title: 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.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Occupational Disease Department University Hospital of Reims.
authors.forename: Frederic
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Deschamps
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Langrand
authors.forename: Francois-Xavier
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Lesage
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001505:Beauty Culture; D012090:Cumulative Trauma Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D015995:Prevalence; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D017132:Workplace