View report page

Hairdressers and Barbers.
The following report was submitted to the Public Health Committee on February 13th: —
The question of the advisability of framing regulations for the conduct of the
businesses of hairdressers and barbers was raised by Dr. Collingridge, Medical Officer
of Health for the City of London, in a valuable report made to the Sanitary Committee
of the Corporation last year. In this he gives the result of inquiries made in
practically all civilised countries as to their action in the matter. Sixty replies were
received, 46 from foreign countries and 14 from our colonies abroad. He says,
"Speaking generally, it may be said that sanitary regulations, or statutes specially
controlling barbers and hairdressers, exist in but few of the civilized countries of the
world. There are none in force in any of the British Colonies, but the Board of
Health of the Province of Ontario, Canada, have the matter under consideration."
Regulations, as far as can be ascertained, are in operation in the following
countries, viz.:—America (New York State), Bolivia, Germany (Anhalt, Waldeck,
Hamburg and Danzic), .Japan, Salvador, Servia, Sweden, Switzerland (Lausanne,
Vevey, and Rolle), Turkey and Uruguay.
The only English-speaking country which has adopted regulations is America, and
this is the State of New York. Here barbers require to pass an examination before
plying their trade, must then register and conform to certain antiseptic regulations.
They are regularly inspected to see that they are carried out. The law empowering
the making of such regulations met with little opposition. There are said to be 15,000
hairdressers and barbers on the register there at present.
The remainder of the report is taken up mainly with an account of the regulations
adopted in the various countries. They are all very similar and aim at two objects,
viz.:—general cleanliness and antiseptic precautions in various degrees.
The following regulations and recommendations for the conduct of hairdressers'
saloons have been drawn up by the Incorporated Guild of Hairdressers, Wigmakers
and Perfumers in conjunction with the Medical Officer of Health for the City of
London : —
1. All shelves, fittings and tables on which instruments are placed, to be of
glass, marble, slate, or other similar material.
2. Clean towel, etc., to be used for each customer, and a fresh piece of paper
or clean linen to be placed on the back of chair or head rest.
3. No general powder puffs to be used, and powder pulverizers or cotton
wool to be substituted. No sponges to be used.
4. All hairclippers, razors, scissors, combs or other tools, after use, to be
placed in a disinfection solution.
5. Razors to be wiped on paper.
6. Perfectly clean hairbrushes only may be used.
7. Shaving brushes, after use, to be placed in a disinfection solution.
8. Liquid or powdered soap or shaving cream only to be used.
9. Cut hair falling on the floor to be immediately swept up and removed,
and floors to be cleansed daily.
10. No general alum crystals or blocks to be used as a styptic, but a liquid or
powder applied on towel or cotton wool or by spray.
11. The most scrupulous cleanliness to be observed in all that pertains to the
business.
The foregoing regulations give a very fair idea of the kind which have been
adopted elsewhere. As there are no members of the above Guild in this Borough or
of any other Association with which we can deal, I have approached the subject from a
general point of view, and directed my inquiries first into the conditions of the business
of the hairdressers and barbers of the Borough as to cleanliness, and secondly from
the doctors practising in the district as to the prevalence of diseases communicated by
the processes of shaving and hair-cutting.
Taking the last question first, I wrote to practitioners practising in the Borough
and received twenty-six replies. The questions I put were:- (1) The disease most
commonly transmitted; (2) Average number of cases per annum which come under
their personal observation, and (3) Implements which in their opinion are most likely
to be spreaders of infection.
The replies varied somewhat on all these points, but principally as to the number
of cases annually treated by them. All agree that the most common disease
transmitted by shaving is tinea sycosis (tinea barbae-barbers' itch) which is highly
infectious, difficult to cure, and frequently leaves permanent effects behind. Other
diseases transmitted in a similar manner are ringworm and impetigo contagiosa (a
species of eczema). These diseases might be termed local. I have been unable to
trace an example of the transmission of any constitutional disease by shaving, though
I inquired of one of the highest authorities in London; still there is an obvious
possibility, and I am somewhat surprised that there is not more evidence on this head.
It is very difficult to come to a conclusion as to what implements are most to
blame in conveying these infections, but I should be inclined to place them in the
following order, beginning with the most likely : —Brush, razor, powder puff, sponges,
styptic, and towel. I should think that it is probable that the brush harbours infection
in the largest amount, but the razor, by producing a slight breach of skin, is responsible