Intro: Do you feel like you were meant to have a kick-ass career as a hairstylist, like you got into this industry to make big things happen? Maybe you’re struggling to build a solid base and want some stability. Maybe you know social media is important, but it feels like a waste of time because you weren’t seeing any results. Maybe you’ve already had some amazing success but are craving more. Maybe you’re ready to truly enjoy the freedom and flexibility this industry has to offer. Cutting and coloring skills will only get you so far, but to build a lifelong career as a wealthy stylist, it takes business skills and a serious marketing strategy. When you’re ready to quit just working in your business and start working on it, join us here where we share real success stories from real stylists. I’m Britt Seva, social media and marketing strategist just for hairstylists, and this is the Thriving Stylist podcast.
Britt: What is up? And welcome back to the Thriving Stylist podcast. I’m your host, Britt Seva, and this week we’re talking about deregulation and how it could impact the industry. This is actually a topic I didn’t super want to record on. It’s something people have asked me about for a little while. The reason I don’t want to record on it is because it’s kind of like talking about something that’s not really happened. It’s like giving power to a fear. However, the reason why I want to go into this at this crossroads is because it does seem like a lot of states are really looking at changing laws around cosmetology right now, which is bringing up very normal and very understandable fears for those of us in the industry. So I chose to just get curious, which is my big word for 2024, and I just started digging in.
I was like, “Okay, What’s going on with these legal changes? Is it just because it’s an election year? What’s happening?” And I found myself in this rabbit hole of a lot of research and a lot of changes that have been going on in the industry for close to five years. And the reason why I think this episode is important is because I think it’s going to qualm a lot of fears. I think everyone’s going to listen to this and walk away feeling so much better about the changes that are happening. At least that’s my hope. Give all of us a better understanding of why things are changing after decades of doing things the same way, and how this could actually be a massive benefit to us. So first things first, let’s talk about why deregulation scares us. And let me explain what deregulation means. If our industry became deregulated, in the most extreme terms, okay, most extreme, everything is totally deregulated, there would no longer be a licensure requirement in order to do a lot of things, but definitely like cut and color hair, chemical texture services.
Most of what happens in the salon right now is regulated. We have these licenses that allow us to do a specific number of things. Estheticians have licenses, nail technicians have licenses, barbers have licenses. And if we were to deregulate potentially, anybody could just decide to open up a business and do hair, in the most extreme sense. Now, do I think that likely there would still be a licensure process for who could open a salon? Yes. In my mind, there would be. However, I don’t know. I’m projecting on something that’s not yet happened and that we’ve not in modern times seen in practice. So it’s hard for me to say. But in theory, if the industry is deregulated, anybody could choose to start cutting hair, start coloring hair, which for us who are licensed, that’s very scary because so many people really minimize the science and the safety that go into the work that we do.
I have nicked myself and made a little V-shaped cut on my hands countless times. I have felt a bleach burn. As I share those things, you all are nodding your head. You’re like, “Yeah, obviously we’ve all done that.” We’ve seen scalps blister, and we’ve seen people have color allergies and what that can do. There are a lot of dangers associated with the work that we do. We work with sharp instruments, we work with chemicals. And to think that deregulation could happen and that just anybody off the streets could start working with some of these things, it brings up a level of fear, and I totally understand that. So let’s get into the research and see how we got to this crossroads in this conversation.
So really, we started seeing changes in the laws around 2020. Things have been bubbling up for a while, but that was kind of a turning point for me. So, July 1st, 2020, the Occupational Freedom and Opportunity Act went into place in Florida. And what it basically said was that you no longer needed to be a licensed cosmetologist to do a handful of services. So the things that were covered under this Occupational Freedom and Opportunity Act were hair braiding, hair wrapping, body wrapping, applying polish to fingernails and toenails, makeup applications, which includes, but is not limited to, primer, face paint, lipstick, eyeliner, shadow, foundation, rouge, cheek color, mascara, strip lashes, individual lashes, face powder, corrective stick, makeup remover, but does not include manual or chemical exfoliation, semi-permanent lash application, lash, brow or tinting, permanent makeup application, microblading, or hair removal.
