chemicals must swell and lift the cuticle to reach the cortex where color and texture actually change.

Porosity is how readily hair absorbs moisture and chemicals, elasticity is how far a wet strand stretches and recovers without breaking, and texture is the diameter of the individual strand. Porous or low-elasticity hair processes faster, so it needs a milder formula and shorter timing.

A small amount of the mixed aniline-derivative color is applied behind the ear or inside the elbow 24 to 48 hours before the service to screen for allergic sensitivity. Redness, itching, swelling or blistering is a positive result and the service must not be performed.

Contagious problems such as head lice (pediculosis capitis), scalp ringworm (tinea capitis), scabies and impetigo mean no service and a medical referral. California also bars any service on skin that is inflamed or broken, and bars a licensee with a transmissible infection from serving clients until the stated clearance period passes (16 CCR 984).

Non-contagious conditions — dandruff (pityriasis), split ends (trichoptilosis), alopecia areata, and dry or oily scalp — do not bar service; they change your product choice and how gently you work. Reserve outright refusal for infection, infestation, and broken or inflamed skin.

Primary lesions are the first change in the skin's color or texture — macules, papules, vesicles, pustules. Secondary lesions develop later as skin breaks down or heals — crusts, scales, fissures, ulcers, scars. Any weeping, open or infected lesion stops the service regardless of category.

A disorder is a non-infectious change you may work around, such as ridges, white spots (leukonychia) or a bruised nail. A disease or infection — onychomycosis, paronychia, or the green discoloration of a pseudomonas infection — means no service and a referral to a physician.

Diabetes with neuropathy, poor circulation, blood thinners, open cuts or ulcers, recent foot surgery and active nail infection all call for a physician's clearance or a modified service. Never cut living tissue such as the eponychium, and never shave calluses — California forbids even having a razor-edged callus tool on the premises (16 CCR 993).

Test the heated tool on a damp cloth or paper, never on the client, use a heat-resistant comb and shield to protect the scalp, and lower the temperature for fine, porous, lightened or chemically relaxed hair. An overheated tool causes scalp burns and breakage that no conditioner reverses.

A razor needs a guard and a fresh single-use blade for every client, with used blades dropped into a puncture-resistant sharps container; shears stay closed or palmed whenever you comb, part or move. California requires shears to be cleaned and then sprayed or wiped with an EPA-registered bactericidal, fungicidal and virucidal disinfectant before the next client (16 CCR 979(f)).

Volume is a strength measure: 10 volume is about 3% peroxide, 20 volume about 6%, 30 volume about 9% and 40 volume about 12%. Higher volume lifts more levels but also causes more cuticle damage and scalp irritation, so choose the lowest volume that reaches the target level.

Level is how light or dark the hair is on a numbered scale and it decides how much lift you need; tone is the warmth or coolness of the color and it decides the base of your formula. Misjudging level causes under-lift, while misjudging tone is what produces brassy or muddy results.

A primary and its opposite secondary cancel each other: violet neutralizes yellow, blue neutralizes orange and green neutralizes red. That is why a blue-based toner kills orange brass on lifted brunette hair and a green concentrate corrects unwanted red.

The label must warn that the product may irritate the skin of certain individuals, that a preliminary test should be made first per the directions, and that it must not be used for dyeing the eyelashes or eyebrows because doing so may cause blindness. Skipping the preliminary test forfeits that legal protection.

Home color restorers and progressive dyes coat the hair with metallic salts that react violently with peroxide, producing heat, smoke, odor and melted or broken hair. Suspect them on dull, coated, oddly colored hair, run an incompatibility test, and refuse color, lightener and perm services if it is positive.

Disulfide (cystine) bonds — the strong sulfur cross-links in the cortex that only chemistry can break and re-form, which is what makes texture change permanent. Hydrogen and salt bonds are broken by water and heat alone, so a blowout or roller set lasts only until the next shampoo.

The waving lotion, usually ammonium thioglycolate, reduces the hair and breaks disulfide bonds so the strand takes the shape of the rod; the neutralizer then oxidizes the hair, typically with hydrogen peroxide, re-forming those bonds in the new shape. Cutting the rinse or the neutralizing time short leaves limp curl and weakened hair.

