Prepare for the California Barber license exam with these practice questions and answers. This covers hair cutting, shaving, beard trimming, and sanitation procedures.

Q: What is a steatoma?

Answer: Sebaceous cyst of subcutaneous tumor filled with sebum

Q: The cause of acne vulgaris is

Answer: Chronic inflammation of hair follicles and associated sebaceous glands, 1. hormone associated increase in sebum production and excess keratin production block follicles, forming comedones

Q: What are levels of color

Answer: Lightness to darkness

Q: What is seborrhea?

Answer: Severe oiliness of the skin

Q: What is a subjective symptom found during a skin analysis?

Answer: Inflamed skin

Q: What are subjective symptoms?

Answer: A symptom apparent to the individual afflicted but not observable by others

Q: Acid-balanced shampoo

Answer: Shampoo that is balanced to the pH of skin and hair (4.5 to 5.5)

Q: Set of the shears

Answer: The manner in which the blades and shanks of the shears align with each other and are joined at the tension screw or rivet

Q: Highest form on decontamination

Answer: sterilization

Q: Tinea favosa

Answer: (tinea favus) fungal infection characterized by dry, sulfur-yellow, cup-like crusts on the scalp called scutula.

Q: Good skin has a balance of

Answer: Oil and water

Q: pH of temporary hair color

Answer: 3.5-4.5

Q: Natural pH of hair

Answer: 4.5-5.5

Q: Sinusoidal current is used during:

Answer: scalp and facial manipulations

Q: Sinusoidal current is

Answer: A smooth, repetitive alternating current; the most commonly used alternating current waveform, used in the high frequency machine and can produce heat.

Q: Four types of muscle tissue

Answer: epithelial, connective, muscle, nerve

Q: To hone is

Answer: to sharpen

Q: The aponeurosis is found on what part of the skull

Answer: top of the skull

Q: Stages of hair growth

Answer: anagen, catagen, telogen

Q: OSHA stands for

Answer: Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Q: What does OSHA do?

Answer: Sets standards for a safe and healthy workplace.

Q: MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet)

Answer: Provides communication to workers regarding chemicals used in the office

Q: What is the shoulder of a blade?

Answer: back edge of the razor

Q: Your client has sensitive, irritated, chapped and blistered skin

Answer: Do not proceed with a shave

Q: What are the three layers of hair?

Answer: cuticle, cortex, medulla

Q: Alkaline solutions have a pH

Answer: between 7 and 14

Q: Acid solutions have a pH

Answer: below 7.0 (neutral)

Q: Alkaline solutions

Answer: Soften, swell the hair and open the cuticle

Q: What does a tail end of a surfactant do

Answer: attracts dirt and oil and repels water

Q: When do you not perform a face shave?

Answer: When cuts, abrasion, and rash are present

Q: Three types of nerves

Answer: sensory, motor, autonomic

Q: The grind of a razor refers to the shape of the:

Answer: blade

Q: What is the grind of the razor?

Answer: The shape of the blade after it has been ground There are 2 types of razor grinds: Concave and Wedge

Q: To avoid damage, massage should be directed

Answer: Towards the origin of the muscle.Origin fixed attached

Q: buccinator muscle

Answer: Thin, flat muscle of the cheek between the upper and lower jaw that compresses the cheeks and expels air between the lips.

Q: What bacteria grows in clusters that causes abcesses, pustules, and boils?

Answer: staphylococci

Q: Petrissage

Answer: Kneading movement performed by lifting, squeezing, and pressing the tissue with a light, firm pressure.

Q: What tendon connects the epicranius muscle

Answer: the epicranial aponeurosis

Q: What is used after a high frequency treatment?

Answer: Alcohol based toner

Q: Strand test

Answer: Determines how the hair will react to the color formula and how long the formula should be left on the hair.

Q: patch test

Answer: a test in which a substance is applied topically to the skin on a small piece of blotting paper or wet cloth

Q: How long before applying permanent hair color should you perform a P.D. test

Answer: 24-48 hours

Q: Name the types of cutting edges of the shears ?

Answer: Convex and beveled

Q: Blood spill procedure

Answer: -Put on gloves-Clean area with antiseptic-Apply bandage-Dispose of everything in double-bagged procedure, and place in trash (or sharps container if you work at a Dr’s office/hospital).

Q: What do you do if you cut someone during a service?

Answer: Stop the service, put on gloves, and treat the cut

Q: What bacteria causes disease of infection?