So essentially any… Well, not anything but a lot of stuff that was not chemical, didn’t involve sharp instruments was something that people were able to do without a licensure. So braiding and wrapping, you could do color changes on nails, but you couldn’t do a manicure using the tools. Makeup artists basically were able to do what they do without license, those kinds of things. Effective January 1st, 2022, Senate Bill SB 803 made changes to the California state barbering and cosmetology laws. Here in the state of California where I am, we went from a 1600-hour program standard to 1000 hours. There was also an addition of a 600-hour program for new non-chemical hairstylist licenses.
So imagine somebody wants to join the industry and just do cuts, doesn’t want a barbering license, wants to do cuts, and doesn’t want to work with chemicals at all, cutting, styling. And that was a big thing is people were like, “This is great for styling and assistance.” And I get it, except for that there’s a limit to the progress that could be made under a license like that. However, if somebody knew for certain they did not want to color hair, they didn’t want to do chemical texture services, they truly just wanted to do cuts and styling, it was an option for them at 600 hours. So much lower rate.
Then on March the 12th, 2024, Indiana’s governor Eric Holcomb signed into law House Bill 1135 establishing cosmetology apprenticeship programs in the state of Indiana. Now, Indiana is not the only state with apprenticeships, about half of the U.S. offers that as the licensure alternative. So they just joined the group. May 17th, 2024, Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed SB 382, which exempts certain licenses from continuing education requirements. That was the turning point, at least from the outcry I heard from the industry. I have gotten DMs about all of these things over the years. For some reason, the pullback of CEs in Florida was really concerning. I think all of these things are major moves, but that was the one that really made me say, “Maybe this is something I should talk about.”
So one thing you should know about continuing education credits, if that was upsetting for you, a lot of states never had CEs. So in California, we never had a continuing education credit requirement, at least in my licensure time. So in the last 20 years, the CEs have not been required. So if you’re in a state where CEs were required, I think it’s a beautiful thing. I think our industry and any industry that works with the public and deals with safety should be continuing to educate themselves, but that’s more from an ethical standpoint. But if you look nationwide, CEs are not required in every single state. So that to me wasn’t so, so shocking.
Even when I look at California going from 1600 hours to 1000. I think it was California and Hawaii, at least when I was in cosmetology school, oh, and New York I believe, had the strongest requirements for hours dedicated to the programs. So what it seems like over and over and over is there’s these changes being made that are pulling people out of cosmetology schools. And that’s what’s freaking us out is it makes us say like, oh my gosh, they really want us to be a deregulated industry where schools don’t count. How did we get here? What happened that brought us to this point? So this is where I did my research.
A huge portion of this, not all of it, but an unproportionate reason why this is happening is what? Cosmetology schools. Cosmetology schools are and have always been, since I joined, fairly problematic. And I’m not saying all of them are. Not all of them, but we can probably say the majority. A lot of them are. And when we look at what the issues are, there’s all kinds of things. Lack of inclusivity, not comprehensive programs, not effective training. Then we can go back to state board requirements. I think about the things that I had to spend all my time on in state board and cosmetology school. 1600 hours, and I walked out of that program knowing pretty much nothing. I knew a lot about health and safety, and I totally think that that was time well worth it, but I couldn’t cut hair, I couldn’t style hair, I couldn’t color hair. I didn’t know how to formulate by myself. My foiling skills weren’t very good.
When it comes down to actual skills learned, I spent over a year in that program and I walked away with a license and then had to go into a salon to learn how to actually do the skill. And I probably had one of the better experiences, if I can be totally honest. I went to a good program. The program that I went to is run through a local community college. So mine was state-funded. This was not a private for-profit beauty school. And historically, the more state or county-regulated programs versus the private for-profits, have the reputation often for a more predictable result because they are regulated in a stronger way. That being said, there’s also some incredible, often brand-sponsored cosmetology school programs that also have historically delivered an incredible result. Both of those things are the minority. Many for-profit beauty schools have been predatory.
