truthout: ““License to Work,” an Institute for Justice report published on November 29, 2022, examines 102 lower-income occupations and finds beauty professionals commonly face especially high barriers. Most of these beauty workers are women, and many are immigrants.
Some aspiring beauty professionals choose alternate careers to avoid the expense. Others hide in the shadows, looking over their shoulders when they work.
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After Mississippi ended licensing requirements for hair braiders in 2005, more than 6,700 workers — mostly African American women — joined the formal economy. Louisiana, which still criminalizes unlicensed braiding, has fewer than 20 registrants in the same occupation.
The Louisiana Board of Cosmetology defends the licensing requirement as a safety and sanitation precaution, but the more likely reason for the mandate is economic protectionism. Salon owners benefit from rules that limit competition, and beauty schools benefit from forced enrollment. The Pelican Institute for Public Policy, which opposes government favoritism in Louisiana, blames the state’s resistance to reform on the “usual entrenched status quo.””