Barber Shops

BARBER SHOPS - premises in which services are provided to the public for hair care, are usually divided into two main types: 1) public and 2) those serving sanitary processing. In public barber shops, shaving, hair cutting, styling, hair washing, as well as certain cosmetic procedures such as hair coloring and perming, nail care (manicure), etc. are performed; in barber shops serving sanitary processing, only procedures that constitute an obligatory part of sanitary processing - hair cutting and shaving - are performed. Barber shops, by their location, design, equipment, and maintenance, must satisfy the following sanitary requirements: 1) they must be kept clean and allow for easy, convenient, and rapid cleaning of both the premises and all their furnishings, equipment, and instruments; 2) they must be equipped in such a way as not to be a source of spreading infectious diseases or contaminating those using them or working in them; 3) they must fully satisfy the population's needs and be nearby and accessible for use. Public barber shops are of two types: municipal, serving all citizens (open type), and closed - serving specific groups of population at separate institutions, enterprises, and productions (closed type). For the purpose of uniform and convenient service to the population, a network of barber shops should be developed in populated areas, and in socialist-type cities, barber shops are arranged at residential complexes to serve the living population in enlarged residential quarters, while in existing populated places, barber shops are opened by districts with a service radius of about 1 km. Barber shops must be located in premises completely isolated from residential, commercial, office, or industrial premises. The size of barber shops varies depending on the number of people served. Large barber shops are more desirable for economic reasons, greater capacity, and the possibility of maintaining better sanitary conditions. Large barber shops consist of the following premises: 1) entrance with vestibule and cloakroom; 2) cashier's desk and waiting room; 3) work hall separately for men and women, with designated areas for hair washing and manicure; 4) washing room with boiler; 5) premises for working personnel; 6) toilet for workers. The work hall must allow for proper arrangement of chairs, good lighting, and convenience of work, with at least 3 m^% per person for each visitor and worker. The lighting of barber shops must allow for fine work by barbers, be uniform, sufficient in all work areas, not create sharp shadows or flickering; the ratio of glass area to floor area - not less than ¹[_в, and the illumination of the work area by artificial light - not less than 50 lux. All barber shop premises must be well ventilated, with room temperature not less than 16°. All finishing of barber shops must not allow for contamination of premises, accumulation of hair, dirt, and dust; ceilings and walls must be smooth, plastered and whitewashed with paneling painted to a height of 1.5 m from the floor or other finishing that allows for washing the walls; floors - smooth without potholes, cracks, or crevices, allowing for easy removal of hair. To prevent the transmission of infections and parasitic diseases (scabies, ringworm, scabies, syphilis, etc.) and the transfer of insects to visitors and workers, appropriate preventive measures are applied both to visitors and workers, as well as to instruments (disinfection), linen (changing and washing), and furnishings (cleaning). Barber shops must be supplied with hot and cold water, preferably with piping to workstations (mirrors) and necessarily to washbasins, which must be in each work hall. Soft furniture, curtains, and generally things not used in production (e.g. pictures) and that hinder cleaning and maintaining the premises clean are not permitted. Linen (napkins, towels, 'pennyuars', robes), tools, and toilet and cosmetic articles must be available in sufficient quantities, calculated for the maximum capacity of the barber shop, and stored clean in closed cabinets on specially designated shelves. Dishes for cosmetic, perfumery, and disinfectant solutions must be easily cleaned and tightly sealed with corks and lids. Special containers must be provided for dirty linen: covered iron buckets or boxes. Completely clean and ironed linen must be provided for each visitor; napkins should preferably be kept in sealed envelopes. Tools must be disinfected and cleaned after each use; sterilized shaving brushes must be in sealed envelopes (when using non-sterilized new brushes, cases of anthrax infection have been observed). Cleaning of tools and toilet articles varies: a) hair clippers, scissors, razors, and other cutting metal instruments, in addition to wiping with clean cotton and immersion in boiling water, are disinfected with alcohol of not less than 70% strength or with the flame of an alcohol lamp; b) combs to prevent deep contamination in the teeth during use are protected with a thin layer of cotton, and after use are cleaned mechanically, wiped with gasoline, and daily washed in hot water with soap; c) brushes are cleaned mechanically, wiped with gasoline, and washed in hot water with soap or hot soda solution; d) shaving brushes are sterilized, and if sterilization cannot be performed, they are immersed in a 4% formalin solution and used only after immersion in boiling water. Hair after cutting is collected from the floor with a metal scoop and burned (storage of hair is not permitted due to the danger of transmitting parasitic typhus through lice).- Barbers are periodically subjected to medical examination. Barbers work in robes made of light washable material; hands must be washed before work; smoking during work is not permitted. Visitors with signs of disease of the hair or skin on the head, face, neck, as well as extremely untidy visitors with insects, are not admitted to public barber shops.--Each barber shop is opened only after preliminary sanitary inspection and corresponding sanitary permit for opening. The design, opening, and maintenance of barber shops in the RSFSR are regulated by sanitary rules issued by the NKZdr. (Questions of Public Health, 1928, circular № 122-162.) To ensure the greatest accessibility of barber shops to the broad masses of the population, the SNK of the RSFSR issued on September 8, 1928 a resolution 'On ensuring the conditions for maintaining barber shop establishments'. Barber shops serving sanitary processing constitute an integral part of the institution where sanitary processing is carried out, such as isolation or sanitary checkpoint points, transit-type bathhouses, infectious disease hospitals, etc. They have special tasks: to serve patients (in an infectious disease hospital), then persons who have had contact with patients, persons significantly contaminated, with high lice infestation (isolation-checkpoint points), etc., and often to process a large number of people requiring rapid sanitary processing (sanitary checkpoint points). This leads to the following sanitary requirements for these barber shops, in addition to the general requirements mentioned. These barber shops must a) be spacious and calculated for the maximum number of people served simultaneously; b) allow for wet disinfection of the premises after work (painting of walls and ceilings with oil paint, waterproof floors, etc.); c) allow for convenient and rapid collection of cut hair without scattering and immediate burning after each visitor (special rubber and rubber-coated cup-shaped collectors worn during cutting protect the 'pennyuar' and floor from contamination by insects and hair); d) ensure that workers observe personal hygiene and protection from the spread of lice (passing through a sanitary lock before and after work, special work clothing, frequent changing of it, etc.); e) allow work without excessive loss of time, without delaying visitors, and with maximum rationalization of all visitor processing procedures (proper arrangement of chairs and washbasins, use of improved hair clippers, preliminary preparation of visitors for cutting, etc.); f) be provided with everything necessary for timely and rapid disinsection and disinfection of tools immediately after cutting or shaving each visitor; g) protect visitors from possible infection and transmission of insects (admitting visitors to the cutting and shaving room only to an available chair, furnishing the barber shop only with the most necessary furniture for cutting and shaving that allows for washing, especially careful storage of used linen and its disinsection after work, good lighting of premises, absence of dark corners, etc.).- The operation of barber shops must be carried out according to special rules, and special instructions must be developed for workers, taking into account the dangers of the work and indicating specific preventive measures to protect workers.

Persons who have had typhus should be given preference for work in such barber shops.