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BarberWhat is a Barber?

A barber provides barbering services to the public, including cutting, trimming, styling, shampooing and coloring hair. Additionally, barbers trim beards or give shaves. These professionals often work in salons, but some work at resorts or spas. Many have opened their own shops while others rent a booth at a salon owned by someone else.

Most professional barbers learn the job by attending a cosmetology or barbering school. Professional barbers must usually be licensed by the state licensing board.

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Most professional barbers learn the job by attending a cosmetology or barbering school. Professional barbers must usually be licensed by the state licensing board.

Typical job duties of a barber include:

  • Clean and sterilize scissors, clippers, combs and other grooming supplies
  • Assess hair and skin issues
  • Cut and trim hair according to the instructions of clients or based on their knowledge of current trends
  • Shampoo, color, curl, straighten and style hair
  • Apply lather and shave beards or heads
  • Measure, fit and groom hairpieces, wigs or weaves
  • Groom hairpieces, wigs or weaves
  • Use hair driers, curlers and other handheld grooming devices
  • Order supplies
  • Perform administrative and clerical tasks
  • Clean work stations and the facilities

How Can a Barber Get Mesothelioma by Occupational Exposure to Asbestos?

Overall, barbers are at a low risk level for asbestos exposure. However, this does not mean that their level of risk is non-existent. Asbestos has been used in the United States in a variety of products since the 1930s. Some of these products were heated tools that contained asbestos insulation. Barbers worked in close proximity with these hand tools and handled them on a daily basis, potentially leading to prolonged exposure to asbestos.

Estimates show that as many as 5 million handheld dryers that contained asbestos were once in circulation. These hairdryers made up the vast majority of the market. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (USPSC) found that eleven major brands of hairdryers contained dangerous levels of asbestos. All of the makers of these dryers issued a recall of the products and then discontinued manufacturing them. The USPSC concluded in the same year that asbestos fibers that were emitted from these dryers could pose a significant health hazard, noting that repeated exposure through occupational exposure could have an elevated risk of asbestos exposure.

Another threat of asbestos exposure was hood-style hairdryers. These hairdryers once contained significant levels of asbestos so that they could prevent overheating and fires in the other parts of the dryer.

Even though these hairdryers are no longer manufactured, salons that have older equipment could still be using these dangerous materials.

Barbers and hairdressers could have also been exposed to asbestos if they worked in older salons. Before the 1980s, many buildings were constructed from top to bottom by materials that contained asbestos. When these buildings are renovated or demolished, asbestos fibers can become airborne and breathed in by those close to them.

Locations in the United States for the Highest Employment Rates for Barbers

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 766,100 barbers, hair dressers and cosmetologists as of 2018 with an expected 8% growth rate between 2018 and 2028. States with the highest employment rates for barbers include:

Similar Occupations as Barbers

Similar occupations as barbers include the following:

Lawsuits and Settlements Involving Barbers and Mesothelioma

Although barbers and hairstylists are at a relatively low risk of being exposed to asbestos, there have been a few notable lawsuits and settlements involving claims of asbestos exposure. In 2016, a jury in California awarded a mesothelioma victim $16 million. His lawyers helped prove that the man was exposed to asbestos from talc products at a barber shop where his father worked. The defendant entered into a confidential settlement before a second phase of the trial could occur, which would have been to impose punitive damages against the defendant.

In another California case, a San Francisco jury returned a verdict of $11.5 million in favor of a hairdresser for lost income, medical expenses and pain and suffering. In addition to possible occupational exposure, the hairdresser was also subjected to secondhand exposure when she laundered her husband’s asbestos contaminated clothing.

Studies Related to Barbers and Asbestos

There have been a few research studies related to barbers and asbestos. However, many of these studies have focused on the potential sources of exposure to these professionals. For example, in the 2015 study “Case report: peritoneal mesothelioma from asbestos in hairdryers” published in the International Journal of Occupational Health concluded that hairdryers were a possible source of asbestos exposure and that the risk is greater when people are exposed to them occupationally.

Researchers from the Lombardy Mesothelioma Registry in Italy broke this information down further by finding that occupational exposure if the worker used a model that was known to be asbestos-containing, possible if the hairdresser worked with a dryer that was made at least a year before the ban of asbestos but was not known specifically to contain or not contain asbestos, or unknown if the individual had only been part of this profession for less than one year or was a shampooer.

A 2006 survey conducted in the United Kingdom found that about one-quarter of the salons in the United Kingdom that had hood-style hairdryers had older, asbestos-containing dryers. This is worrisome in the United States because many of those manufacturers who supplied these salons also supplied salons in the United States, so there could be a comparable risk. Additionally, older hairdryers tend to have more friable asbestos, which poses a higher threat of exposure than other types of hairdryers.

There have been varying findings regarding whether there is an increased number of cancers for these professionals. Some have found an increase. Others concluded that there was not a significant association. One scientific review of more than 200 studies found that lung cancer rates were 30% higher for hairdressers

Types of Asbestos Products Used by Barbers

Barbers may have handled a variety of products that contained asbestos. The products most commonly associated with asbestos exposure were handheld hairdryers and hood-style hairdryers. These dryers contained asbestos to protect the internal parts from catching fire or overheating. Hood dryers contained a layer of asbestos insulation by its internal heating element, but some brands also included asbestos that provided support to the heat element.

Manufacturers of Asbestos Products Used by Barbers

Manufacturers of products that contained asbestos and that were commonly used by barbers include:

  • Conair
  • Regmington
  • General Electric
  • C. Penney
  • Gillette
  • La Reine
  • Suter Avante
  • Indola
  • Montgomery Ward
  • Schwartzkopf
  • Korvettes
  • Sunbeam
  • Salon Nelson
  • Norelco
  • Schick
  • Hamilton Beach
  • Sears
  • Scovill
  • Wella
  • Suter

Many of these companies have faced liability in asbestos lawsuits.