Answer: Pathogenic

Q: Blood borne pathogens

Answer: Disease-causing organisms transferred through contact with blood or other body fluids such as Hepatitis or HIV

Q: What is required for hospital grade disinfectant?

Answer: Effective against bacteria, fungi, and viruses

Q: Two types of immunity

Answer: natural and acquired

Q: EPA

Answer: Environmental Protection Agency

Q: Evironmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Answer: a governmental agency with environmental protection regulatory and enforcement authority

Q: Who regulates product safety?

Answer: EPA and state

Q: What is tinea?

Answer: Medical term for ringworm

Q: What chemicals do not mix?

Answer: Bleach and ammonia

Q: What is used to clean barber head rests, chairs, and hard surfaces?

Answer: EPA registered hospital grade disinfectant

Q: What happens when you mix aniline derivative and hydrogen peroxide

Answer: Oxidization

Q: Galvanic current

Answer: Constant and direct current, having a positive and negative pole, that produces chemical changes when it passes through the tissues and fluids of the body.

Q: What does galvanic current do for the skin?

Answer: Creates chemical desincrustation and ionic iontophoresis. Used to create a chemical reaction that emulsifies or liquefies sebum and debris

Q: What are universal precautions?

Answer: Treat all blood as if it’s contaminated

Q: What do you put on a cut?

Answer: Styptic powder

Q: Quatts

Answer: Quaternary ammonium compounds

Q: Amp

Answer: Measures the strength of an electric current

Q: Volt

Answer: Unit of electric pressure

Q: Watt

Answer: Unit of power

Q: What is alopecia?

Answer: Abnormal hair loss

Q: Ideal face shape

Answer: oval

Q: Reverse freehand

Answer: razor position and stroke used in 4 of the 14 basic shaving areas: Nos. 5, 10, 13, and 14

Q: What is the pigment of hair called

Answer: melanin

Q: Can’t be made by mixing colors

Answer: primary colors

Q: Secondary colors are

Answer: orange, green, violet

Q: The primary colors are:

Answer: red, yellow, blue

Q: Tertiary colors are

Answer: yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, red-violet, red-orange, yellow-orange

Q: Pityriasis capitis simplex

Answer: Technical term for classic dandruff; characterized by scalp irritation, large flakes, and itchy scalp.

Q: Bulla

Answer: Large blister containing watery fluid

Q: Sepsis

Answer: Dangerous infection of the blood

Q: What do the colors of the barber pole represent?

Answer: Red-blood, blue-veins, white-bandages silver pan-catch blood

Q: What does acid do?

Answer: Close the hair

Q: What are sudoriferous glands?

Answer: sweat glands

Q: Histology

Answer: study of tissues and their structures

Q: Osteology

Answer: Study of bones

Q: Hyperdrosis

Answer: excessive sweating

Q: Three stages of matter

Answer: solid, liquid, gas

Q: Before sodium hydroxide processing hair should be analyzed for

Answer: Texture, elasticity, porosity

Q: How many bones make up the skull and face?

Answer: 14 bones

Q: What are the layers of skin?

Answer: Epidermis, dermis, subcutaneous

Q: Spirilla

Answer: Spiral or corkscrew-shaped bacteria that cause sexually transmitted diseases

Q: dermal papillae

Answer: a fingerlike projection of the dermis that may contain blood capillaries or Meissner corpuscles (of touch)

Q: arrector pili muscle

Answer: Causes hair to stand on end and goose bumps to appear

Q: The diameter of a single strand is called

Answer: Hair texture

Q: What is a conductor?

Answer: Any substance, material, or medium that conducts electricity

Q: Direct Current (DC)

Answer: Electric current that flows in only one direction

Q: Alternating Current (AC)

Answer: A flow of electric charge that regularly reverses its direction.

Q: Haircutting involves individualized and precise?

Answer: Designing, cutting, and shaping

Q: How do you apply color to mustache?

Answer: From nostrils down

Q: Inactive stage

Answer: or spore forming stage; coat themselves in wax-like outer shell and can be blown and not disturbed by heat, cold or disinfectants. When conditions are favorable they can become active again.

Q: Three levels of decontamination

Answer: Sanitation, disinfection, sterilization

Q: What is alopecia senilis?

Answer: Loss of hair at old age

Q: How many bones are in the human body?

