California Barber Study Guide — 2026 Edition

Safety and Infection Control is the heaviest area on the exam: 31% of the scored questions, or 26 items^[1]. It has two halves. Part A, workplace infection control, is about germs and what you do to your tools, your station and yourself so that one client's germs never reach the next. Part B, workplace safety precautions, is about chemicals, water, electricity and air, and is Chapter 2. This chapter covers Part A, outline items I.A.1 through I.A.7, in the outline's order.

California is unusually specific here. Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations, Division 9, Article 12, contains the Board's "Health and Safety Rules"^[2], and every licensed barber "shall individually implement and maintain" them^[2]. The national exam asks what a safe barber does; California's rules tell you the exact sequence, the exact labels and the exact products. Learn the California version and you will answer the national questions correctly too, because the California rules are a strict version of the same science.

I.A.1 Infectious diseases, pathogens and exposure prevention

What a pathogen is, and the four families you will meet

A pathogen is a germ that can cause disease. In a barbershop the ones that matter come in four families.

• Bacteria. Staphylococcus ("staph") and streptococcus ("strep") live on skin and cause the infections barbers see most. Folliculitis — inflammation of the hair follicles — usually happens when damaged follicles "become infected with staphylococci (staph) bacteria"^[3], and shaving is one of the ways follicles are damaged^[3]. "Barber's itch is a staph infection of the hair follicles in the beard area"^[3]. Impetigo is caused by strep or staph, and MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) "is an increasing cause"^[4].
• Viruses. Hepatitis B and HIV travel in blood. Hepatitis B can be caught by sharing personal items "such as toothbrush, razor, and nail clippers" with an infected person^[5]. Herpes simplex, which causes cold sores, spreads by touching "an open herpes sore or something that has been in contact with the herpes virus, such as infected razors, towels"^[6].
• Fungi. Tinea — ringworm — is a fungus, not a worm. The fungi "can live on the dead tissue of the hair, nails, and outer skin layers"^[7], and you can catch scalp ringworm by touching "items such as combs, hats, or clothing" used by someone who has it^[7]. When the fungus infects the beard it is tinea barbae, which looks like barber's itch but "is caused by a fungus"^[3].
• Parasites. Head lice and scabies mites are animals, not germs, but they spread from client to client the same way. You can get head lice if you "share hats, towels, brushes, or combs" of someone who has lice^[8]. Scabies spreads "by skin-to-skin contact"^[9].

How germs travel in a barbershop — and where you break the chain

Look at the list above and a pattern appears: combs, brushes, razors, towels and hats. Germs in a shop travel mostly on things that touch one client and then another. That is why almost every rule in this chapter is about a tool or a textile, and why the rules all have the same shape: after a client, the tool is either thrown away or cleaned and disinfected before it touches the next person.

The second route is your own hands and your own health. California requires every licensee "thoroughly wash their hands with soap and water or any equally effective alcohol-based hand-cleaning product immediately before serving each client"^[2]. Your attire must "at all times be clean"^[2].

When the barber, or the client, is the problem

California's section 984 answers two questions the exam likes: when may a sick barber work, and when may a barber work on a sick client?

• A shop may not knowingly let a licensee with a transmissible infection or parasitic infestation serve clients^[2].
• A shop may not knowingly require or permit a licensee to work on a client who has one^[2].

The rule then lists examples and when each person may come back. A cold, influenza or other respiratory illness with fever keeps you out "until 24 hours after resolution of the fever"^[2]. Head lice: "until the morning after first treatment"^[2]. Impetigo: "until 24 hours after treatment has begun"^[2]. Pink eye: until a physician or other licensed clinician has examined the person and approved the return^[2]. Tuberculosis: until a local health department authority says the person is noninfectious^[2].

One sentence in section 984 surprises candidates every year: "Blood-borne diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B (HBV), shall not be considered infectious or communicable diseases for the purpose of this section."^[2] That does not mean HIV and hepatitis B are harmless. It means the list of work exclusions is about germs that spread by ordinary contact, while bloodborne germs are controlled by a different method — treating all blood as infectious, every time (item I.A.4 below). A barber with hepatitis B is not excluded by section 984; a barber with impetigo is, until treatment has started and 24 hours have passed.

