10.4 Shaving Safety: Contraindications, Facial Hair Types, Razor Handling, and Shaving Around the Mouth and Ears

Why this topic matters

Shaving is 17 percent of the theory test, about 19 questions, and its first subtopic, Shaving Safety, has five parts:

1. Contraindications of shaving
2. Shaving different facial hair types and textures
3. Safe shaving procedures, such as stretching the skin and direction of the stroke
4. Safe razor handling
5. Safe shaving around the mouth and ears

The practical test's 50-minute straight razor area is scored for infection control and safety on every stroke. A single careless motion with an open razor can cost the whole topic area.

1. Contraindications: when not to shave

Do not shave, and refer the client to a physician, when you see:

• Open sores, weeping lesions, or crusts, such as the honey-colored crusts of impetigo
• Pustules or boils in the beard area, including suspected folliculitis or sycosis vulgaris
• Ring-shaped, scaly, or inflamed patches suggesting tinea barbae (fungal "barber's itch")
• Cold sores or fever blisters (herpes simplex)
• Signs of lice or scabies

Tennessee Rule 0200-03-.04 bars serving a patron with definite open sores, symptoms of an infectious or contagious disease or skin disorder, or parasites unless written permission from a physician has been secured.

Shave with extra care, or modify the service, for:

• Moles, warts, skin tags, and raised scars. Stretch the skin around them and go around, never over. Do not remove growths.
• Keloid-prone skin. Avoid close shaving and repeated passes.
• Sunburned, windburned, or chapped skin. Skip hot towels and consider postponing.
• Active non-contagious acne. Avoid dragging the blade over pustules.
• Recent prescription retinoid use or chemical peels. The skin is fragile.
• Blood-thinning medication or bleeding disorders. Small nicks bleed longer. Use gentle strokes and have antiseptic or liquid or spray styptic ready (Rule 0200-03-.05(4)).

2. Different facial hair types and textures

Grain mapping. Before the first stroke, run clean, dry fingertips over the beard. It feels smooth with the grain and rough against it. The neck grain often changes direction below the jaw. That is why the 14-area sequence changes strokes there (areas 4 and 5 on the right, 9 and 10 on the left).

3. Safe shaving procedures

• Prepare the beard. Softening with a steam towel and lather makes the hair easier to cut and reduces irritation (section 10.2).
• Stretch the skin. Use the cushions of the fingertips of the free hand, kept dry so they do not slip, to pull the skin taut in the direction opposite the stroke. Keep the stretching fingers behind the razor, never in its path.
• Hold the angle. Keep the blade at about 30 degrees to the skin. A steeper angle scrapes and nicks; a flatter angle pulls.
• Lead with the point. Use a gliding, slightly diagonal stroke, and shave with the grain during the first-time-over.
• Keep strokes short. Short, controlled strokes keep the blade close to the stretched area where the skin is tight.
• Keep the edge clean. Wipe lather from the razor often on a clean towel or tissue. Never wipe it on the client's cape.
• Re-lather dry areas. Never shave dry skin.
• Check comfort. A client who flinches may have a nick or razor burn. Stop and check.

4. Safe razor handling

• Open and close the razor carefully. Hold the shank between the thumb and fingers and keep your fingers clear of the edge.
• Close the razor (or cover a changeable-blade razor) whenever it is not in active use, including during towel changes and conversation. Never set an open razor on the client, the chair, or the station edge.
• Never gesture with an open razor.
• Pass it handle first, closed, if you must hand it to someone.
• Load a new blade for every client, touching only the blade's paper wrapper, and put used blades straight into a puncture-resistant sharps container.
• Clean and disinfect the razor handle between clients: clean with soap and water, then fully immerse in EPA-registered disinfectant. Use a hospital-grade disinfectant effective against HIV-1 and hepatitis B if blood was involved (Rule 0200-03-.05(3)).
• If you nick a client, stop, put on gloves, cleanse the area, apply antiseptic or liquid or spray styptic with a single-use applicator, cover it, and follow the blood exposure procedure in section 3.4.

5. Shaving around the mouth and ears

Under the nose and the upper lip (areas 3 and 6)

• Gently lift or push the tip of the nose with the free hand to stretch the upper lip, taking care not to block the client's breathing.
• Use short, slightly diagonal strokes that follow the grain of the mustache area.
• Trim and shape a mustache before the shave, and never shave into its planned line.

Lower lip and chin (areas 11 and 14)

• Ask the client to "ball the chin" by rolling the lower lip slightly over the bottom teeth. This firms the skin for shaving across the chin (area 11) and for short upward scooping strokes from the cleft of the chin toward the lower lip (area 14).
• Keep the blade away from the lip line. The skin at the lip border is thin and bleeds easily.

The Adam's apple and neck (area 13)

• Stretch the skin away from the Adam's apple and shave on a slight diagonal to avoid nicks.
• Use light pressure over the throat, where the skin is loose and sensitive.

Around the ears

• Gently fold the ear forward or hold it out of the way with the free hand.
• Use the point of the razor with short strokes around the curve of the ear and the sideburn.
• The reverse backhand stroke is used for the neck shave behind the client's left ear (for a right-handed barber) while the client sits upright.
• Protect the ear canal from lather and water.

Scenario

A client with a dense, tightly curled beard has had painful bumps after past shaves and asks for "the closest shave possible." The safe answer is to shave with the grain, avoid stretching the skin too tightly, skip close shaving against the grain, and explain that a close shave against the grain makes pseudofolliculitis more likely. Offer a close clipper or trimmer finish as an alternative.