The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Salon owners against license changes
The two proposed Ohio bills that will change cosmetology licensing laws have sparked a debate among cosmetologists, salon owners, cosmetology instructors, consumers and lawmakers.
The primary topic in this discussion is the proposed reduction in the hours of Board-approved training required to obtain an initial practicing cosmetology, esthetician, hair designer or manicurist license.
The Substitute House Bill 189 states that
under the current law cosmetologists are required to have 1,500 hours, but the bill would decrease it to 1,000 hours. The bill would also significantly decrease the required hours for the cosmetology license, if the applicant is a licensed barber in Ohio from 1,000 required hours to 200; the esthetician license from 600 to 300; the hair designer license from 1,200 to 600; the hair designer license, if the applicant is also a licensed barber in Ohio from 1,000 to 400 and the manicurist licence from 200 to 100 hours.
Similar to the house bill, Senate Bill 129 outlines the revised education requirements.
“It is unbelievable what they are trying to do to the Ohio State Board of Cosmetology and the people who already have licenses,” said Ladies and Gentleman Salon and Spa Owner Nancy Brown. “It is absolutely appalling. They don’t have any idea what they’re doing.”
Brown, who owns two Ladies and Gentleman Salons in Mentor and Lyndhurst and three cosmetology schools, said the bill is driven by a few powerful players in the industry, who are chain retail owners.
She said local licensed cosmetologists and cosmetology students have also expressed a deepseated concern that lowering current requirements would leave them without the competence and confidence necessary to pursue self-employment options.
“You wouldn’t believe the things we have to learn, because we are working on the public and their safety is crucial,” Brown added.
Brown has been in this industry for over 50 years.
“We’ve been in business since 1975 and 22 years in the school business,” she said. “I’ve actually been involved with the State Board of Cosmetology and I’ve gone down to Columbus a few times in the past and helped them with creating curriculum. I went to the State Board when curling irons and flat irons became really big and we actually put those things in the curriculum.”
There is a certain technique and skill you must have to use flat irons and curling irons to prevent burning anyone, she said.
Over the years, Brown said 1,500 hours of training are the number of hours that work.
“Here’s the other problem with 1,500 hours, people from states with lower hours currently come to us because they want more
training but if we go down to 1,000 hours we would only be able to work in two other states and they are Massachusetts and New York,” she said. “The travesty of all of this is that I really think the people who are trying to make this work, many of them are not hairdressers and they don’t understand what the ramifications of taking the budget salon criteria and forcing it on everyone in Ohio will be. I would like to see this bill die.”
Brown teamed up with local salon owners to raise awareness about this bill.
Jennifer Pealer, owner of Jenniffer & Co. salon in Mentor and Mentor-on-the-Lake, is also very passionate about speaking out against the proposed legislation.
The lifelong Mentor resident has been in business for 26 years. Her focus is to educate the consumer .
“They’re not informing the consumer, so at the salon I feel it’s my responsibility to help get support because if the State is lowering their standards for licensing,
that is something I’m not in favor of,” she said. “The first person it impacts is the customer, because of health risks. They’re willing to cut sanitation laws and make cuts in areas that I just don’t feel are in the best interest of the public.”
To raise awareness, she hosted an event and her staff wears shirts to convey this message.
Pealer explained that the current hours for licensure are essential for learning opportunities.
“When cutting hours such as cutting the shampoo hours, within those shampoo hours they may be learning how to tone, how to shampoo someone who has psoriasis or how to shampoo someone who has a metal plate in their head,” she said. “Every part of those 1,500 hours is so valuable that you can’t afford to cut one hour of that. In my salon, once they come out of school then they have another nine to 15 months just to apprentice, if you lower those conditions now that apprenticeship would go to almost two years. Now I’m teaching them what they are slacking in and things they need every day in our salon.”
She said she is going to continue to fight and promote protectmy profession. com which provides more information and a petition opposing House Bill 189 and Senate Bill 129.
The petitions received over 5,000 signatures.
Courtney Leaf-Pollock, who is the owner of Leaf’s Hair Lounge in Mentor, has also been educating her clients about the “dangers of this bill.”
Leaf-Pollock is a Mentor High School graduate who
attended a vocational program as a high school student for cosmetology.
Students in the vocational program still had to meet the same licensure requirements including the 1,500 hours of training, she said.
“I learned so much,” she said. “We studied chemistry, which explained the chemicals we mix and we had to take anatomy and physiology and learned the layers of the skin and bones in the body. Cosmetology is way more technical than people think.”
Leaf-Pollock opened her salon about a year ago, yet she has been working in the industry for about 12 years.
“I worked hard to get my license,” she said. “I am concerned that future cosmetologists won’t be trained as well and held to the same standards.”
She argues that the proposed apprenticeship program places a burden on the salon owners to properly train these individuals.
If approved, the house bill would require the Board to adopt rules to establish a program for apprentice cosmetologists, who are not licensed but are training in cosmetology or a branch of cosmetology under a person holding a practice or instructor’s licence. It requires cosmetology apprentices to work at least 32 hours per week under a trainer with a valid license and at least five years of experience. The sponsor of the cosmetology apprentice program will not be allowed to charge participants a fee of more than 2,500.
“It takes a long time to grow in this business,” she said. “It works how it already is. I fear for the future
of my business.”
The salon owners also expressed concerns about an expanded cosmetology definition to include trimming a beard or mustache with a disposable safety razor and the removal of advanced licenses for cosmetologists.
They voiced their concerns to state Representatives.
Rep. Ron Young, R-Leroy Township, said he also opposes the bill in its current form.
“I don’t like that these big chain locations are moving into Ohio and trying to change the licensing requirements,” he said. “These folks are coming in with a training scheme that will completely disrupt the industry.”
Proponents say House Bill 189 addresses Ohio’s burdensome cosmetology laws by helping cosmetology graduates enter the workforce earlier and with less debt, while fostering entrepreneurship and providing a more robust workforce for Ohio salons.
“It will cost less for people to complete the requirements and people can get in the industry faster,” Young said. “However, when you take a closer look there are all kinds of problems with that. These big companies will be able to pay people less hourly and they will just be able to charge tips. Also they will be hired under a non-compete contract that would make it hard to leave and since they won’t have enough training, they cannot go and work on their own or work in the other states due to only having 1,000 hours when the majority of states require at least 1,500.”