Having a massive panic please help

[Munchlet]

This is going to seem a bit odd but I know this is one of the few places I can post stuff without people judging and telling me I'm nuts!

I've recently being doing a beauty course and part of it as I'm sure a lot of you will know is about sterilisation and ensuring no cross contamination occurs.

So today I go to get my eyebrows threaded which isn't the first time I might add and I notice that the girl is using the same brush on every customer to brush the eyebrows up after threading.

This might seem a bit odd but I'd never noticed it before and when I do it I thoroughly wash my brushes in hot soapy water each time. But she didn't it was just the same one, so now I'm having a complete panic because after you pluck/thread or wax eyebrows you can have minimal amounts of blood/fluids and I'm thinking she's using that same brush on everyone.

So when it came to my go I told her I didn't want her using the brush on my eyebrows, she asked why and I said "because I've been watching you put that brush through everyone else's eyebrows" So she just said ok and I paid and left.

Now I'm contemplating reporting her to environmental health but needless to say I'm also having a complete panic as I'm thinking I have been to her a couple of times before and never noticed so I'm worrying she could have transferred god knows what to me and other people.

I don't want to tell my husband as he will probably just laugh at me, but I'm sitting here thinking I've probably got hepatitis or HIV or something and getting in a right state, I don't know what to do. I kind of wish I'd challenged her more about it. She's been there a few years now and the shop is always really clean and she wears a surgical mask etc but this has just worried me.

[RoseEve]

You absolutely can NOT get HIV that way. The virus cannot live outside the body. I really can't think of anything you can get from an eyebrow brush. But you are right she should have cleaned it because that is kind of gross. Gross but not dangerous. I remember once I went to a supermarket and the man handling the meat had no gloves on. He used his bare hands and I asked him where his gloves were and he said I'm not required to wear them and I said well I'm not required to shop here and I left. Sometimes people have no common sense. Try to take it easy though there really is nothing you could have contracted.

[Andrash]

This is going to seem a bit odd but I know this is one of the few places I can post stuff without people judging and telling me I'm nuts!

I've recently being doing a beauty course and part of it as I'm sure a lot of you will know is about sterilisation and ensuring no cross contamination occurs.

So today I go to get my eyebrows threaded which isn't the first time I might add and I notice that the girl is using the same brush on every customer to brush the eyebrows up after threading.

This might seem a bit odd but I'd never noticed it before and when I do it I thoroughly wash my brushes in hot soapy water each time. But she didn't it was just the same one, so now I'm having a complete panic because after you pluck/thread or wax eyebrows you can have minimal amounts of blood/fluids and I'm thinking she's using that same brush on everyone.

So when it came to my go I told her I didn't want her using the brush on my eyebrows, she asked why and I said "because I've been watching you put that brush through everyone else's eyebrows" So she just said ok and I paid and left.

Now I'm contemplating reporting her to environmental health but needless to say I'm also having a complete panic as I'm thinking I have been to her a couple of times before and never noticed so I'm worrying she could have transferred god knows what to me and other people.

I don't want to tell my husband as he will probably just laugh at me, but I'm sitting here thinking I've probably got hepatitis or HIV or something and getting in a right state, I don't know what to do. I kind of wish I'd challenged her more about it. She's been there a few years now and the shop is always really clean and she wears a surgical mask etc but this has just worried me.

There is absolutely no chance you can contract HIV or hepatitis that way. Put your mind at rest-that literally cannot happen.

Having said that, the use of brush is a bit questionable, and you were right to react when you noticed.

Still, I don't think you should report her, as that would really be overreaction. Instead of that, I suggest talking to her and explaining her more in detail what bothers you.

[Munchlet]

Thank you for the quick reply RoseEve.

I just told my husband who did his "here we go again face" when I said to him about Hepatitis etc living outside the body he said yes it can but the risk is negligible.

Needless to say I won't be going back but I'm wondering if I should report her, the thing is those brushes are so cheap to buy it's not like the outlay on them is high.

I think as you say people just completely lack common sense!

[Andrash]

Needless to say I won't be going back but I'm wondering if I should report her, the thing is those brushes are so cheap to buy it's not like the outlay on them is high.

I think as you say people just completely lack common sense!

You really want someone to lose her/his job and income because of a small mistake? Seriously?

[Munchlet]

Andrash

Sorry just seen that you had posted under the original post, I only saw your last post.


I accept mistakes happen and no one is perfect and if she'd done it once and then changed brushes on the next client, then fair enough it would be an oversight but to keep using the same brush over and over again on clients without any form of sterilisation in between is not acceptable. All she needs is a pot of sterilsing fluid next to her and she can put the brush in there and use another it's not expensive.

I honestly don't think it's an oversight as she had no other brushes around so she obviously thinks it ok to use the same brush all the time. I also noticed she was using the same spatula for waxing which again isn't on.

I know I probably overreact because I have HA but through threading and waxing the skin can bleed and if you are using a brush and then using in on the next person and so on there is a small risk you could be passing something on.

It's not a case of wanting her to lose her job it's that she obviously needs some educating about changing/cleaning equipment regularly. I don't think she'd take to kindly to me going in and telling her but I just wondered if I did report her is that not what they would do? I thought they'd just go in and point out she needs to improve her hygiene standards? I'm not sure I've never reported anyone before.

[Andrash]

Andrash

It's not a small mistake it's basic common hygiene practice.

I accept mistakes happen and no one is perfect and if she'd done it once and then changed brushes on the next client, then fair enough it would be an oversight but to keep using the same brush over and over again on clients without any form of sterilisation in between is not acceptable. All she needs is a pot of sterilsing fluid next to her and she can put the brush in there and use another it's not expensive.

I honestly don't think it's an oversight as she had no other brushes around so she obviously thinks it ok to use the same brush all the time. I also noticed she was using the same spatula for waxing which again isn't on.

I know I probably overreact because I have HA but through threading and waxing the skin can bleed and if you are using a brush and then using in on the next person and so on there is a small risk you could be passing something on.

It's not a case of wanting her to lose her job it's that she obviously needs some educating about changing/cleaning equipment regularly.

When your hairdresser cuts your hair, does she sterilize her scissors?

Take a good, deep breath, then ask yourself and answer yourself honestly: would you even notice that if you didn't have HA?

[Munchlet]

Sorry Andrash my first post sounded a big shouty, I did go back and edit it afterwards.

I know exactly what you are saying and you are absolutely right, no I probably wouldn't and no they don't sterilise the scissors everytime. To be honest if I hadn't been doing a beauty course I'd be none the wiser, sometimes ignorance is bliss!

[Andrash]

Sorry Andrash my first post sounded a big shouty, I did go back and edit it afterwards.

I know exactly what you are saying and you are absolutely right, no I probably wouldn't and no they don't sterilise the scissors everytime. To be honest if I hadn't been doing a beauty course I'd be none the wiser, sometimes ignorance is bliss!

Oh, but I didn't notice it (the shoutiness). Let's be posh and say it was opinionated, shall we?

For the other part-exactly! HA alone makes us hypersensitive, even more so when combined with something we read, saw or learned. We all went through this

[Munchlet]

Thank you Andrash, I feel a lot calmer now, I have had a few deep breaths and a big cup of tea and I'm not going to worry about. The fact is I asked her not to use the brush on me and she didn't and even though I've been there before I'd never noticed it before so I'm not going to start worrying about something that is done and I can't change anyway.

I just think from now on I'll go somewhere else