Unless the infection sets in before the customer walks out the door, the connection is unlikely to be made.
Dangers of straight shaves at the barber shop
- Thread starter vinniel
- Start date
Unless the infection sets in before the customer walks out the door, the connection is unlikely to be made.
The incubation period of Hepatitis C, from the time of exposure to the virus until the onset of the disease, is one to six months. Most patients have no symptoms. Early symptoms include poor appetite, nausea, aching muscles and joints.
Not easy to link back to a particular shave. It's not like eating bad chinese food where you know on the drive home from the resturant that your insides are about to come out.
BTW, tattooing is a leading cause of hep c.
Like most other things, being aware and knowledgable about what you are doing and what the risks are helps keep safe.
Not easy to link back to a particular shave. It's not like eating bad chinese food where you know on the drive home from the resturant that your insides are about to come out.
BTW, tattooing is a leading cause of hep c.
Like most other things, being aware and knowledgable about what you are doing and what the risks are helps keep safe.
Isn't this the reason why barber shops use replaceable blade-straights in the first place. I don;t know if it differs between states, but in mine it is illegal to use one blade or needle (tattooing) more than once.
Yup, Twinrix is the name of the vaccine that I got from my doctor. You have to do it 3 times and it lasts 10 years.
I always make a point, not only of putting a new blade into the shavette for every customer, but for actually doing it there in front of them so they can see.
In my opinion it's just good practise. And we have UV lights in the drawers too but I wonder how many barbers know exactly what you can and can't sterilise with light? You have to rotate what you put in there not just pop it in and forget about it.
Needless to say it's a big issue with me and I got a distinctions in my health and safety assignment and exam
In my opinion it's just good practise. And we have UV lights in the drawers too but I wonder how many barbers know exactly what you can and can't sterilise with light? You have to rotate what you put in there not just pop it in and forget about it.
Needless to say it's a big issue with me and I got a distinctions in my health and safety assignment and exam
Second question first --
If you buy a used straight razor for yourself, wash it with soap and water, use a bit of disinfectant on it, chances of you picking up a disease from it would be very small. So traffick all you like.
The problem arises from constantly re-using razor blades in barber shops.
First question --
There hasn't been too much research on this issue. I would imagine it's because of a lack of funding to perform the research, and I suppose not everyone would be anxious to see the results.
I am aware of a survey done in Turkey about 10 years ago, where the investigators looked to see how many barber's razors had hepatitis on the blade. To make a long story short, they found about 8% of the blades had hepatitis, and about 39% of the barbers had hepatitis as well.
I have a link to the study over on my website - kingbarber.com .
Some other folks discovered that hepatitis viruses can live in a solution of Barbicide for 6 days. Not a happy bit of information, if your barber isn't changing out his razor for each customer. Nevertheless, there it is.
Speaking of Barbicide and other razor disinfectants --
Not all EPA-registered disinfectants are capable of killing hepatitis viruses. The ones that have been tested by the AOAC and had the efficacy test results reviewed by the EPA before approval, will be labeled as to what microbes they can kill, along with how the disinfectant should be used.
Contrary to what one might think, stuff like Barbicide are not effective when you just dip a comb or brush or razor blade into the solution. If you read the label (or, even if you don't) you'll see that to kill the hepatitis virus on "smooth non-porous surfaces," you have to pre-clean the item first. And then you soak it in the disinfectant.
You'd be hard-pressed to find a barber with fresh blood on the edge of his razor blade who follows the label directions on his disinfectants.
Also, consider other disinfectant label claims --
Marvicide (a clone of Barbicide) does not claim to kill hepatitis.
There's a nifty Clipper Cleaner called H-42 that is labeled as an "Anti-Virucidal Disinfectant." But what does that mean, exactly? Not everything that's labeled "Anti-Virucidal" will kill every virus. In this case, when the EPA reviewed its AOAC test results, it evidently found that it was capable of killing the HIV virus, but not the hepatitis viruses. But it still qualifies to be labeled as an EPA-registered Anti-Virucidal disinfectant. Question -- does it kill disease-causing bacteria? No. The product is labeled "Anti-Bacterial" but that's only because of a quirk in the EPA and FTC labeling laws. Check out my product review on Amazon for H-42 clipper cleaner for more details.
