Two bills making their way through the Hawaii Legislature would relieve natural hair braiders of the onerous requirement that they obtain full cosmetology licenses to practice their craft professionally.
Mandating expensive cosmetology schooling for braiders, whose skills often have a rich cultural history of being passed down for generations, is not only unnecessary — it’s not even enforced, said Malia Blom Hill, policy director at the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.
“It’s not fair to ask people to continue to operate in a legal gray area,” Hill said March 17 on ThinkTech Hawaii’s “Talk Story” program hosted by Keliʻi Akina, who also is president of the Grassroot Institute.
Hill said about 37 other states have come to the same realization and passed laws similar to Hawaii’s SB2876 and HB1697.
“If you care a lot about advancing entrepreneurial opportunities for women and minorities, then you should be looking very hard at the licensing barriers for industries that are dominated very strongly by women and minorities,” she said.
Akina noted that the issue goes deeper than just braiding, in terms of fostering a free society and economic opportunities.
Hill agreed, explaining that excessive education requirements and licensing fees prevent people from working.
“We’ve created this entire body of laws and regulations and education requirements and costs that do nothing but set up barriers,” she said.
Hill pointed out that it takes 1,800 education hours to obtain a cosmetology license in Hawaii, compared to about 315 hours to become an Emergency Medical Technician. Tattoo artists, she said, merely need to take a single class on bloodborne pathogens.
“We put in a lot of laws that are supposedly for public safety, but as the braiding situation demonstrates … there’s a point at which public safety wasn’t remotely in the consideration anymore,” Hill said. “It’s really just about barriers and policing who’s allowed to be in that profession.”
Hill said she feels “very strongly” that people have a right to earn a living, and that excessive occupational licensing requirements “really interfere with that right.”
To watch the entire 27-minute interview, click on the YouTube image below.
