Study Reveals U.S. Consumers and Economy Lose Billions to Occupational Licensing

Re:Study Reveals U.S. Consumers and Economy Lose Billions to... by mywittyname on Friday December 14, 2018 @02:38PM (#18683883)

I was good friends with a stylist. She told me the training she received and it's pretty in depth. Cutting hair involves a lot more than operating sharp objects within an inch of another person's head.

Most of their income comes from dying, high-lights, etc, which involve applying harsh chemicals to another person's hair. They need to understand what can be mixed safely and how to identify issues. Plus there's the whole sanitation aspect.

Even the person who wipes your butt in a hospital has more training than a stylist.

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Re:Study Reveals U.S. Consumers and Economy Lose Billions to... by berberous on Friday December 14, 2018 @03:05PM (#18684162)

So have a minimum required certification that covers just sanitation and safe use of chemicals. The market can sort out the rest (i.e. the skill of the stylist).

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Re:Study Reveals U.S. Consumers and Economy Lose Billions to... by warkdarrior on Friday December 14, 2018 @03:53PM (#18684630)

That's exactly what we have now. There is no certification for "good stylist," "excellent stylist," or "average stylist."

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Re:Study Reveals U.S. Consumers and Economy Lose Billions to... by berberous on Friday December 14, 2018 @05:21PM (#18685410)

Right, but my point is that California basically requires a full year's worth of training (1600 hours) in order to be licensed, which seems to cost approx. $16k at some of the schools I just looked at. From looking at one random course book, that consists of:

- 10 hours of training on state law - 75 hours of training on infection control - 200 hours of training on chemical hair control - another 1,265 hours on other topics (shampooing, hair shaping, hair coloring, styling, business skills, etc.).

Perhaps those first three areas are important perquisites to being licensed, but the extra 1200 hours seem like something the market could sort out without being a prerequisite for receiving a license.

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