13.1 Shampoos and Conditioners

The Oregon Barbering Examination Information Bulletin (revised October 25, 2019) scores Product Knowledge and Chemistry as 11 of 100 theory items (11 percent). The bulletin splits that block: Products is 7 questions (shampoos and conditioners; styling aids; shaving products) and Chemistry is 4 questions (pH and the pH scale; water; cosmetic chemistry). This section is shampoos and conditioners — the products you pour at an Oregon bowl. Styling aids and shave products are 13.2. pH, water, and mixtures are 13.3.

The same bottles reappear on the 90-question Oregon Laws and Rules Examination. Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) 817-005-0005 defines materials and supplies to include shampoos, hair oils, rinses, wax, disinfectants, and chemicals. It defines a dispensing area as an area with nonporous surfaces and a sink with hot and cold running water where service preparations are conducted, including mixing of chemicals, cleaning of tools, disposing of residues, and rinsing body parts exposed to chemicals. OAR 817-010-0055 requires substances that contact hair or skin to be dispensed so the unused portion is not contaminated. Pouring leftover product from a used bowl back into the original bottle is that contamination.

The Health Licensing Office (HLO) still draws product names from Milady's Standard Professional Barbering, 5th Edition (2011) and Pivot Point Barbering Fundamentals, 1st Edition (2018). Passing remains 75 percent in 90 minutes. Chapter 8 is the shampoo procedure (drape, water temperature, brush-or-not). This section is the bottle: surfactant, pH class, conditioner type, hard water, and Oregon dispensing rules.

Why shampoo chemistry scores on both papers

A candidate who can lather but cannot name a hydrophilic head fails the products items. A candidate who can recite pH 4.5 to 5.5 but dumps used shampoo back into the gallon fails the laws paper. Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 690.005(2)(a) authorizes shampooing, styling, cutting, singeing, and conditioning. Subsection (2)(b) authorizes applying hair tonics, dressings, and rinses. Oregon barbering does not include bleaching, coloring, permanent waving, or relaxing — those sit in hair design under ORS 690.005. The theory paper will still name a clarifying shampoo. It will not ask you to mix a lightener.

OAR 817-005-0005 defines chemical service as the use of any product that restructures or removes hair or changes the shape or appearance of skin, hair, or nails. That definition is broader than "color and perm." Barbers still use shampoos, conditioners, shave creams, and disinfectants. Using a shampoo is not a license to relax hair. Using a disinfectant is not a license to bleach.

Surfactants: hydrophilic and lipophilic

A surfactant (surface-active agent) is the cleaning molecule in shampoo. It has two ends:

• A hydrophilic (water-loving) head that stays in water
• A lipophilic (oil-loving, also called hydrophobic) tail that buries itself in sebum and oily product

In water, surfactants gather into micelles: tails inward around oil, heads outward in the rinse. That is how soil leaves the hair. Modern shampoos are mostly synthetic detergents (syndets), not true soap. Soap is fat plus alkali. Soap plus hard water makes soap scum — insoluble calcium and magnesium salts that dull the hair and film the bowl. Syndets lather in hard water much better. That is why a barber shop on well water still uses shampoo, not a cake of soap, on the scalp.

pH-balanced versus alkaline clarifying

pH-balanced (acid-balanced) shampoo is formulated near the acid mantle of hair and skin, commonly taught as about 4.5 to 5.5, and typically sits in a 4.5 to 7 window. It cleans without aggressively swelling the cuticle. Use it for routine service.

An alkaline shampoo (pH above 7) raises the cuticle, strips more oil, and is the usual chemistry behind a clarifying or chelating shampoo used for product buildup or hard-water mineral film. Clarifying is occasional, not daily. Follow with a conditioner that brings the hair back toward the acid side. Chapter 13.3 is the scale. Here the product choice is daily balanced versus occasional alkaline/clarifying.

Dry shampoo is a waterless powder or aerosol (often starch or a similar absorbent, sometimes with alcohol). It soaks up oil between wet shampoos. It does not replace a thorough wet cleanse, and it leaves its own residue that a clarifying wash may later need to remove.

Medicated shampoo and referral

Medicated shampoos carry an active ingredient for cosmetic dandruff or oil control (for example zinc pyrithione or selenium sulfide on a label). They are still cosmetic in a barber chair. They are not a diagnosis and not a treatment plan for disease. If the scalp shows contagious signs, open sores, honey-colored crusts, or a pattern that is not ordinary flaking, stop and refer to a physician. OAR 817-120-0005 requires authorization holders to safeguard the public and refuse an unsafe or harmful service. A medicated bottle on the backbar does not turn a barber into a dermatologist.

Conditioners

Conditioners deposit on or in the cuticle to reduce static, add slip, and restore a smoother surface after shampoo.

A cream rinse is a light rinse-out detangler. It is not a protein pack and not a relaxer. Protein and moisturizing formulas solve different problems. Protein is a temporary fill on a rough cuticle. Moisturizing is water-binding on dry or coarse hair. Using a heavy protein product on already stiff, over-processed hair makes the stiffness worse.

Hard water versus soap scum

Hard water is high in calcium and magnesium. It fights lather, leaves a mineral film, and turns true soap into soap scum. Soft water lathers freely; it can also over-cleanse if you use a strong detergent as if the water were hard. In a hard-water Oregon shop, a periodic clarifying or chelating shampoo is a product choice. Changing the surfactant is smarter than scrubbing longer on an intact scalp. Chapter 13.3 names distilled and purified water. The bowl fact here is simpler: if hair still feels coated after a thorough rinse, the water or the leftover product is the problem, not the client's patience.

Do not dump leftover product back into bottles

OAR 817-010-0055(1) is the dispensing sentence: all substances that contact hair or skin, including wax, must be dispensed from containers in a manner that prevents contaminating of the unused portion. The leftover in a used bowl, in a palm, or on a double-dipped pump is contaminated. It does not go back into the gallon. Cover products when not in use. Keep them free of hair and debris. Dispose of used substance; do not recycle it into stock.

Mix and pour in the dispensing area: nonporous surfaces plus a sink with hot and cold running water (OAR 817-005-0005). A wooden counter that soaks up shampoo is not that area. A restroom sink is not the facility water source for preparation (OAR 817-010-0014). Shampoo bowls sit inside the work area and common area definitions; they still need cleanable, nonporous surfaces.

A Bend bowl and a returned gallon

Luis, a certificate holder in Bend, squeezes shampoo into a plastic cup, shampoos a client over an oily scalp, and pours the unused cup back into the gallon "because it never touched him." The cup sat on the station, his wet hand capped it, and hair is on the rim. That unused portion is no longer unused. OAR 817-010-0055 is the miss. If the same shop treats a crusted scalp with a medicated dandruff shampoo instead of referring, that is a second miss. If Luis uses bar soap because the well water is hard, he is making soap scum, not cleaning. Dispense a syndet shampoo so the stock stays clean, pick pH-balanced for daily work, clarify when minerals or product sit on the hair, and refer disease.