Biden Is Right: Occupational Licensing Laws for Hairdressers Are 'Not Helping Workers'

[GURPS]

In fact, Biden is actually underselling how difficult it can be to become a hair stylist. In most states, legally working in such a job requires you to become a full-fledged cosmetologist, and getting a cosmetology license often requires years of expensive schooling. According to the Institute for Justice's 2017 report on state licensing laws, there is not a single statewhere someone can qualify for a cosmetology license with a mere 400 hours of training. In New York, the state with the lowest training requirements, a would-be stylist still needs 1,000 hours of classes before getting a job.

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In other places, the requirements get even more absurd. Arizona has a specific license for blow-dry specialists—that is, someone who only blow dries and styles hair without cutting or applying any chemicals or dyes—and it takes 1,000 hoursof training to earn it.

There is little doubt that occupational licensing laws limit employment opportunities, particularly for working-class Americans who might be able to earn a living as, say, barbers if they didn't have to first spend thousands of dollars learning something they already know how to do. And if you get caught trying to earn a living without a government-issued permission slip—like Elias Zarate, a Tennessee man who was denied a license because he did not graduate from high school, as if that has anything to do with being a good barber—you'll face thousands of dollars in fines.


https://reason.com/blog/2019/04/05/joe-biden-is-right-ridiculous-occupation

 

[This_person]

I'm shocked that regulation makes things harder.

 

[Hijinx]

Taking a guess I would say the ones pushing those laws are people who already have a license and don't want more competition.

 

[transporter]

A cosmetology license in MD costs $25 to obtain and $25 to renew. http://www.dllr.state.md.us/license/cos/cosaff.shtml

The entirety of the training costs of 1500 hours and is offered in high school: marylandpublicschools.org/.../TabMCOMAR13A.04.09ProgramCosmetology .pdf

Regulations can make things more difficult for people who aren't qualified for a profession. Regulations can also protect the public from unsafe and unhealthy conditions.

A state license means you meet nothing more than a minimum level of qualifications.

 

[officeguy]

A ten hour class on how to disinfect your tools should be all that's required to cut hair. And yes, its other cosmetologists and barbers that make it hard for new entries.

The idea of a license is not to make it easy for working people. The idea is to protect the public from incompetent personnel cutting hair and endangering the public.

 

[This_person]

A cosmetology license in MD costs $25 to obtain and $25 to renew. http://www.dllr.state.md.us/license/cos/cosaff.shtml

The entirety of the training costs of 1500 hours and is offered in high school: marylandpublicschools.org/.../TabMCOMAR13A.04.09ProgramCosmetology .pdf

Regulations can make things more difficult for people who aren't qualified for a profession. Regulations can also protect the public from unsafe and unhealthy conditions.

A state license means you meet nothing more than a minimum level of qualifications.

A ten hour class on how to disinfect your tools should be all that's required to cut hair. And yes, its other cosmetologists and barbers that make it hard for new entries.

The idea of a license is not to make it easy for working people. The idea is to protect the public from incompetent personnel cutting hair and endangering the public.

We are not talking doctors cutting into someone. We're talking about cutting hair.

 

[GWguy]

Taking a guess I would say the ones pushing those laws are people who already have a license and don't want more competition.

I'm thinking it's to prevent a flood of people entering the field because they can't do anything else. I remember in NY after high school, if a girl (it was primarily girls back then) was told to get a job and they had no skills, they went to cosmo school.

 

[Hijinx]

So they flooded the cosmo school?

I have nothing against a person going to school to learn a trade. In fact I am all for it.
I am all for their getting a license.
But do these schools have to use up so much time to teach the basics?
Remember these schools are not free. And the longer they take the more money they make.
Are they producing knowledgeable people after the course or are they just taking people's money.

 

[GWguy]

So they flooded the cosmo school?