Finally, section 984(e) tells you where not to work at all: no service "upon a surface of the skin or scalp where such skin is inflamed, or broken (e.g., abraded, cut) or where a skin infection or eruption is present"^[2]. And if the skin of your hands is broken or infected, you may work only while wearing gloves^[2].

Worked example. A client sits down for a fade. As you comb the crown you see a round, scaly, red-bordered bald patch with broken hairs. You do not know what it is, and you should not guess aloud. You do know two things: section 984(e) bars you from working on skin where an infection or eruption is present^[2], and a scaly bald patch with broken-off hairs is exactly how scalp ringworm can look^[7]. The safe answer on the exam, and in the chair, is to decline the service, suggest the client see a physician, and clean and disinfect the comb you already used.

Trap — "the client says it isn't contagious." The rule is about what is visible on the skin, not what the client tells you. The exam rewards the barber who declines and refers.

I.A.2 Methods and procedures for cleaning and disinfection

The outline splits this item into three parts: contaminated tools, machines and equipment, and the daily workstation. California's rules follow the same split.

a. Contaminated (non-electrical) tools — the six-step California sequence

Section 979 says that before use on a client, "all non-electrical tools that can be disinfected, excluding shears" must be disinfected in a set order^[2]. Non-electrical tools include "shears, razors, cuticle nippers, cuticle pushers, nail clippers, metal files, metal smoothers, combs and hair clips"^[2]. The order is:

1. Remove all visible debris^[2].
2. Clean with soap or detergent and water^[2].
3. Completely dry the tools with a new, clean paper towel^[2].
4. Totally immerse them in an EPA-registered disinfectant with demonstrated bactericidal, fungicidal and virucidal activity, used according to the manufacturer's instructions^[2].
5. Wear protective gloves or use tongs to take the tools out of the disinfectant^[2].
6. Store the disinfected tools "in a clean, covered place that is labeled 'Clean' or 'Disinfected.'"^[2]

Why this order? Disinfectant cannot reach a germ buried under hair, skin flakes or product, so debris comes off first. Soap and water remove what debris you cannot see. Drying matters because water left on a comb dilutes the disinfectant in the jar. Total immersion matters because a comb whose handle sticks out of the liquid has an undisinfected handle. Gloves or tongs matter because your hand would recontaminate the tool — and some disinfectants irritate skin.

The disinfectant jar has its own rules. The solution must "remain covered at all times" and be changed according to the manufacturer's instructions "or when it is cloudy or contains debris"^[2]. Every container used for disinfecting tools must be labeled "Disinfectant Solution"^[2] and must hold "sufficient disinfectant solution to allow for the total immersion of tools"^[2].

Shears are the exception

Shears are non-electrical, but California does not ask you to soak them. The shear sequence is shorter: remove all visible debris, clean with soap or detergent and water, then "spray or wipe the shear" with an EPA-registered disinfectant with bactericidal, fungicidal and virucidal activity^[2]. Disinfected shears "shall not be placed in a container, pouch or holder that cannot be disinfected"^[2] — so the leather pouch that came with an expensive pair is not a legal storage place for disinfected shears.

Trap — "all metal tools are immersed." On a California question that names shears, the answer is spray or wipe, not immersion. On a question that names a razor handle, comb or clipper guard that is not electrical, the answer is total immersion.

b. Machines and equipment — clippers and other electrical tools

Electrical tools are anything that runs on electricity "by means of an electrical cord, wireless charger, or battery" — clippers, blow dryers, curling irons and flat irons are all named^[2]. You cannot drop a clipper in a jar, so section 980 uses a two-step sequence before each use: first remove all visible debris, then "disinfect with an EPA-registered disinfectant spray or wipe with demonstrated bactericidal, fungicidal, and virucidal activity"^[2]. Disinfected electrical tools are stored "in a clean place"^[2]. A soiled electrical tool goes in a container labeled "Soiled," "Dirty" or "Contaminated" — with one exception written into the rule: hot styling tools^[2].

