Wondering if anyone had heard of this. My current electro uses a liquid solution called liquid glove instead of regular latex gloves. She says there’s no difference. Anyone know whether its equally as safe as regular gloves? Thanks!
My license (NC) doesn’t allow barrier creams. CA could be different. From what I’ve read about these creams, some of them have antibacterial or antimicrobial additives, but I don’t think the FDA has approved any of them to replace the use of gloves. I think in the medical field, the creams are used as extra protection with gloves.
Years ago when I first started wearing gloves, I thought it would be difficult to adjust to, but now I can’t imagine not having them on.
In states that are licensed there will be different requirements for this. The AEA Infection Control Standards state that GLOVES ARE WORN during treatment. Gloves do not need to be latex, but do need to be medical quality. The AEA Infection Control Standards are for every electrologist to use.
Gloves protect the electrologist in the event that a drop of the client’s blood comes to the surface of the skin. Gloves protect the client from resident microorganisms that the electrologist has on her or his skin.
In using this “liquid glove” your electrologist is taking risks. As a client, I would ask that she don real gloves.
California does not require the use of gloves, just hand washing prior to and after working on each client. Still though, I do not know of any professional electrologists who do not use gloves. Besides protecting our clients from infection, we are exposed to many more people per week than the average person is. I avoid skin to skin contact at all costs. It is the best possible practice for everyone.
As far as “liquid gloves” (Is this the Avon product?) being as good as the real thing, if your electrologist believes this, I have 2 bridges in the Bay Area marked down for immediate sale. Please put her in contact with me! I’m anxious to make the sales!
The product that I’m familiar with is good for preventing some types of contact dermatitis from some chemicals, but is not intended for use in health, beauty, or the medical fields as an cross-infection barrier.
Joanie
The bottom line is that without knowing what state this is occuring, we can’t say if this person is doing anything wrong, as deemed by the rules that must be followed in that state.
We don’t know what state, because Hert9 is in direct violation of pet peeve number one on HairTell – No Location Information In Profile.
Sorry I tickled your pet peeve James, I am in CA. But I was more looking at this from the perspective of whether it poses a health risk for me or whether its a common occurrence.
Of course, if the electrologist is not in compliance with the law, I would want to know that, but that’s not how I was looking at it.
I have worked in health care for 16 years and NOTHING beats gloves. If you don’t feel comfortable go to your local drug store and pick up a $5.00 box. It’s a great investment in your health.
Ask your Electrologist to use them. You never know it might become standard practice for her. Buy non-latex powder free that works for most people.
There are 2 brands of “Liquid Gloves” that I am aware of:
The first is marketed by Avon as “Hand Cream With Silicone”. While it is a barrier cream (used to prevent things like grease, paint, etc. from adhering to the skin)it is also touted as being a general hand care cream. There are absolutely no claims being made by the manufacturer that it has any potential for preventing cross infection.
The second product is marketed by Mine Safety Appliances as a barrier cream for use with mildly irritating chemicals. The idea being to prevent or minimize contact dermatitis in sensitive people. It also makes it much easier to get the dirt, grime, and grease off of the hands after working around things like machining coolants, hydraulic fluids, grease, oil and the like. This product is also not intended for use as a method of preventing cross infection.
I’m sure that there are other brands out there, with similar uses, but if there is a liquid glove out there that will actually prevent cross infection, I haven’t heard of it. I’ve also asked several friends that work in the medical fields about any such product(s) and the answer has come back, “None that are FDA approved”.
In response to Nanci’s post: Rite Ade markets a box of 50 nitrile gloves (25 pairs - no problem with latex sensitivity) which are powder free and intended for medical applications. The last box I bought were $5.48. These are in the “One size fits all” category and they are a bit of a stretch for those who need the large size, but they do work well. Once in a while they do put them on sale, but Texas Electrolysis Supply, Dectro, Prestiege Electrolysis Supply, and others, also market these products in a host of sizes, colors, and materials. There is absolutely no substitute for gloves in the area of controlling the spread of infection.
Joanie
Ok, so out of the 5 electrologists that I have met with, only one wore gloves!
The one that I met with on Wednesday, I asked about it and she said it’s primarily to protect the electrologist, and even if you are wearing gloves you can poke yourself if you are not careful. She says it poses no risk for me (which ofcourse I didnot believe) and that she can’t imagine how she would ever feel the hair with gloves on so she avoids them.
What bothered me the most, and I feel embarassed to admit this, is that she answered the phone twice while working on me, and did not wash her hands or anything and continued to work on me.
