CSLB General Building (B) — All Questions

Which agency issues and regulates manicurist licenses in California, and which law governs that licensing?

• a.The California Department of Public Health, under the state sanitation code for nail salons
• b.The county health department where the salon is located, under local ordinance
• c.The Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, part of the Department of Consumer Affairs, under the Barbering and Cosmetology Act✓
• d.Cal/OSHA, under the state workplace safety code

Manicurists are licensed, renewed and inspected by the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, which operates under the Department of Consumer Affairs, and the Barbering and Cosmetology Act is the governing statute. The county health department and the Department of Public Health regulate other kinds of facilities, not nail licensing. Cal/OSHA covers worker safety topics such as chemical labeling and bloodborne pathogens, but it does not issue your manicurist license.California Barbering and Cosmetology Act (B&P Code §7301 et seq.)

What must a person complete in order to qualify for a California manicurist license?

• a.A board-approved 400-hour manicurist course or an approved apprenticeship, be at least 17 years old and have completed the 10th grade, and pass the written licensing examination✓
• b.A 600-hour course, be at least 18 years old, hold a high school diploma, and pass a practical examination only
• c.Two years of paid work under a licensed manicurist plus employer letters, with no examination required
• d.Any nail course offered by a product manufacturer, plus payment of the license fee

California requires the approved 400-hour manicurist course or an approved apprenticeship, a minimum age of 17 with completion of the 10th grade, and a passing score on the written licensing exam. The 600-hour, 18-year-old and high school diploma answer overstates the requirements and drops the written exam. On-the-job time alone or a manufacturer's class does not substitute for approved training and the exam.California Barbering and Cosmetology Act (B&P Code §7301 et seq.)

You are hired at a busy salon and realize your manicurist license expired eight months ago, but you have kept taking clients the whole time. Which statement is correct?

• a.There is a one-year grace period, so you may keep working as long as you renew before the year ends
• b.Your license renews automatically as long as the salon holds a current establishment license
• c.Manicurist licenses are renewed every four years, so nothing was due yet
• d.Licenses must be renewed every two years, and working on an expired license is unlicensed practice that can bring a citation, a fine and discipline✓

A California manicurist license must be renewed every two years, and once it expires you have no authority to work — every service performed after that date is unlicensed practice and can result in a citation, a fine and action against your license. There is no grace period that lets you keep working, and the salon's establishment license covers the business, not the individual worker. The four-year renewal cycle is simply wrong.California Barbering and Cosmetology Act (B&P Code §7301 et seq.)

On your first day at a new salon, the owner collects your license and locks it in a binder in the back office "so nothing happens to it." What does California law require?

• a.The license only needs to be produced if an inspector specifically asks to see it
• b.Your license must be displayed in plain view in the establishment where you are working✓
• c.Keeping the original safe at home and a photocopy in the office satisfies the requirement
• d.Only the establishment license must be posted; individual worker licenses stay in the personnel file

Each licensee's license must be posted in plain view at the establishment where that person works, so clients and inspectors can see it without asking. Storing it in a back-office binder, at home, or producing it only on request does not meet the display requirement. The establishment license must also be posted, but it does not replace the individual manicurist licenses.California Barbering and Cosmetology Act (B&P Code §7301 et seq.)

During a pedicure your client asks you to shave down her thick heel callus with a credo blade, and then to wax her upper lip while the polish dries. How should you respond?

• a.Do both, since a manicurist license covers the hands, the feet and the skin
• b.Do the lip wax because it is a simple skin service, but refuse the blade
• c.Decline both, explain that a manicurist may not cut living tissue and may not perform skin services beyond the hands and arms to the elbow and the feet and legs to the knee, smooth the callus with a foot file, and refer her elsewhere✓
• d.Do both if she signs a waiver accepting the risk

A manicurist's scope is caring for the nails of the hands and feet plus cleansing, massaging and beautifying the hands and arms up to the elbow and the feet and legs up to the knee, so facial waxing is outside that scope. Razor-type callus shavers are prohibited because cutting living skin is not permitted; reduce callus with a foot file and send severe callus to a podiatrist. A client waiver cannot give you authority the license does not grant, and the lip wax is not legal simply because it seems minor.CA Business & Professions Code §7320

A nail salon is sold to a new owner, who also moves the shop two blocks down the street. What do the establishment rules require?

