Health Assessment of Self-employed Hairdressers in France

Abstract

Objective: Hairdressers have a high incidence of occupational diseases, owing to excessive wet work and exposure to chemical substances. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of occupational diseases in a population of self-employed hairdressers, matched for age and sex with a control group of wage-earning hairdressers. Method: A health questionnaire was administered to both groups by an occupational health practitioner. Results: Irritative skin diseases were reported by 1.5% of the self-employed hairdressers versus 9.1% of the wage earners. Conversely, the rates of respiratory diseases and cumulative musculoskeletal injuries were much higher among self-employed hairdressers. Conclusions: This study shows that the overall health of self-employed hairdressers is lower than that of their wage-earning counterparts. This can be attributed to several aspects of work exposure, organization, including longer working hours, fewer protective measures and the absence of preventive medicine in the workplace.