A story in the Austin American-Statesman began with these words: “There are beauty procedures about which Texas law is perfectly clear. People must be licensed by the state if they intend to bleach, cleanse, color, cut, dress, dye, process, shampoo, shape, singe, straighten, style, tint, wave — or otherwise beautify — hair. When it comes to ripping hair off a woman’s body, however, the rules are oddly incomplete.”
The story is about how several salons are suing the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, claiming the agency was keeping them out of business for using a hair removal procedure called threading. The story reports that Texas wants “theaders” to take between 750 and 1500 hours of cosmetology training, which by the way, doesn’t even include instruction on threading.
Here’s my question to you: How many of you think that state licensing of barbers prevents a bad haircut, perm, dye-job, or bad anything? It’s offensive that these services are licensed by the state.
There is no substantive negative public health threat from any of these services which regulation actually prevents. You should be free to use anyone you want for cosmetic services but you aren’t, you can only use someone granted license from government.
Are licenses for the cosmetic women at department stores next? Maybe, we’ve granted interior decorators licensing recently much to our collective shame.
Just how have we gone so far from Liberty of the individual and opportunity for the industrious, to this nanny state, yes even in Texas, which regulates such mundane activities as cutting hair? Shame on us and a pox upon legislators who keep voting for this Liberty-eroding crap.
Robert Pratt is host of the top rated Pratt on Texas radio program which can be heard at www.PrattonTexas.com