Answer: 206

Q: Hair is composed of

Answer: 90% protein

Q: A.B. Moler

Answer: wrote the first barbering textbook; opened the first barber school in Chicago in 1893

Q: Journeymen Barbers

Answer: Barber employee union

Q: tonsure

Answer: A shaved patch on the crown of the head

Q: Cocci

Answer: Round shaped bacteria that appear singly or in groups

Q: Dipolcocci

Answer: Round shaped that cause disease such as pneumonia

Q: Fungi

Answer: Plant-like organisms (molds and yeasts) that can cause infection such as ringworm

Q: Human disease carrier

Answer: A person who is immune to a disease, but harbors germs that can infect other people

Q: Parasites

Answer: An organism that lives in or on another organism, deriving nourishment at the expense of its host, usually without killing it

Q: Pus

Answer: A fluid that contains white blood cells

Q: Scabies

Answer: Contagious skin disease transmitted by the itch mite

Q: Solute

Answer: A substance that is dissolved in a solvent

Q: Orbicularis

Answer: Muscle surrounding the eye

Q: Corrugator

Answer: a pyramid-shaped muscle of facial expression which draws the eyebrows and raises forehead

Q: Risorius muscle

Answer: Muscle of the mouth that draws the corner of the mouth out and back, as in grinning.

Q: Supinator muscle

Answer: Turns the forearm and hand outward so the palm faces upward

Q: Sensory nerves

Answer: carry messages to the brain & spinal cord from a receptor; afferent nerves

Q: Motor nerves

Answer: Controls movement; efferent nerves

Q: What part of the fingers should you to shampoo and massage the scalp?

Answer: Cushion of the fingers

Q: How does a barber clean a hone?

Answer: Water and pumice stone

Q: What lesions should barbers be aware of?

Answer: Primary and secondary

Q: What is the pH of conditioner?

Answer: 3.5-5.5

Q: What is the characteristic of low porosity?

Answer: Absorbs less moisture

Q: A client has red-violet hair and wants a natural brown, what color should you use to neutralize the unwanted tone?

Answer: green-yellow

Q: What area should you apply relaxing cream to first?

Answer: Most resistant area

Q: Where should you hold a razor when changing out the blade?

Answer: Shank

Q: Acne is a disorder of what gland?

Answer: Sebaceous gland

Q: During a facial treatment what part of a client should be covered?

Answer: Clothing and hair

Q: Microbiology is

Answer: The study of microorganisms

Q: What is the method used when the hair at the crown is longer than at the nape?

Answer: Tapering

Q: In a chemical waving service, how do you apply the solution?

Answer: Crown to nape

Q: If you spot dry patches of skin prior to a facial treatment, what type of service do you recommend?

Answer: Exfoliant conditioning

Q: What should you do to hair that is dry and brittle before a hair color service?

Answer: Hair conditioner

Q: What style of mustache would you do for a client that has very small lips?

Answer: Small, medium mustache

Q: Prior to a shave, how should you sanitize the headrest?

Answer: Disinfect and cover

Q: What protects the brain?

Answer: Cranium

Q: What parts of the face consists of the t-zone?

Answer: Forehead, nose and chin

Q: What is the texture of a hair strand?

Answer: Diameter of the hair

Q: How to do make long necks appear shorter?

Answer: Hair that is left longer, fuller at the nape

Q: What are the secondary colors?

Answer: orange, green, violet

Q: Blood borne pathogens

Answer: Disease-causing organisms transferred through contact with blood or other body fluids

Q: What percentage of alcohol may be used to disinfect?

Answer: 70%

Q: Trichology

Answer: Scientific study of hair and its diseases and care.

Q: Polypeptide chains are

Answer: A chain of amino acids linked together by peptide bonds.

Q: Three type of side bonds

Answer: Hyrogen, salt, and disulfide bonds

Q: Density

Answer: The amount of hair per square inch of scalp

Q: What is ammonium thioglycolate (ATG)?

Answer: The main active ingredient or reducing agent in alkaline

Q: What is glyceral monothioglycolate (GMTG)?

Answer: The main active ingredient in true acid + acid balanced waves

Q: Soft water is

Answer: best for a barbershop

Q: What are the three types of infrared light?

Answer: White, red, and blue

Q: What do antiseptics do?

Answer: kill microorganisms in the environment

Q: An applicator used to direct electric current from a machine to the client’s skin is a(n):

Answer: Electrode

Q: Clippers have a cutting blade and a

Answer: Still blade

Q: Pediculosis is caused by:

Answer: head lice

Q: immunity

Answer: the ability of an organism to resist a particular infection or toxin by the action of specific antibodies or sensitized white blood cells.