Alkaline waves use ammonium thioglycolate at an alkaline pH, process at room temperature and give a firm curl on strong resistant hair. True acid waves use glyceryl monothioglycolate at a lower pH, usually need added heat, and give a softer curl better suited to fine, porous or color-treated hair.

Hydroxide relaxers (sodium, potassium, lithium, guanidine) convert disulfide bonds into single lanthionine bonds — an irreversible change — and are stopped with an acid-balanced neutralizing shampoo, never peroxide. Thio relaxers break the same bonds reversibly and require a separate oxidizing neutralizer.

Thio applied over hydroxide-relaxed hair, or hydroxide over thio, attacks bonds that were already converted and causes severe breakage — sometimes hair sliding off during the service. Always take a full chemical history, and when it is unknown or uncertain run a test strand first.

Apply relaxer or waving lotion away from the scalp, and on a retouch confine it to new growth so it never overlaps previously processed hair. Judge progress with periodic test curls or strand tests rather than the clock — overlapping is the leading cause of breakage at the line of demarcation.

Effleurage is light gliding stroking that opens and closes a massage and relaxes the client, petrissage is kneading that lifts and squeezes tissue to boost circulation, and tapotement is percussion and the most stimulating movement. All massage is contraindicated over inflamed, broken or infected skin.

Chemical exfoliation dissolves the bonds between dead cells with enzymes or acids; mechanical exfoliation sloughs them off with scrubs, brushes or microdermabrasion. A California licensee may remove only the epidermis and may use only over-the-counter products, not physician-only products; going deeper is a prohibited invasive procedure (16 CCR 991-992).

FDA warns that permanent lash and brow tints and dyes have caused serious eye injuries including blindness, and coal-tar hair dyes must be labeled as not for use on eyelashes or eyebrows. The single approved color additive for that use is silver nitrate, up to 4% by weight in a professional-use-only gel (21 CFR 73.2550).

Lash adhesives are cyanoacrylates: patch test the client first, bond each extension to an isolated natural lash rather than to skin, keep adhesive off the lid and out of the eye, and dissolve extensions with a professional remover instead of pulling. Ventilate the room — the fumes are a common cause of allergic contact dermatitis.

Depilation removes hair at the skin's surface — shaving and chemical depilatory creams — so regrowth is quick. Epilation removes the hair from the follicle — waxing, sugaring, tweezing and threading — so results last weeks. Only electrolysis is recognized as permanent hair removal.

Test the wax on your own inner wrist before it touches the client, apply in the direction of hair growth, hold the skin taut, and pull soft (strip) wax off against the growth, close and parallel to the skin. Wax that is too hot burns, and removing at an angle or without tension lifts skin and bruises.

An applicator that has touched the client's skin never goes back into the wax pot — use a fresh stick for every dip. Double dipping seeds the entire pot with bacteria and bloodborne pathogens for every later client, and California classifies wax sticks as single-use items that must be discarded after one client (16 CCR 981).

Do not wax over sunburn, open lesions, skin being treated with topical retinoids, recent chemical peels or laser treatment, varicose veins, or skin thinned by isotretinoin — it lifts and tears. Blood thinners, uncontrolled diabetes and neuropathy also call for a physician's release before service.

The matrix beneath the proximal nail fold produces the nail plate, so injuring it deforms the nail permanently; the lunula is the visible whitish part of that matrix. The eponychium is living tissue at the base and must never be cut — only the dead cuticle resting on the plate may be removed. The hyponychium seals the skin beneath the free edge.

FDA treats liquid MMA in fingernail preparations as a poisonous and deleterious substance and removed 100% MMA products from the market after injury reports; ethyl methacrylate (EMA) is the professional alternative. California goes further — no establishment or school may even have MMA monomer or methylene chloride on the premises (16 CCR 989).

Drain the basin, scrub all visible debris with a clean brush and liquid soap, rinse, then circulate or hold an EPA-registered hospital disinfectant labeled bactericide, fungicide and virucide for at least 10 minutes, drain, rinse and wipe dry with a new clean paper towel. Record the date, time and initials — California's pedicure equipment-cleaning log must be produced on request (16 CCR 980.1-980.3).

Keep monomer and product containers closed, use source-capture ventilation at the work surface, wear a properly fitted particulate mask while filing, and never eat or drink at the nail station. Fine acrylic dust and monomer vapor are respiratory irritants, and repeated skin contact with monomer causes allergic contact dermatitis.