10.2 Performing the Practical: Basic Facial, Eyebrow Wax and Tweeze, Facial Makeup, and Blood Exposure

How the service sections are scored

Each service section lists specific tasks the examiner checks. Four of them repeat in almost every section:

• products for that service are labeled in English;
• implements and supplies are visibly clean;
• the drape is maintained throughout the section;
• items to be disinfected, soiled linens, and trash go into the correct containers.

Build these habits into every rehearsal so that your attention can go to the technique.

Section 2: Client Preparation and Basic Facial (25 minutes)

The proctor tells you to prepare your client and perform a basic facial that includes cleansing, manual exfoliation, towel steaming, massage, and mask. The mask must be colored, not clear, and the massage must show four different types of facial manipulations. You are told when 12 minutes remain.

Client preparation means draping the head (hair covered) and the body before the service and keeping the drape secure.

Massage movements reminder (Section 7.3):

• Effleurage: light, continuous gliding strokes.
• Petrissage: kneading.
• Tapotement: light tapping or percussion.
• Friction: deep rubbing or circular movements.
• Vibration: rapid shaking movement.

Choose four that you can make look clearly different. Two kinds of effleurage do not count as two movements.

Section 4: Hair Removal of the Eyebrow Using Simulated Soft Wax and Tweezing (untimed)

You choose one eyebrow, and the examiner instructs you individually. Do not start until the examiner tells you to.

1. Examiner: "Please demonstrate hair removal using simulated soft wax along entire length of one eyebrow."
   • 4.3 Apply simulated soft wax along the entire length of one brow, in the direction of hair growth, as taught.
   • 4.4 Demonstrate removal: apply the strip, hold the skin taut, and remove the strip opposite the direction of hair growth, low and parallel to the skin.
2. Examiner: "Please tweeze three hairs from the same eyebrow and conclude the service."
   • 4.5 Demonstrate the tweezing procedure on three hairs with clean tweezers, holding the skin taut and bracing your hand.
   • Conclude with a post-epilation product, as taught.
3. Also scored: 4.1 products labeled in English, 4.2 implements and supplies visibly clean, 4.6 drape maintained, and 4.7 correct containers.
4. Afterward, step back and do nothing until the next instruction.

Common errors: waxing only part of the brow; double-dipping the wax applicator; forgetting the pre-epilation and post-epilation products; letting the drape slip; dropping the used strip on the station instead of in the trash.

Section 5: Facial Makeup (20 minutes)

Apply in this exact order: foundation, blush, eyeliner, mascara, lip color. You must brace when working near the eyes and mouth, and you are told when 10 minutes remain.

Section 9.4 covers product choice, dispensing, and bracing technique in detail.

Section 6: Blood Exposure Procedure (10 minutes)

The scenario: during a service, your client has sustained a minor cut to the chin. The injury is such that you can continue the service, you have not come in contact with the blood, and your work area has not been contaminated. You have 10 minutes, and you are told when 5 remain.

When time ends or everyone has finished, the proctor asks you to remove your bandage and wait.

How this compares with Missouri's own rule

Missouri's sanitation rule (20 CSR 2085-11.020(2)(F)) sets out a fuller patron-cut procedure for real salon work: stop the service, put on gloves, cleanse the cut, apply antiseptic or styptic with an applicator, bandage it, disinfect any blood-soiled area and objects, then dispose of gloves and contaminated items and clean your hands with an antimicrobial cleanser. The practical tests the core of that procedure for a cut that has not contaminated the area. In real practice, if blood touches the work area, the disinfection steps apply too.

A rehearsal timeline

Rehearse at least once with a timer and a friend reading the instructions aloud, twice, as the proctor will.

Scenario: a lost point in the facial

During a timed rehearsal, a candidate cleanses, exfoliates, towel steams, and massages using effleurage, petrissage, a second effleurage pattern, and tapotement, then applies a clear gel mask. Two tasks would fail. The massage shows only three different movement types, and the mask is clear. Replacing the second effleurage with friction or vibration, and switching to a tinted clay or cream mask, fixes both.