The definition of a disinfectant in section 977 ties the form to the tool: the product "must be in liquid form to disinfect non-electrical tools and spray or wipe form to disinfect electrical tools and shears"^[2]. If you remember that one sentence, you can answer most California disinfection questions.

c. The daily workstation

The rules for the station and the shop are simpler but cover a lot of ground:

• Hair. A shop that does hair services must have "at least one covered waste container" for hair, and hair "must be disposed of in a covered waste container"^[2]. No shop may let hair clippings, waste or refuse accumulate^[2].
• Headrests. The headrest of a chair is covered "with a clean towel or paper sheet for each client"^[2].
• Shampoo bowls. Shampoo trays and bowls are cleansed "with soap and water or other detergent after each shampoo" and kept in good repair^[2].
• The room. Floors, walls, woodwork, ceilings, furniture and fixtures are kept "clean and in good repair"^[2].
• Disinfectant on hand. The shop must have disinfectant solution, "mixed according to manufacturer's directions, available for use at all times"^[2], and a manufacturer-labeled container of the disinfectant in use must always be present — even if it is empty because the last of the product was just used^[2].

Worked example. An inspector finds a clean-looking jar of blue liquid at a station, correctly labeled "Disinfectant Solution," but no bottle of the product anywhere in the shop. Is the shop in compliance? No. Section 978(c) requires the manufacturer-labeled container to be available at all times^[2]. The reason is practical: only the manufacturer's label proves the liquid is an EPA-registered disinfectant and tells you how it must be mixed and how long it must stay in contact.

I.A.3 Levels of decontamination: cleaning, disinfection, sterilization

The outline names three levels. Learn them as a ladder; each rung removes more.

California's definition of disinfection is "the use of chemicals to destroy harmful bacteria, viruses and pathogens on implements or tools to render them safe for use"^[2]. Its definition of a disinfectant adds the registration requirement: "A product registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that has demonstrated bactericidal, fungicidal and virucidal activity"^[2]. Those three words map to the three germ families that disinfection must reach: bacteria (bactericidal), fungi (fungicidal) and viruses (virucidal).

Where sterilization fits in a barbershop. Sterilization kills spores; disinfection does not have to. California requires sterilization — autoclave or dry heat sterilizer — only for electrolysis tools^[2]. For barbering tools, disinfection is the required level; if a shop chooses to sterilize tools the way section 982 describes, "the requirements of this section will be deemed to have been met"^[2]. The EPA lists the two physical sterilization methods as "steam under pressure (autoclaving)" and "dry heat ovens"^[10]; California defines an autoclave as a device that sterilizes "by subjecting them to high-pressure saturated steam"^[2].

Trap — "sanitize" and "disinfect" used as synonyms. On the exam they are different rungs. A sanitizer lowers the count; a disinfectant destroys the named pathogens on a nonliving surface. A tool that touched a client is disinfected, not sanitized.

Trap — disinfectant on skin. The EPA defines disinfectants as products "used on, nonliving surfaces and objects"^[10]. They are not for skin. What goes on skin is an antiseptic (after a nick) or soap and water or an alcohol-based hand cleaner (for your hands)^[2].

Sources cited in this excerpt

1. California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology Candidate Information Bulletin (PSI) — layout text of the content-outline tables. PSI Services LLC for the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, 2026-04. https://test-takers.psiexams.com/api/content/bulletin/930
2. 2026 Barbering and Cosmetology Act and Regulations (Bus. & Prof. Code §7301 et seq.; 16 CCR Division 9). California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, 2026-01 (amendments through January 2026). https://www.barbercosmo.ca.gov/laws_regs/act_regs.pdf
3. Folliculitis (MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia). U.S. National Library of Medicine, review date 2024-10-09. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000823.htm
4. Impetigo (MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia). U.S. National Library of Medicine, accessed 2026-09-24. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000860.htm
5. Hepatitis B (MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia). U.S. National Library of Medicine, accessed 2026-09-24. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000279.htm
6. Herpes - oral (MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia). U.S. National Library of Medicine, accessed 2026-09-24. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000606.htm
7. Ringworm of the scalp (MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia). U.S. National Library of Medicine, accessed 2026-09-24. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000878.htm
8. Head lice (MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia). U.S. National Library of Medicine, accessed 2026-09-24. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000840.htm
9. Scabies (MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia). U.S. National Library of Medicine, accessed 2026-09-24. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000830.htm
10. What are Antimicrobial Pesticides? U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, last updated 2026-01-29. https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/what-are-antimicrobial-pesticides