Cape Town - The next time you head to the barber for your close-shave haircut, be sure to pack your own clippers.
A UCT study on the health risks associated with close shaved (known as “chiskop”) haircuts has found that there needs to be increased education on adequate sterilisation of barber equipment between each customer.
Nonhlanhla Khumalo, head of dermatology at the university, conducted two studies on health risks of the haircut popular among African men. These men were also predisposed to folliculitis keloidalis nuchae (FKN) scars on the back of the head.
“Haircut-associated bleeding” was a newly recognised entity which was found to affect about 25 percent of African men who chose to wear their hair in this style.
Khumalo said during a population study in Langa it had emerged 32 percent of participants noted haircut-associated bleeding. This had prompted the first study on the health risks associated with chiskop haircut.
“This study does not (and was not intended to) prove a higher HIV prevalence in chiskop wearers or in FKN sufferers, but it confirms a history of haircut-associated bleeding in at least a quarter of our male study participants.
“The risk of transmission of bloodborne infection via haircuts is likely to be low, but requires formal quantification,” Khumalo said.
The latest research was a pilot study done in collaboration with UCT’s departments of genetics, virology and human biology. It was published in the journal Dermatology last month.
“The simple message is, if you wear a chiskop haircut, make sure your barber uses a steriliser or (clearly labelled) antiviral spray on clippers; methylated spirits are not enough. Otherwise, take your own clipper for him to use.
Until further scientific evidence is available, it may be be prudent to promote (sterilisation and/or) individual clipper-ownership for chiskops.” – Cape Times