11.1 Areas of the Face and Shaving Technique

The Oregon Barbering Examination Information Bulletin (revised October 25, 2019) lists Shaving as 8 of 100 theory questions — 8 percent — covering areas of the face, shaving technique, steaming and lathering, shaving strokes, and the finishing step. Those eight items sit inside Barbering Services (42 of 100). This is the distinctive barber domain. Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 690.005(2)(d) authorizes shaving, trimming or cutting of the beard or mustache as a cosmetic service. Hair design does not own that sentence. Guessing a reverse backhand on a cheek, or dragging a reusable razor over a herpes vesicle because the client “just wants it gone,” is how an eight-item slice becomes a fail on both written exams.

The Health Licensing Office (HLO) draws the 14-area map and the four textbook strokes from Milady's Standard Professional Barbering, 5th Edition (2011) and Pivot Point Barbering Fundamentals, 1st Edition (2018). Oregon then binds the same chair to Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) Chapter 817: gloves when blood is likely, high-level disinfectant on a sharp, and a sharps container when a disposable blade meets blood.

Why face areas and technique are scored

The theory paper asks whether you can name the 14 shaving areas, pick freehand, backhand, reverse freehand, or reverse backhand, shave with the grain on the first time over, and refuse a shave over inflamed pseudofolliculitis barbae (PFB), herpes simplex virus (HSV), or impetigo. The laws paper asks the same chair: OAR 817-010-0008 (servicing clients), OAR 817-010-0068 (disinfecting nonelectrical tools), and OAR 817-010-0060 (refuse and waste). Technique without infection control is not an Oregon pass.

The 14 shaving areas (Milady numbering 1–14)

The face is divided into 14 numbered areas. A right-handed barber shaves them sequentially during the first-time-over shave, with the grain in each area. A left-handed barber inverts the map and begins on the client's left sideburn. The numbers are both locations and order. Skipping from the right sideburn to the left cheek because it “looks even” is not the sequence HLO's textbooks teach.

Freehand is used in six of the 14 areas: 1, 3, 4, 8, 11, and 12. Backhand is used in four: 2, 6, 7, and 9 (optional on area 12). Reverse freehand is used in four: 5, 10, 13, and 14. Reverse backhand is not one of the 14 facial strokes; a right-handed barber uses it on the left side of the neck behind the ear during a neck shave.

When hair in area 5 grows downward, a freehand stroke may replace reverse freehand so you still travel with the grain. Areas 11 and 14 are sensitive; the client can help stretch by rolling the lower lip slightly over the lower teeth. Area 13 includes the Adam's apple — short, controlled strokes, never a sawing pull. For area 8, the right-handed barber stands at the client's right to reach the left chin with a freehand stroke.

Right versus left, reverse backhand, and freehand

Stand on the side the stroke needs. Freehand is a gliding stroke toward you: shank between thumb and first two fingers, handle between the third and fourth, little finger bracing the tang. Backhand travels away from you; a right-handed barber uses it on the left sideburn (area 7) and the other backhand numbers. Reverse freehand keeps the freehand hold but turns the hand so the edge faces up; the barber often stands behind the client's head and uses an upward glide on the neck and under the lip. Reverse backhand turns the backhand hold palm-up for a downward glide behind the ear and down the side of the neck — right-handed on the left neck, left-handed on the right neck. Do not invent a reverse backhand on the cheek. The 14 facial numbers never asked for it.

Why grain matters

Grain is the direction of beard growth in that patch. Facial hair usually grows in a consistent direction inside each of the 14 areas, then changes at a grain-change line (jaw, under-chin, neck). The first-time-over shave follows the grain. Against-the-grain on a first pass is a close shave, not the standard 14-area pass, and it raises ingrown hairs, especially in curly beards. Improper shaving of curly hair can produce infected bumps on and under the skin — PFB. The correct cutting stroke keeps the blade near a 30-degree angle with the point leading. Very fast and very slow movements both fail; the ideal is a light, forward gliding motion.

Skin stretching and client position

Recline the client, head in the rest, face accessible. Drape with a neck strip or towel under the cape so a common-use hair cloth never touches skin (OAR 817-010-0040). Stretch the skin taut in the opposite direction of the stroke with the thumb and second finger (cushion of the fingertips). Dry, clean fingers — product on the stretching hand makes the skin slip under the edge. Leave a small ribbon of lather for the next stroke so you can see where you stopped, then check for missed patches before you call the 14 areas done.

Never shave over inflamed PFB, HSV, or impetigo

ORS 690.005(2) keeps barbering cosmetic, not medical. Inflamed PFB, open HSV vesicles (cold sores / fever blisters), and impetigo are stop-and-refer findings. Do not steam, lather, or shave over them to “clean up for a wedding.” A razor that nicks a vesicle can seed lesions along the shave path and contaminate the next face if the blade is reused. OAR 817-120-0005 makes the authorization holder responsible for refusing a prohibited, unsafe, or harmful service.

Gloves, the straight razor, and blood

OAR 817-010-0008 requires thorough hand washing immediately before and after each client. Wear single-use disposable protective gloves when the procedure routinely involves exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials (OPIM). A face shave is that procedure: nicks happen. Wear eye goggles, shields, or a mask if spattering is likely. Disposable gloves are discarded immediately after use (OAR 817-010-0068(12)).

A straight razor is a sharp-edged, nonelectrical tool. After the client, OAR 817-010-0068 is a sequence: remove hair and foreign material; clean thoroughly with soap or detergent and water; rinse with clear, clean water; then completely immerse in high-level disinfectant — a chemical agent that is EPA-registered and tuberculocidal (OAR 817-005-0005) — per the manufacturer's instructions. A wipe on a towel is not immersion. A comb jar of 1,000 parts per million (ppm) of quaternary ammonium compound (quats) is low-level and is not enough for a razor.

Changeable disposable blades that contact the client and cannot be disinfected are discarded after use (OAR 817-010-0068(2)). If the blade contacts blood or OPIM, OAR 817-010-0060(6) requires a sharps container: puncture-resistant, leak-proof, closable, labeled with the biohazard symbol.

A Salem chair and a cold sore

A walk-in at a Salem shop asks for a close shave. The barber sees a cluster of clear vesicles on the upper lip — area 3. The client says steam it and go around. Oregon's answer is stop. Do not shave inflamed HSV, and do not treat a vesicle as a style problem. If a nick had already happened, gloves stay on, the disposable blade goes in the sharps container, and the reusable handle is cleaned, rinsed, and high-level immersed. The 14-area map never authorized shaving through a vesicle.