Do hair braiders need a license in Illinois?

There is good news for those with the flair for braiding hair. Under a new law, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) will now issue licenses exclusively for hair braiders which means the state will no longer require them to attain a full cosmetology license as it had in the past.

Instead of the required 1500 hours of classroom training it usually took to receive a cosmetology license in Illinois, only 300 hours of classroom time and practical experience will be sufficient enough to get licensed as a professional hair braider. Translated into months, a person can complete the required course work for a hair braiding license in 3-6 months as opposed to 9-12 months.

Many people braid hair for a living, and we recognize that they dont need an entire cosmetology license just to do so. There has always been a great deal of resistance toward the 1500 hours, and this law allows them to attain a hair braiding license in half the time, said Susan Hofer, a spokesperson for IDFPR.

Also under the new law, a braider who has a sufficient amount of practical experience can apply for a professional braider license without having to complete the required 300 hours of classroom training. This is referred to as a grandfather period.

Individuals applying for the grandfather provision must submit a complete application to the IDFPR postmarked no later than December 31, 2012.

Applications and forms are available on the IDFPRs website at www.idfpr.com. Submit written requests for applications and forms to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, 320 West Washington Street, 3rd floor, ATTN: FORMS, Springfield, IL 62786. Questions regarding the grandfather period should be directed to the Technical Assistance Unit at 217-782-8556.

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) – An Illinois lawmaker has proposed legislation that would eliminate licensure for barbers and stylists in the state.

Rep. Allen Skillicorn wrote the legislation which is currently before the rules committee. It is making waves with professionals in the industry.

"I wouldn't want someone on my head with a razor blade who hadn't been to school for it," Nate Kelton with Lockhart's Barber Shop said.

Under House Bill 5558, anyone could practice "cosmetology, barbering, esthetics, hair braiding or nail technology without a license" as long as they post a notice that the services are provided by someone unlicensed.

"I think that it takes away from the trade,” Matthew Mitchell-Cupp, Lockhart's Barber Shop owner, said. “There are a ton of important things that you learn in barber or cosmetology school."

Those licensed in the industry go through training on chemical safety, industry trends and how to identify diseases, like skin cancers.

"When you come in here and sit down with a licensed barber, we're standing here staring at your head and can see things that you're not going to see,” Kelton said.

WAND reached out to Rep. Skillicorn’s office for comment but has not heard back, but in a response to a local stylist he said state interference “prevents working class people from earning an income". He said in 1950, one in 20 workers required occupational licensure. On Thursday, Rep. Skillicorn said that number is one in four.

The state of Illinois received a near-failing grade for the quality of its natural-hair-braiding licensing rules, according to a new study released by the Institute for Justice.

The study overviews natural-hair-braiding (a popular beauty practice among African and African-American communities in the U.S.) regulations in every state in the country, ranking each one based on how burdensome the requirements for obtaining a license are. States like Arizona and Michigan received A’s, while Nebraska, South Dakota and others received F’s. Overall, the study criticizes the fact that even though “braiders do not use any chemicals, dyes or coloring agents and do not cut hair,” they’re still forced to go through hundreds of hours of coursework and pay tuition reaching into “thousands of dollars” just for the right to earn a living.

Illinois in particular received a D because it requires 300 hours of training to get a license – and no school in the entire state of Illinois teaches a natural-hair-braiding curriculum that would allow a natural hair braider to comply with the law. Many natural hair braiders who do have the license were grandfathered into the program, and so they do not need to meet the coursework requirement. Anyone found practicing without a license can be fined up to $5,000.

This is a particularly good example of how occupational licensing rules hurt the worst off among us. Natural hair braiders are largely drawn from the African-American community, which has a national unemployment rate that’s twice as high as whites. These high barriers to entry have a real impact on real people.

So what is the appropriate amount of regulation for natural hair braiders? None.

Eleven states currently leave the market completely unregulated.  Eight other states have lighter hour requirements than Illinois. And no states have experienced a public health crisis from rouge hair braiders. It’s more often the case that hairdressers, threatened by competition, push for more regulation on their competitors.

The regulation of natural hair braiding, which poses no genuine threat to public health and safety, violates a fundamental human right protected by our Constitution: the right to earn a living. And judges have recently applied this principle to natural hair braiding.

In 2012, Judge David Sam of the U.S District Court for the District of Utah struck down Utah’s natural-hair-braiding regulations, holding that “the right to work for a living in the common occupations of the community is of the very essence of the personal freedom and opportunity that the Constitution was designed to protect,” and described Utah’s rules as “wholly irrational and a violation of [the plaintiff’s] constitutionally protected rights.” Further lawsuits against natural-hair-braiding regimes are pending in Arkansas, Washington, Texas and Missouri.

It’s hard enough to earn a living without the state getting in the way, especially for the communities that constitute the supply (and demand) of the natural-hair-braiding market. Illinois lawmakers should preempt the lawsuits pending in other states and eliminate the barriers to entry to that market, freeing these entrepreneurs to make a living for themselves.

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