beauty professionals deserve
Beauty,
Not Barriers.
States make beauty professionals spend a lot of time and money before they can provide any services and get paid. Laws require more from beauty pros than from those who work in many other jobs. That’s not fair. We believe that beauty pros deserve better.
We are the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit that has worked alongside talented artists across the country to help make it easier and less costly to work in beauty—and we want to know what you think. Are there ways to improve the industry? Please take our brief survey.
It’s not Fair That Beauty Professionals must spend…
AVERAGE OF
Aspiring beauty professionals spend, on average, $16,000 to attend state-required cosmetology school. And after spending all this money, many still have to get additional training because their school didn’t teach them what they needed to learn.
average of
Students often go into a lot of student loan debt to afford school. But programs rarely graduate students on time, delaying—or even blocking—aspiring beauty professionals’ entry into the workforce, and increasing their debt burden.
UP TO
States require up to 2,100 hours of cosmetology school. Students have reported that they spend much of the practical instruction time standing around, waiting for clients. A former student told The New York Times, “I would say probably 60 percent of our time was sitting around waiting […] I was literally just waiting. I had to finish my clock hours.”
And while in school, students usually must provide services to paying customers—and not earn a dime For their labor.
The school profits twice: from the student’s tuition, and the paying customers.
Why are Beauty Professionals targeted?
It’s not fair that beauty pros face steeper and more costly licensing requirements than many other fields, including those directly linked to health and safety.
There are many ways to learn about beauty and sanitation practices without being required to spend up to 2,100 hours in school, often going into debt, and learning skills one may never use.
Sanitation is important, and can be learned in a few hours–which is the case for many other occupations.
Some states make it easier to provide beauty services.
Required hours of schooling differ state to state, even though beauty services don’t. Some states allow services that don’t involve chemicals to be performed without having to go to cosmetology school first.
Some states allow beauty professionals to:
without getting a cosmetology license first.
Beauty professionals deserve more options and flexibility.
Not everyone wants to use chemicals or engage in all the cosmetology skills: some beauty professionals only want to provide narrow services.
The United Kingdom and 12 members of the EU don’t require licensing for beauty professionals at all.
The UK has “voluntary certification,” which allows beauty professionals to decide which credentials they want to pursue. If they want to call themselves a “State Registered Hairdresser,” they have to meet certain requirements; but they don’t have to do this in order to provide services.
Hear from The Pros
Hear from beauty professionals who are frustrated with how the industry is regulated and what options have meant for their careers.
The beauty industry runs on
uniqueness & creativity,
but these laws are stifling it.
👋
We want To Hear From You.
We’ve worked alongside talented artists across the country to change these laws. We want to hear from you about your experience with the beauty industry to see if we can help.
learn More
The Institute for Justice is a non-profit organization that works alongside beauty professionals and other workers nationwide to change laws that make it hard to earn a living. So often, state laws require way too much to work in an occupation—like expensive training that can teach things that are not necessary.