• a.Only the individual licenses matter; the shop itself does not need a license
• b.The existing establishment license transfers automatically with the business to the new owner
• c.A change of address can simply be reported whenever the next renewal comes due
• d.The salon must hold its own current establishment license, and the Board must be notified of the change of ownership and the change of location✓

The business itself has to be licensed as an establishment in addition to every person working there, and the Board must be notified when the establishment changes ownership or moves to a new address. An establishment license does not simply travel with the sale, and waiting until the next renewal to report a move leaves the salon operating outside its licensed address. Saying only individual licenses matter ignores the establishment licensing requirement entirely.California Barbering and Cosmetology Act (B&P Code §7301 et seq.)

It is a packed Saturday afternoon and a Board inspector walks into the salon without an appointment. What is the correct response, and what will the inspector be looking at?

• a.Let the inspector in and cooperate — inspections are unannounced, and the inspector will check disinfection containers and solutions, dated foot spa cleaning records, posted licenses, labeled product containers and any prohibited products✓
• b.Ask the inspector to schedule an appointment and come back on a slower day, since inspections must be arranged in advance
• c.Cooperate, but understand the inspector only verifies that the establishment license is current and nothing operational
• d.Refuse entry unless the inspector produces a search warrant

Board inspections are unannounced, and the inspector may look at your disinfection setup and solution, the dated foot spa cleaning logs, whether licenses are displayed, whether product containers are closed and labeled, and whether any prohibited item such as MMA or a credo blade is on site. Inspections are not scheduled around your appointment book, and no warrant is required for a routine inspection of a licensed salon. The inspection covers day-to-day practice, not just paperwork on the wall.California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology Health and Safety Regulations (CCR Title 16)

An inspector finds used metal nippers sitting loose in a drawer, no cleaning records for any of the four foot spas, and a credo blade in a technician's station. What can result?

• a.A first inspection can only produce a verbal warning, so no money penalty is possible
• b.The Board can issue citations with fines for the violations, and repeated or serious violations can lead to suspension or revocation of a license✓
• c.Only the salon owner can be cited; an individual manicurist is never personally penalized
• d.Fines apply only if a client was actually injured and filed a complaint

Health and safety violations found at an inspection can be cited with fines, and a pattern of violations or a serious one can lead to suspension or revocation of the establishment or individual license. Enforcement does not wait for a client to be hurt or to complain — the violation itself is enough. Both the establishment and the individual licensee can be held responsible, and there is no rule limiting a first inspection to a verbal warning.California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology Health and Safety Regulations (CCR Title 16)

How is a client supposed to learn where to file a complaint about a nail salon, and what records must the salon be able to show?

• a.Complaints go to the county health department, and no notice has to be posted in the salon
• b.The notice is only required in salons with more than five employees
• c.The salon must display the Board's required consumer notice with the Board's contact information, and must keep required records such as the dated foot spa cleaning logs available for the inspector✓
• d.The salon must hand every client a printed complaint form at the end of each service

Every licensed establishment must post the Board's consumer notice showing how to reach the Board, so a client who is unhappy or injured knows exactly where to file a complaint, and the salon must be able to produce required records such as the dated cleaning log for each foot spa. Complaints about licensed nail salons go to the Board, not the county health department. The posting requirement does not depend on how many people work there, and there is no rule requiring a complaint form be handed out with every service.California Barbering and Cosmetology Act (B&P Code §7301 et seq.)

A friend whose manicurist license lapsed asks to take walk-in clients at your station and to use your license number if anyone asks. What should you do?

• a.Allow it as long as you stay in the salon and directly supervise her work
• b.Allow it for up to 30 days while her renewal application is being processed
• c.Allow it if the salon owner approves the arrangement in writing
• d.Refuse — every person performing nail services must hold their own current license, and letting someone work under yours is unlicensed practice for which both of you can be cited and your own license can be suspended or revoked✓

Each person who performs nail services must personally hold a current California license, so a lapsed licensee working under your number is unlicensed practice and you are helping it happen. Supervision, a pending renewal and the owner's written blessing change nothing, because none of them creates licensed authority. Both of you can be cited and fined, and your own license can face suspension or revocation.California Barbering and Cosmetology Act (B&P Code §7301 et seq.)