21.2 Handling and Disposing of Chemicals

21.2 Handling and Disposing of Chemicals

Quick Answer: Mix client-service chemicals in a dispensing area — nonporous surfaces and a sink with hot and cold running water — with adequate ventilation and no open flame. Keep every bottle labeled. Follow the manufacturer. Close chemical waste at the end of the service and move it to an airtight metal fire-retardant container at the end of the day. Protect the client’s eyes, skin, hair, nails, and clothes. Do not invent a hair-color mixing ratio; Oregon barbering does not include chemical restructuring.

OAR 817-060-0030 is Use, Handling and Disposing of Chemicals. OAR 817-060-0010 is Client Protection. OAR 817-010-0060(1) is the chemical-waste clock this division relies on. Together they are how the laws exam turns an 8-item Chemicals cluster into shop pictures: where you mix, what you refuse to use, how the client is draped, and where the wet waste goes at 8 p.m.

Mix only in a real dispensing area

OAR 817-060-0030(1): chemicals used for providing services to clients must be mixed in a dispensing area, which has adequate ventilation away from open flame or other sources of potential ignition.

OAR 817-005-0005(11) defines dispensing area as an area with nonporous surfaces and a sink with hot and cold running water where service preparations are conducted, including, but not limited to, mixing of chemicals, cleaning of tools and equipment, disposing of residues, and rinsing parts of the body exposed to chemicals. Four pieces, not one: nonporous, hot water, cold water, and the work of mixing and rinsing. A carpeted break room with a coffee maker is not a dispensing area. A chair-side cup of disinfectant mixed over a client’s cape is not a dispensing area. A restroom sink used because the dispensary drain is slow is not a dispensing area.

OAR 817-005-0005(1) defines adequate ventilation as ventilation by natural or mechanical methods that removes or exhausts fumes, vapors, or dust to prevent hazardous conditions in accordance with OAR Chapter 437, Division 2, or that allows the free flow of air in a room in proportion to the size and capacity of the room. Crack-the-door is not a ventilation plan when a chemical service is producing vapor. OAR 817-005-0005(8) lists dispensing areas among common areas used by all authorization holders. In a mixed shop, the barber and the hair designer share that room. Mixing in the common dispensary is still mixing in a dispensing area. Mixing at the front desk is not.

OAR 817-090-0115(2) makes failing to mix in a dispensing area a chemical-use civil penalty. 817-090-0115(3) makes mixing or using chemicals near an open flame or other potential ignition the same schedule. Learn the handling rule here; the dollar amounts sit in 21.3.

Labels, manufacturer, FDA, MSDS, and no flame at the station

OAR 817-060-0030(2): all chemicals must be disposed of in accordance with their manufacturer’s instructions and according to local and state environmental requirements. A bottle with no name has no manufacturer instructions you can follow. OAR 817-060-0010(2) requires client-protection regulations to be met in accordance with ORS 654, OAR 437 Division 2, 29 CFR 1910.1030 (bloodborne pathogens), and 29 CFR 1910.1200 (Hazard Communication). Hazard Communication requires labels on hazardous-chemical containers. Pouring a concentrated disinfectant into an unlabeled water bottle “so it looks nicer on the station” is not a storage shortcut. It is an unlabeled hazardous container and a manufacturer-instruction failure the moment you need the SDS (the rule text still says MSDS) or the disposal line.

OAR 817-060-0030(3) then lists four prohibitions. Authorization holders are prohibited from:

• (a) Using cosmetic products containing hazardous substances banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in cosmetic products.
• (b) Using products in a manner not approved by the FDA.
• (c) Using any product containing compounds or substances characterized as hazardous or harmful to humans by Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) and/or random product testing — see OAR chapter 817 division 060.
• (d) Using an open flame at the workstation during any phase of chemical service.

(a) and (b) are FDA. A banned ingredient does not become legal because a supply house still ships it. Using a product off-label — heating a product the FDA-facing label says not to heat, applying a leave-on as a leave-in when the label forbids it — is (b). (c) is the SDS/MSDS screen: if the sheet characterizes the substance as hazardous or harmful to humans, you do not use it as a cosmetic service product. (d) is the flame rule at the workstation during any phase of a chemical service: mixing, application, processing, or use of a potentially explosive or flammable chemical. OAR 817-090-0115(4) writes that workstation-flame picture into the penalty schedule (the penalty rule still cites an older “(4)(d)” numbering; the current handling rule is 817-060-0030(3)(d)). A birthday candle on the station during a chemical service is not cute. It is a prohibited ignition source.