Pretty much. I'd go out to the local bars, meet someone, ask what they do.... the answer was overwhelmingly "I'm a cosmologist! (sic)"

 

[NextJen]

The license is to protect us all from the . . . . . Beauty School Dropout

 

[officeguy]

We are not talking doctors cutting into someone. We're talking about cutting hair.

There are things you have to do in a barber shop to avoid carrying one guys skin fungus to the next customer. The safety practices are something you can teach someone in a few hours, similar to a food safety certificate. If someone sucks at cutting hair, they wont have any customers. State licensing should only affect the safety aspect for the public.

Now, with things like perms and hair-straightening, there is the entire chemicals aspect. Someone who doesn't know what they are doing can cause extensive chemical burns to their customer. You wouldn't want someone do a perm or straightening who didn't receive formal training what is required to do it safely. Same with chemical peels on the cosmetology side of things. You should have training before you are allowed to smear acid on someones face.

Just to cut hair: A few hours on how to mix your disinfecting solution, what tools to disinfect and how not stab your customer in the head should be all that it takes for someone not to be a threat to the public.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

A cosmetology license in MD costs $25 to obtain and $25 to renew. http://www.dllr.state.md.us/license/cos/cosaff.shtml

The entirety of the training costs of 1500 hours and is offered in high school: marylandpublicschools.org/.../TabMCOMAR13A.04.09ProgramCosmetology .pdf

Regulations can make things more difficult for people who aren't qualified for a profession. Regulations can also protect the public from unsafe and unhealthy conditions.

A state license means you meet nothing more than a minimum level of qualifications.

It takes less hours to become a police officer in MD.
https://mdle.net/publicsafetytraining.htm

Some regulations are simply too burdensome. An online course about sanitizing equipment and working with chemicals and be completed in a fraction of the time.

There are things you have to do in a barber shop to avoid carrying one guys skin fungus to the next customer. The safety practices are something you can teach someone in a few hours, similar to a food safety certificate. If someone sucks at cutting hair, they wont have any customers. State licensing should only affect the safety aspect for the public.

Now, with things like perms and hair-straightening, there is the entire chemicals aspect. Someone who doesn't know what they are doing can cause extensive chemical burns to their customer. You wouldn't want someone do a perm or straightening who didn't receive formal training what is required to do it safely. Same with chemical peels on the cosmetology side of things. You should have training before you are allowed to smear acid on someones face.

Just to cut hair: A few hours on how to mix your disinfecting solution, what tools to disinfect and how not stab your customer in the head should be all that it takes for someone not to be a threat to the public.

^This.

Cutting hair is a bit more than "cutting hair".

 

[This_person]

There are things you have to do in a barber shop to avoid carrying one guys skin fungus to the next customer. The safety practices are something you can teach someone in a few hours, similar to a food safety certificate. If someone sucks at cutting hair, they wont have any customers. State licensing should only affect the safety aspect for the public.

Just to cut hair: A few hours on how to mix your disinfecting solution, what tools to disinfect and how not stab your customer in the head should be all that it takes for someone not to be a threat to the public.

The bolded part negates the rest. The actual health risk to the public is, at most, negligible.

Now, with things like perms and hair-straightening, there is the entire chemicals aspect. Someone who doesn't know what they are doing can cause extensive chemical burns to their customer. You wouldn't want someone do a perm or straightening who didn't receive formal training what is required to do it safely.

See bolded part above.

Same with chemical peels on the cosmetology side of things. You should have training before you are allowed to smear acid on someones face.

Off-topic.

 

[officeguy]

The bolded part negates the rest. The actual health risk to the public is, at most, negligible.

So you would be fine with a incompetent barber carrying headlice, tinea or crab lice from one customer to the next ? I am not.

See bolded part above.

'Sucks at cutting hair' is in reference of not being able to create a good looking haircut. I dont care if someone goes home with their bangs cut too short or an uneven fade. I do care if someone ends up at Hospital Center with disfiguring burns on their face.

Off-topic.

