Hair Braiding: The Fight Against Occupational Licensing

American Legislator ^ | 2-21-15 | Paige Lafortune

[ThethoughtsofGreg]

Unnecessary occupational licensing laws limit free market competition and discourage employment by preventing people from entering the workforce. In recent years, hair braiding has been a focus of licensing battles within state courts and legislatures. Late last week, Arkansas and Iowa both took initial steps to expand opportunities for hair braiding businesses.

In Arkansas, a bill that would exempt hair braiding from state cosmetology regulations, HB 1177, passed through The House of Representatives and now sits in the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee. This bill would provide certification to professional hair braiders following a certain period of practice.

Similarly, a House subcommittee in Iowa has approved HF 31, which would exempt hair braiding from the definition of cosmetology. Currently in Iowa, a person must attend cosmetology school, which can cost anywhere between $6,000 to $20,000, and complete 2,100 hours of training in order to legally braid hair. A majority of training in cosmetology is unrelated to hair braiding, and so people must spend hundreds of hours training in hair cutting and coloring practices they will never use as natural hair braiders. If enacted, HF 31 would require professional hair braiders to complete far fewer hours and ensure training is more specific to the job, as opposed to what is necessary for a cosmetology license. This bill now moves to the House State Government Committee.

[Terry L Smith]

Since hair braiding is for only 15% of the population, (the rest look like morons when they do that), tax them!
They scream equality, but do they really want it?
They scream that the want to start a business, but don’t want all of those burdens, either.
Tax them, then we will have equality and parity.

[Stormdog]

I remember when Massachusetts tried to license interior decorators. The public needed to be protected from bad taste.

[Regulator]

Nothing wrong with the State issuing a certificate of competence.

People should just be free to choose whether they use someone with a C of C or not.

IOW, to proceed with risk. Or not.

[GeronL]

and how would the government determine what is “competence”?

[1Old Pro]

Try this in Jamaica

[Regulator]

The same testing they do now. It just wouldn’t be mandatory to be in business.

Do you really have to go through Cosmetology school to cut hair? No. But it’s required to open or work in a shop in all states as far as I know.

The issue is, what’s your competence to do the job? If someone is willing to go with your own stated competence, they just assumed all the risk. If the State is saying you passed a test, then in some form they are taking away that risk. Possibly Tort law can reflect that. But you would still be free to choose.

[hinckley buzzard]

Don't be stupid. Hair braiding is a potential way out of poverty for otherwise unskilled workers. To erect these regulatory barriers just to keep them from competing with cosmetologists is at the very least an unfair restraint of trade and actually counter productive.

People here are fond of yelling "get a job." Well, here is a job that people can get without having to have wheels to escape the job-barren inner city. Now you want to regulate and tax them to keep them from making a buck. Nice.

[GeronL]

Why should the state have such a bureaucracy anyway? Let them get tested by their cosmetology school and graduate or not, we don’t need taxpayers funding bureaucrats running around testing people on stuff like this.

[GeronL]

The new Governor of Texas has the right idea:

http://www.gregabbott.com/making-easier-business/

excerpt:

There are currently 150 business activities that currently require a state-issued license before they can be legally performed in Texas. Some of these are necessary for the health and safety of our citizens, like licensing medical doctors.

But many are unnecessary or overly burdensome. For example, why do we require a license to be an interior designer? Or a salvage vehicle dealer? Or a “shampoo apprentice”?

[Gamecock]

Well then we should not require licensing on the injection of silicone to enhance certain body parts!

Woman Denies Causing Penis Injection Death
Transgender Woman Dead After Silicone Injection At Underground Party
Trial starts for couple accused in death during illegal 'body sculpting'(WIERD story)

[Terry L Smith]

dear hinky bird,
it is a ‘captive market’, made up of a small percentage of Americans, and fewer still rastafarians (it’s their religion, doncha know).

Any tonsorial enterprise, in any town or city, of any shade of the rainbow, has had to pay for some kind of permit, license, tax plate, you name it.

Hair braiding, with all the varieties of materials used that I’ve seen used ever since a black band in braids, showed up on Don Kirschner’s Midnight Special tv show, in the late 70’s, sure ain’t on the same level as your shadetree mechanic. Yet i’ve seen some wierd things woven into that mess, and believe that it is a skill that needs to be licensing, for the safety of the weaver. Otherwise, how many Judge Judy shows have we supplied for future viewing?