TONSORIAL CLEANLINESS

NZ Truth, Issue 1194, 18 October 1928, Page 4

TONSORI AL CLEANLINESS

Are Hairdressers Observing The Health Regulations?

(From "N.Z. Truths" Palmerston North Representative.) Cleanliness is, and rightly so, regarded as being next to godliness by all people who haoe attained the age of reason, with, perhaps, the possible exception of the gamin of the gutters to whom dirt is almost a religion. Fortunately, m New Zealand this contemptible class is m the almost negligible, minority.

IN this happy ' Dominion of the Southern Seas, where dirt is abhorred with justification even more than m the other countries .of the world, the Government has provided regulations dealing with the ' public health and welfare. It has made it incumbent upon the numerous • municipalities to employ men whose sole duty it is to inspect the factories, shops, offices and houses to see that the regulations laid down by the Government and the municipality concerned are being- complied with, and that dirt is reduced "to the irreducible minimum. . .'....; The result of this judicious legislation^ is that the employees benefit by the regulations imposed upon their employers, m that the conditions under which they are required to work are made more .pleasant, by the, tp,tal : absence of all extraneous matter m the way of unwholesome filth, and the general public reap their reward by 5 receiving a cleaner product, free from all contamination. • It is to be regretted, however, that ■m many instances the . regulations are not strictly enforced, neither by the employer nor by the health inspec- , tor, whose sole duty ■'. "!"" it; is to safeguard the public -welfare. The consequence of this negligence of elementary duty is that both are failing the public and assisting m the propagation of filth and disease m the community. This is particularly the case m the hairdressing saloons. The proprietors of this class of business appear to be immune from the questioning gaze of the health inspectors, and take full advantage of the laxity m this connection, and all semblance of elementary cleanliness is cast to the four winds m the chase after the Almighty Dollar.; It is at once apparent that it is m the hairdressing saloons, where the same utensils are used time and again on the heads and faces of the clientele, that supervision should be most strict, and that every clipper, razor and other tool of the trade should be rigorously sterilized before being applied to the face or head of another client. Steel acts as a magnet to all germs, and if a razor or clipper has .been applied to the face or head of a* person with an infectious skin disease and is not sterilized before further use, then all those persons who have the in--fected i-azor or clipper used on them before it is sterilized are prone to art infection which could have been easily prevented by the use of hot water or sterilizing fluids after each use of the instrument. ■ .

This primary negligence m the use of sterilization, may thus initiate a chain of loathsome disease which, once started, is hard to stop and -which grows with remarkable rapidity, and has endless possibilities. ' A Palmerston North resident went to •the lufcirdressing saloon he usually frequented about three months ago. He took- his place m one,., of the four chairs, and an attendant commenced to, cut his hair, •■: taking 'an electricallydriven pair' of- clippers ,ofC the hoolc to do so. ' . This -pair.- of. clippers had .a, moment before been used' on' the person m the adjacent chair, and ■ were brought to use without; any. pretence of sterilization whatever. After-it had been replaced on ■ the hook, it was again brought. back to the person on the adjacent chair, again., without any attempt at sterilization. Immediately, the -resident m question had left the premises, just as he was going out of the door, m fact, he felt an irritation at the back of his neck, and, immediately he arrived home he subjected : his neck :to a rigorous washing, but fail- ■ .- . \ed. to check the ..,-... ' irritation, which proved to be the forerunner of ringworm, contracted, without a possible shadow of doubt, at the hairdressing saloon. :' That was over three months ago, and m spite of the constant application, of ointments the ringworm has not yet fully disappeared. During the : three months the person m question had his hair cut twice —once m Wellington and once m Palmerston North — and .though on both occasions he explicitly told the attendants to sterilize the clippers after use because of the infectious disease, neither paid any attention whatever to his warning. After the attendant had finished using them on his head, they were applied to another client's head without having been sterilized or immersed m hot water. There is a class of person who willnot allow a barber to shave him, arid unless a drastic . reform is brought about and all instruments rigorously sterilized before and after use, the proprietors of hairdressing saloons must not be surprised if they notice a falling off m business. Unfortunately, while most men can shave themselves, there are very few who are able to cut their own hair; but everyone can, and should, insist upon the sterilization of the razors, clippers and other instruments.

Almighty Dollar