I so badly wanted to ask her to wash her hands atleast, but I let my sheepishness get ahead of my good sense and stayed mum. I know, very stupid, I tried to compensate by cleaning extra times with rubbing alcohol at home. Probably wouldn’t help if the bacteria had 30 min to work on me already.
btw, even the lady that came higly recommended did not wear gloves! the reason I have not insisted is that I can imagine it would be more difficult to gauge if you had reached the right depth of insertion with the gloves on, as compared to without.
anyone else experiencing this?
Pssst, that is what better vision and lighting are for. They keep you from hunting for hairs with your fingers. Rubbing with your fingers involves grinding your bodily oils and what ever is on the client’s skin (dirt and unremoved make-up) into the treatment area. If you are finding hairs with your fingers, then you are inserting on a guess, now aren’t you?
As for gloves, yes, it protects the electrologist more than it protects you AS LONG AS THE ELECTROLOGIST IS WASHING IN BETWEEN CLIENTS. Since you can’t verify that she is, gloves make sure that what ever is touching you has not had any contact with skin born bacteria, virus, or McDonalds Chicken Grease.
Mr. Warf, Sheilds Up!
James, she doesn’t hunt with her fingers, but feels for the depth of hair with each insertion.
Her suggestion is that this process can be much more difficult with gloves on. I wanted to know whether this jives with what the electrologists on this board feel, how they go about judging the depth (and angle) of the insertion, and whether wearing gloves would reduce that ability to any degree.
Thanks!
If the person has learned to make proper insertions and knows the feel, wearing gloves will not make any difference whatsoever. Like James stated earlier, proper magnification and lighting are also essential to the technique, especially if you are making insertions on thin fine hairs or hairs with curved follicles.
Going by feel alone is basically ensuring that a certain percentage of your insertions will go through the bottom of the follicle. Hairs do develop and grow to different depths at various times in the same area, thus the operator needs to watch the skin around the follicle for dimpling during insertion. When the skin begins to dimple downward slightly, you have gone as far as you can without penetrating the bottom, or side if the follicle is curved. At this point, the insertion is stopped, the probe relaxed until the dimpling ceases and the power is applied.
Electrology is an operation requiring eye-hand coordination and a practiced knowlege of what a good insertion looks like - as well as what one feels like .
OK, now that we’re through with the science of proper insertions, let’s discuss a little about controlling infectious organisms. As James stated, gloves are there more to protect the electrologist than they are the client as we do come in contact with a lot more people on a daily basis than the average individual. Working without gloves is basically playing a game of Russian roulette with pathogenic organisms. We take the chance of coming into contact with everything from warts to housemaid’s knee if we work bare-handed. Also, we can very easily infect someone else with whatever is present if we do not wear gloves.
California does not require the use of gloves, legally speaking, but if you show up for the state board practical exam without and do not use them during the exam, you will get a significant mark down on your score under the portion of the exam titled “Client Safety”. We are required to wash our hands before and after every client, which is a good thing, but inadequate to prevent some types of cross infections. All in all, I do not want anyone working on me without gloves. There’s no telling where those hands have been!
Joanie <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />
One note on barrier creams and Liquid Gloves: I do use a product that is labeled as a “barrier cream” by the manufacturer (SaniCare produced by Crosstex Intl.). One of the claims it does make is; “Its anti-microbial active ingredient (Triclosan) helps protect against cross-infection.” Notice that it does not claim to prevent cross-infection.
If so why do I use it? Simple, I wash my hands before and after every client, before and after I eat, before and after I use the washroom, and before I begin to sanitize and sterilize instruments (where I also wear gloves). With all of this hand-washing, plus exposure to disinfectants, alcohol, and other sundry items, it keeps me from getting contact dermatitis and chapped hands.
This is an entirely different thing than saying that a liquid can prevent cross infection. The only liquid that I know will positively prevent cross infection is a concentrated solution of aqua regia. This is, unfortunately, so corrosive that it’s practical use is contraindicated wherever it will contact any form of living tissue - which it will instantly dissolve.
Joanie <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />
This is why gloves are so important. If one has a busy practice, one would be washing hands frequently on a daily basis. Only a soap like Cetaphil or a pure glycerine would be both gentle and effective, without stripping the skin of all its natural oils and making them crack (very painful). Gloves allows one to use a milder soap, as one is not going full nuke 'em wash ten to twenty times a day. Applying hand lotion on the hands after washing them would defeat the purpose of antibacterial washing them in the first place.
Thanks for all the good info!! I’ll have to overcome my hesitation and take that box of gloves with me. Wish me luck!