Could You Pass a Cosmetology Certification Exam?

Well, for very obvious reasons, you would most definitely clean a foot spa right after every client. Think about all the bacteria and residue left from the other person. OK, maybe don’t think about it, but still, clean it!

If Sally — or any technician out there — gets cut while attending to a customer, the service must be stopped then and there. The next step is for the technician to start blood spill procedures to avoid any health issues (or even legal issues). Once this is complete, you’re good to continue with the service.

Liquid soap doesn’t need to be touched. Bar soaps, when touched, can grow bacteria while washing your hands with it. Plus, it’s just easier to squeeze some soap out of a dispenser and wash your hands without having to use a bar soap that others have used before you. Yucky.

If they have a side that’s flaky and another one that’s oily, then the client is likely to have a combination skin type. This is typical for this type of skin, which has dry and flaky parts while the center of the face (including nose, chin and forehead) is oily.

You would definitely want to use a neutralizing shampoo to lower the pH of the hair after a relaxer service. This also reforms disulfide bonds and makes the hair permanently straighter.

If you can exchange information with your client and cater to their needs you're off to a good start. Clients love it when you pay attention, especially when they can’t express what they want but you just get it. That will set you apart from others and very likely gain you more clients very quickly. Values, diplomacy and sensitivity are important too, but communication is critical when working with others who are coming to you with a specific need.

Sterilization is a process used in which all germs and other contaminants are completely destroyed. This process uses some form of heat and is designed to destroy everything on the tool that's being sterilized.

Nope, this is not recommended to do at all. Stay away from overlapping relaxer. Try another method and communicate to your client that if you overlap, you might cause damage to the previously relaxed hair.

Do not do it. If Ana has a low-grade fever, their body temperature is already high as it is. If your body temperature is elevated, this will only speed up the processing time of the perm, which will in turn overprocess the hair and possibly cause damage.

It’s your lunula! Technicians can also use the base of the nail as a guiding line when doing the nails of clients. This area can also tell you a lot about the client’s health. Actually, a lot about nails (color, texture, strength, etc.) can tell you about your personal health.

It would only make sense to look at the manufacturer’s directions as they produced the product and would know the appropriate guidelines. You can ask your supervisor, but they might need to refer to the directions as well. Going straight to this will save you from taking an extra unnecessary step!

Collagen is a rich fibrous material that increases the strength of the skin (which is why some people take supplements, though they might not work as effectively). This protein is produced naturally by the body but is also manufactured for use as an injectable to promote the strength of skin and reduce wrinkles.

Well, sure, it’s respectful to wash your hands. But it’s also a universal precaution. Universal precautions were developed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to address how to safely handle human blood and bodily fluid spills.

This is also referred to as the double process technique because, first, you decolorize the hair to then re-colorize it. This process is done when the desired color doesn’t turn out to be what it was meant to be during a single process alone.

If you look at a color wheel, you can easily see that red, blue and yellow are the primary colors. In case you weren’t aware, these colors are the group that all other colors can be obtained by through simply mixing them together.

This process is referred to as keratinization, in which hair cells begin at the hair follicle and move in an upward direction. The cells contain keratin and a fibrous protein, which is an amino acid chain composed of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur, also referred to as the COHNS elements.

A chemical relaxer is used to do just that — relax the hair. Basically, for anyone who has curly hair and wants to go straight, this is the way to go. Sodium hydroxide is the most active ingredient used in relaxers today to accomplish this result.

Well, the best thing to do is what many people have probably told you already: focus on one thing and master it. Truly, determine an area of expertise and become the best at it. Like any other job, it’s better to do one thing well than many and not be good at them at all.

Who knew a pin curl could be so intricate? The base, circle and stem are the main three components that form a pin curl. These come in handy when making all sorts of hairdos, so count on relying on these for a lot of things.

Before performing this on any client, make sure you perform a patch test to determine if they’re too sensitive to the chemicals or not. This test involved applying the formula on the client’s skin, letting it sit for some time and looking for signs of a possible allergic reaction.

The cuticle is the outer layer of the hair shaft that is made up of shingle-like layers. These layers protect the inner layers of the hair and maintain the hair’s shine. Needless to say, they’re very much necessary.

If you didn’t know, there are eight cranial bones in the skull. The occipital bone is in the lower back of the skull. There are two parietal bones that compose the majority of the skull and form the crown.

Fishhook ends happen when the hair ends stick out over the top of the iron. Make sure you get those hair ends when straightening your hair and cover your bases. Otherwise, you’ll be dealing with fishhook ends!

Oh man, hopefully you’ll never have to completely regrow a new nail from fresh, because it’ll take you a hot second to have a brand new nail. If you lose a nail, it gets infected or for whatever reason you just don’t have a nail, you’re looking at having to wait four to six months to get your new nail.

I mean, look, not everyone likes their "waves," and some people will go above and beyond to get this fixed. During a permanent wave service, the perm solution breaks the disulfide bonds in the hair to tame it a little better.

Biting your nails is not good for you or your stomach. That’s why adults always told you to stop biting your nails. In the nail world, the term for this is onychophagy.

If you combine red and purple, it will give you blue. If you follow the color wheel, blue and orange are complementary colors. Therefore, you’ll use blue to neutralize the warmth of the orange (brassy) tone the client doesn’t like.

Minoxidil is an over-the-counter product that is FDA-approved and safe to use for both men and women. Research shows that when applied two times a day, this product stimulates hair growth.

The deepest layer is known as stratum germinativum, also referred to as the basal cell layer. This is a very active layer of skin that produces new skin cells and functions in the overall growth of the epidermis.

If a developer has a 20 volume, then the percentage of peroxide found in it is six percent. If you don’t color your hair often, or at all, you would think that those numbers or percentages printed on the boxes of tints in a pharmacy mean nothing. But in fact, they could mean everything, even whether your hair will come out red, blond or pitch black.

You can also call it the croquignole method. This process involves wrapping the hair from the ends all the way to the scalp during a permanent wave service. It looks fancy, but it takes time and requires a ton of patience.

What your boss is trying to tell you is that your client has androgenic alopecia. It’s a condition of abnormal hair loss and is mainly caused by genetics, age or changing hormones. A client will usually experience this during their 40s, though there have been cases reported as early as teenage years.

Ethics are the professional standards that we must follow in order to maintain safety and professionalism in the workplace. Principles are often more personalized rules to work and live by, but ethics are mandatory and a violation of ethics in the professional field can get you fired, or worse, cause you to lose your professional license. Be ethical!

This might sound crazy, but it’ll foam. When mixing disinfectants, you have to follow a certain order. If your mixture foams, this may cause you to incorrectly measure the ratios and can result in a mixture that is too diluted or not diluted enough.

It would be most helpful to take additional business classes because, at the end of the day, a manager job will require you to multitask on several areas, including on the business side of things. Business classes will give you the fundamental information needed to understand the inner workings of a salon. So go and learn something new!