You dont seem to be familiar with what barbers and cosmetologists do.

 

[awpitt]

In addition to the class hours. They have to pass both a written exam and a practical exam that's taken at the state board. In MD, there is the Cosmetologist level and a Senior Cosmetologist level.

 

[This_person]

So you would be fine with a incompetent barber carrying headlice, tinea or crab lice from one customer to the next ? I am not.

Nope, not fine with that at all. I would no longer go to that barber. I suspect others would do the same, and there would no longer be that barber there, and the problem would be solved.

'Sucks at cutting hair' is in reference of not being able to create a good looking haircut. I dont care if someone goes home with their bangs cut too short or an uneven fade. I do care if someone ends up at Hospital Center with disfiguring burns on their face.

Agreed. If they can't figure that out, I suspect they'd no longer be there.

You dont seem to be familiar with what barbers and cosmetologists do.

Admittedly, I know nothing about cosmetologists. However, the OP was about how it seems stupid that to be a hair stylist, one must become a cosmetologist. So, you're off topic when you're talking about what it means to be a cosmetologist when the whole point is that many people would seem to NOT want to be one, they just want to cut/style hair.

It's like telling someone they have to get a license to paint cars when they want to change oil in cars. You can tell me all about how hard it is to paint cars, but the point is the person doesn't WANT to paint cars, they want to change the oil.

 

[awpitt]

Nope, not fine with that at all. I would no longer go to that barber. I suspect others would do the same, and there would no longer be that barber there, and the problem would be solved.

Don't you think it would be more prudent to prevent the problem from happening in the first place?

Admittedly, I know nothing about cosmetologists. However, the OP was about how it seems stupid that to be a hair stylist, one must become a cosmetologist. So, you're off topic when you're talking about what it means to be a cosmetologist when the whole point is that many people would seem to NOT want to be one, they just want to cut/style hair.

Actually, MD does offer a "Hairstylist" license if someone only wants to do hair services.

 

[Yooper]

I am, in principle, really anti-license.

HOWEVER, there is a reason why I tend to support it: as protection FROM the public.

Most of the posts here have focused on protecting the public.

But licenses (by "ensuring" a minimum level of competency) help protect the practitioner from A-hole members of the public.

Anti-license b/c it's just another way the govt makes life tougher for business folk while slurping at another trough.

But pro-license due for the protection angle until we can fix the real problem: an overly litigious and easily "hurt" society.

--- End of line (MCP)

 

[RoseRed]

Don't forget the continuing education in order to maintain their license.

 

[officeguy]

Nope, not fine with that at all. I would no longer go to that barber. I suspect others would do the same, and there would no longer be that barber there, and the problem would be solved.

Would the same apply to a surgeon ?

Admittedly, I know nothing about cosmetologists. However, the OP was about how it seems stupid that to be a hair stylist, one must become a cosmetologist. So, you're off topic when you're talking about what it means to be a cosmetologist when the whole point is that many people would seem to NOT want to be one, they just want to cut/style hair.

It's like telling someone they have to get a license to paint cars when they want to change oil in cars. You can tell me all about how hard it is to paint cars, but the point is the person doesn't WANT to paint cars, they want to change the oil.

You dont need a cosmetology license to cut hair. You can do that with a 'barber stylist' license. That's only 1650hrs of apprenticeship ;-)

As I said, all that should be required to cut hair, should be a 10hr course on how to disinfect the tools of your trade how to recognize if someone has a communicable disease that involves their hair/scalp. That's the only public health aspect of hair cutting that state licensing should concern itself. If someone wants to use chemicals on someones skin or hair (perms, straightening, chemical peels, chemical tanning), they should be required to prove that they have the training to do so safely. From where I stand, the current licensing laws for barbers and stylists are simply a mechanism for the folks established in the trade to keep out competition. Of course, the result of this licensing scam are armies of unlicensed barbers and ladies who 'do hair' working in apartments. Kind of like the gun laws.