Should hairbraiders be licensed?

Women of color have been getting their hair braided since the beginning of time.

The hairbraiding business has grown into such a lucrative enterprise that many hairbraiders have stopped braiding hair in their homes and have opened salons.

However, state cosmetology boards are requiring that hairbraiders go to cosmetology school and then be tested by the state before a license is issued to them.

In effect, many hairbraiders believe they're forced to undertake an elaborate, oftentimes unrelated, training process to get a license for a procedure they've already been performing expertly for years.

These regulations have woven a web of hairbraiders nationwide into a furor over the requirement, causing many to wonder, Should hairbraiders be licensed?

Essentially, state cosmetology boards are saying any work performed on a person's hair for money falls under the statutes of cosmetology. Therefore, hairbraiders must acquire a cosmetology license.

Taalib-Din Uqdah, founder and executive director of the American Hairbraiders & Natural Haircare Association (AHNHA) in Washington, D.C., says hairbraiders should not be licensed as cosmetologists because the schooling necessary to obtain the license bears no rational relationship to what they do.

"The cosmetology schools don't teach how to braid hair," asserts Uqdah, who made headlines four years ago when his challenging of D.C. regulations helped transform cosmetology laws there to include five separate licenses for the discipline of braiding, twisting and locking hair, the first law of its type in the country. "For hairbraiders to attend cosmetology school in order to learn how to do manicures, pedicures, facials, thermal curling, etc., makes no sense. There is no relationship between requirements and what they have to do."

Adds Uqdah, who, along with his wife, noted hair-care specialist Pamela Ferrell, owns Cornrows & Co. in D.C., "The state is attempting to make a boy's suit fit a man. What they have done is taken the existing cosmetology law and tried to stretch it to include those who braid, twist and lock hair. No state has the right to regulate a hairstyle. But the state has a right to guarantee clients that any business establishment is clean and sanitary."

Two years ago, Uqdah founded AHNHA to support others in their quest to change regulation laws. Currently the organization, as a means of fighting to challenge state cosmetology board regulations, is supporting several hairbraiders who have filed lawsuits in Ohio, California and New York.

Dave Williamson, Ohio State Board of Cosmetology executive director, is adamant that hairbraiders should get cosmetology licenses because what they do falls under the same statute.

"Hairbraiding is an extension of cosmetology, and it is still working with hair," states Williamson. "It is a regulated practice in the state of Ohio, and it involves the requirement to attend cosmetology training and receive an examination and a license to perform in licensed facilities."

Dana Berliner, a staff attorney with the Institute for Justice in Washington, D.C., begs to differ.

"The irony here is that cosmetology schools do not teach African-style hairbraiding, and the licensing examination does not test it," reveals Berliner, who currently is representing four hairbraiders who have filed a lawsuit in Ohio in an attempt to change regulations in that state.

Continues Berliner, "You don't need to spend a year in school and $5,000 to learn how to wash your combs. Hairbraiders learn all kinds of things in cosmetology school that they don't do. The reason states are doing this is to protect licensed cosmetologists from competition. There's no reason for states to prevent people from making an honest living. It's an art form, and people have a right to practice it."

Williamson says the issue of competition between licensed cosmetologists and unlicensed hairbraiders is a valid concern.

"There are a lot of minority-owned and operated salons that are licensed. They are operating in the same community as hairbraiders who are providing unregulated services. It is unfair to those who have followed the rules."

Faith Carey, owner of Faithfully Yours in Canton, OH, braids hair without a license. For her actions, she received a notice from the Canton City Prosecutor's Office that the inspector wanted to press criminal charges against her for operating a salon without a license. After the staunch measure, Carey filed a lawsuit to challenge state regulations. She is one of the three being represented by Berliner.

"[The state] made me feel like a drug dealer. I had to go undercover to braid hair," laments Carey. "I had to do things illegally. I'm trying to earn an honest living. The state doesn't know how to get its hand on our money, and one way of doing that is by requiring cosmetology licenses."

Dr. JoAnne Cornwell, owner of the San Diego, CA-based company Sisterlocks, feels the cosmetology license isn't "appropriate" for what hairbraiders do.