Do not invent a mixing ratio for hair color, toner, or perm lotion on this exam. Those services are out of barbering scope. Division 60 does not publish a 1:1 or 1:2 color-developer recipe, and this guide will not either. If a question is about disinfectant dilution for non-sharp tools, the source is already OAR 817-010-0068(6) as taught in chapter 17: completely immerse in 1,000 ppm of a commercial quaternary ammonium compound or other low-level disinfectant according to the manufacturer. Do not rewrite that number here, and do not substitute a color-developer ratio for a quat jar.

Two clocks for chemical waste

Handling ends in waste. OAR 817-010-0060(1) — the sentence Division 60 points at in 817-060-0020(7) — is two clocks, not one:

1. All chemical waste material must be disposed of in a closed container at the conclusion of each service.
2. And disposed of in a fire-retardant container at the end of each business day.

Closed at the end of the service. Fire-retardant — airtight metal under OAR 817-005-0005(20) — at the end of the day. Cotton, foil, or towels damp with disinfectant, alcohol, or a neighboring perm solution that sit in an open plastic can until Saturday fail both clocks. OAR 817-010-0035(4) separately requires chemically soiled towels or linens in fire-retardant containers; 817-090-0070(3) and 817-090-0075(1) are the penalty mirrors (first-offense $300 on the current schedules). Chapter 17 taught the full refuse rule, including blood waste and sharps. This section only restates the chemical clocks so a Chemicals item does not send you hunting through Facility Standards.

OAR 817-010-0055 still governs substances that contact hair or skin: dispense so the unused portion stays uncontaminated, cover when not in use, hold manufacturer temperature, keep debris out, dispose immediately under 817-010-0060. Barbers do not wax, but a mixed facility with wax or other cosmetic preparations on the premises still follows that dispensing rule. 817-090-0080 is the penalty schedule for failing to dispense powders, liquids, wave solutions, creams, or other client-contact materials properly.

Client protection is a duty, not a drape preference

OAR 817-060-0010(1): all safety procedures which prevent eye, nail, hair, or skin injury to clients or damage to the clothing of clients must be followed when administering chemical services. The Board does not print a shopping list in that sentence. The procedures that actually prevent those injuries in a shop are the ones the exam expects you to choose: a cape (with a neck strip or towel under OAR 817-010-0040(1) so a common-use hair cloth never sits on skin), cotton at the hairline or ears when a product can run, and a protective cream on skin that a chemical could burn. Skip the barrier and a splash of disinfectant, alcohol, or a coworker’s perm solution becomes a 817-060-0010(1) injury or a ruined shirt.

OAR 817-060-0010(2) stacks ORS 654 (Oregon Safe Employment Act), OAR 437 Division 2, 29 CFR 1910.1030, and 29 CFR 1910.1200 on top of that. Gloves, eye protection when spatter is likely (OAR 817-010-0008, the current servicing-clients rule after OAR 817-015-0030 was repealed effective July 1, 2024), labeled containers, and SDS access are not optional extras for “real chemical days.” They are how client-protection regulations are met. Adequate ventilation under 817-005-0005(1) is part of keeping fumes from becoming a hazardous condition for the person in the chair and the person holding the bowl.

A barber who never applies color still administers chemical services when mixing and using disinfectant, alcohol, or other products that change the appearance of hair, skin, or nails. The drape still goes on. The cotton still goes on if the product can run. The cream still goes on if the product can burn skin. The exhaust still runs. “Barbers don’t do chemicals” is the trap the 8-item Chemicals cluster is written to catch.

An Astoria mug and an unlabeled bottle

Marcus, a barber in Astoria, mixes a fresh batch of disinfectant in a ceramic mug at the chair because the dispensary sink is stacked with bowls. He poured last week’s concentrate into an unlabeled water bottle. He drapes the client with a common cape on bare skin, no neck strip, and leaves peroxide-damp cotton from the hair designer’s last foil in an open plastic can. A tea light sits on the station “for atmosphere.” OAR 817-060-0030(1) required mixing in a dispensing area with nonporous surfaces, hot and cold water, ventilation, and no ignition. OAR 817-060-0010(2) and 29 CFR 1910.1200 required a labeled container. OAR 817-060-0010(1) and 817-010-0040(1) required procedures that protect skin and clothes, including a neck barrier under a common cape. OAR 817-010-0060(1) required chemical waste closed at the end of the service and fire-retardant at close. OAR 817-060-0030(3)(d) prohibited the open flame at the workstation during a chemical service. The mug was convenient. It was not the rule.