And of course, some companies sell "Clipper cleaner & disinfectant" that they claim kill microbes, but haven't been evaluated by the AOAC, and not registered with the EPA. Amanady's "Dr. Klipp Clipper Cleaner" is one of those:
http://www.amanady.com/viewdetails.php?idProduct=4
Dr. Klipp is a unique all natural clipper oil, leaving a light lubricating film, cooling, and reducing friction to hair clippers. It also extends blade life, allowing maximum efficiency. If protecting your grooming equipment is priority, protect it with the best clipper oil, Dr. Klipp. An astonishing clipper oil that disinfects, lubricates, a coolant, rust preventative, and cleaner. Environmental friendly, say goodbye to aerosol sprays! And for a really clean skin and scalp, you have to try the Dr. FeelGood Spray On Antiseptic.
Basically, the product label laws don't let you say a product "disinfects" unless it's been tested by the AOAC and registered with the EPA.
So basically, for barbershop shave customers, y'all have to watch out for
ineffective products, and products not used according to their label directions.
But then again, barbers need to look out for themselves, also.
Those of y'all who have had face or scalp or neck shaves in a barber shop will probably not recall when their barber used plastic gloves while performing the shave. I won't bore y'all with the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen Standard, but yes, it's applied to employees of barber shops since 1992, and been universally ignored by barber shop employers since 1992.
The upshot for barbershop customers is that barbershop owners want to save the 10-20 cents per blade expense for shaving, so they let their barbers reuse that same blade on you. So, you can take your chances.
The upshot for barbers not using protective plastic gloves means that they will put their bare skin in contact with a lot of stranger's blood every day/week/month/year. Calculating the probability of acquiring a customer's bloodborne disease involves calculating the % of customers who have a bloodborne disease (the CDC says in the USA, that's about 2% of everyone), and then it depends on whether or not the barber has unbroken skin or scratches that allow the viruses through, and how much blood he touches. The CDC figures that 1 out of 400 needle-sticks with HIV-infected blood will result in infection, and about 1 out of 1000 bare-skin to infected blood. Hepatitis is easier to spread, since there are lots more viruses per volume of blood, but I haven't seen any specific probability on HCV or HBV infections. It should be greater, though.
-----
Bottom line --
For buying/selling your own razors on eBay & flea markets, it shouldn't be a significant problem. The people who should worry about infections are barbers who reuse razor blades on their customers.
And yes, the barber regulators on the state level (Texas) are clueless about this as well. But now you know.
Best wishes,
--Kingbarber
I always make a point, not only of putting a new blade into the shavette for every customer, but for actually doing it there in front of them so they can see.
In my opinion it's just good practise. And we have UV lights in the drawers too but I wonder how many barbers know exactly what you can and can't sterilise with light? You have to rotate what you put in there not just pop it in and forget about it.
Needless to say it's a big issue with me and I got a distinctions in my health and safety assignment and exam
Cool.
There are no EPA-registered Ultraviolet Sterilizers that can be used on anything other than killing microbes in clear fluids such as air and water.
American manufacturers of desktop UV cabinets used to label them as "Sterilizers" but the FTC got on them, and now they're labeled as "Sanitizers." Legally, there's a big difference. Sterilizers and Disinfectants have to demonstrate to the FDA and EPA that they actually work. But a Sanitizer could be a bottle of day-old dog pee.
Legally speaking.Thanks for changing out those blades. Sure wish you lived in my neighborhood.
Best,
I had my hep-B and hep-A vaccines about 20 years ago and their still going strong. I have my titer drawn every year with my physical to make sure I'm still covered, no need to retake a vaccine when your levels are good.
I don't know anyone over here who's gotten a hep vaccine but it's def given me something to think about for when I graduate as a barber.
Heck I'd get it now but I can't afford it
Heck I'd get it now but I can't afford it
I don't know anyone over here who's gotten a hep vaccine but it's def given me something to think about for when I graduate as a barber.
Heck I'd get it now but I can't afford it
For us they are free and you get them in grade school.
For us they are free and you get them in grade school.
Here in the states you have to get them before starting school.
For us they are free and you get them in grade school.
Oh yeah, was that the day everyone was complaining about their arms hurting?
Might have been lol of it was the day that we decided it was a good plan to go punch for punch
Sounds about right.
Look what happened today thanks to all of you!:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?p=2836660#post2836660
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?p=2836660#post2836660
I had the hell scared out of me when I went to a barbershop one day for a haircut because the customer sitting in the chair next to me had been shaved after his haircut and his chin was bleeding a little. The barber working on me asked me if I wanted a shave but I said politely “no thanks!”
Rick
Rick
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