Beauty Professionals
in pennsylvania deserve beauty, not barriers
Traditional cosmetology programs are too expensive and state licensure requirements are too steep, and this can keep many out of the industry, in debt, or unable to hire. Beauty professionals deserve more flexible training options that cater to their specific needs – and artists who have already mastered certain safe skills shouldn’t be forced to spend money learning what they already know.
Let’s exempt safe, narrow services from cosmetology licensing to make Pennsylvania’s beauty industry more accessible and inclusive, while keeping it safe.
1,250 hours of training to do blow-outs?
Beauty pros who don’t want to use chemicals or cut hair should not need a full-service license. They could go to school if they want to expand their services.
13 states do not Force Muas to go to school.
This saves MUAs who already have the skills time and money. But Pennsylvania requires all MUAs to go to a traditional program.
What about sanitation and safety?
Customers are already protected by consumer protection laws.
do you want to help change pennsylvania’s law to make the industry more accessible and inclusive?
Beauty, Not Barriers is a nonprofit initiative working to make it less costly to work in the beauty industry.
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getting a blow-out and going blonde should not be regulated in the same way.
lawmakers and beauty pros are interested in exempting some safe services from licensing, like many other states have done.
These niche beauty services are different from cosmetology services, because they are limited in scope and inherently safe.
It’s not fair that beauty professionals face steeper and more costly licensing requirements than so many other fields.
Education
Chefs prepare food that is ingested by customers and aren’t required to get a license or go to school. They take a short, simple sanitation course, and the restaurant is subject to inspections. It’s up to the chef whether they want to go to culinary school.
Time
In Pennsylvania, EMTs – who administer life-saving aid – have to get 150 hours of training to get a license to work. Compare that to 1,250 hours to blow-dry style hair. That’s not fair.
Regulations
Personal trainers aren’t required to have a license. Tattooing is riskier and more invasive than what these beauty service providers do, but Pennsylvania does not require a license from the state.
IT’S 2023: IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE TO REQUIRE BEAUTY ARTISTS TO SPEND SO MUCH TIME IN TRADITIONAL, COSTLY COSMETOLOGY PROGRAMS, WHEN THERE ARE SO MANY OTHER, MORE AFFORDABLE TRAINING OPTIONS – ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO NARROW SERVICES THAT DON’T INVOLVE CHEMICALS OR CUTTING.
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Beauty, Not Barriers is an initiative of the Institute for Justice, 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 and excessive training, which profits the schools at the expense of students going into debt.