One of the articles I pulled up, and I very much remember this happening because it happened in my state, but it was a huge nationwide news piece. It was back in 2016, Marinello Schools of Beauty abruptly shut down, closed 56 of its campuses, 39 in California, some in Nevada, and some in surrounding states as well, because it was improperly allocating federal student aid funding. They are not the only school that’s gotten busted for this. A lot have, but this was a big one because it was like a franchise essentially model of cosmetology schools, and they all went down. It wasn’t one location, two location, a standalone. If you don’t know this, a lot of beauty schools are franchises, meaning somebody is interested in opening a beauty school. There are parent companies often under bigger brand names like hair care brands. You can probably think of some in your mind.
Very famous big-name hair care brands have these cosmetology schools. Those are generally going to be franchises. Not all of the locations, but a lot of them are franchises. And some business owner has chosen to buy into that franchise model, open up a beauty school, and they’re running under that model with that framework, but a huge portion of what happens in that building is up to the discretion of the person who owns it and runs it and hires the people and all the staff. If you go to a Redken Academy, for example, it’s not like somebody from Redken corporate is coming in there to run the school. That’s not what’s happening in most locations. It’s a franchise model. So what’s happening once the franchise gets signed is kind of up to the whims of the owner and the people that are running it, and that’s where a lot of these problems have come into.
So when this went down with Marinello, 28,000 cosmetology schools were dropped. And the reason why this happened, I’m going to read you a direct quote is, “The department found that the school misled students about the quality and content of the programs, exploited students’ unpaid labor, failed to train students in key skills, such as how to cut hair, and left students without the skills to pass certification exams, find employment, and repay their loans.” When you read that paragraph, that could kind of be true for a lot of cosmetology schools and it’s not great.
And by the way, I have a link to this article. It’ll be in the show notes for the podcast. But this goes on to say, “Unfortunately, the case of Marinello Beauty School is not an isolated incident. For-profit cosmetology schools like Marinello have faced multiple actions from regulators as well as consumer class actions alleging deceptive practices, exploitation of unpaid labor, and other misconduct. The risk to cosmetology students extend beyond such a legal context. Students attending programs typically borrow thousands of dollars through student loans and invest months of their time in training,” I mean, for me, it was 13 months, for a lot of you, it was kind of the same, “only to receive near poverty level earnings after graduation. Three years after completing their program, the average cosmetologist only earns $16,000 a year, which is $8,600 below the average earnings of a worker with only a high school diploma, and only $3,000 above the single-person poverty guideline. In addition, cosmetology students graduate with an average of $10,200 in student loan debt.”
Okay. So when you look at the facts like that, it’s not great. Now for those of you who are like, “Well, that’s because a lot of people don’t claim their income.” So like I said, I’m going to source the resources I looked to for this piece. When investigations were done, they took all of that into account. They looked at, is it because most stylists work part-time, is it because stylists aren’t claiming their cash tips. They looked at all of these things and found that, no, disproportionately, income from our industry is simply low. And I think a lot of you listening to this, there’s so many of you who literally do things legally above board and are claiming 50 grand a year working full time. It’s not that that’s bad, but it is lower than the average American income in the United States today. So just kind of when you look at all the data across the board, it doesn’t add up.
So at first when I heard this, I thought, “Okay, maybe it is that people aren’t claiming their income. Maybe it is the whole part-time thing.” This is actually the piece that got me. “Cosmetology schools enrolled close to 200,000 students in 2018 and 2019.” Did you know that 200,000 people are choosing to join this industry in a year? That is a huge number of people. Cosmetology schools enrolled close to 200,000 students in 2018 and 2019. Can you believe that? Almost a quarter of a million people choosing to join cosmetology schools. This is from 2018, 2019, I would bet that number is higher in 2023, 2024. That’s a lot of people. And listen to this, cosmetology schools, not individuals, this is funding that goes to these private schools. “Cosmetology schools received more than $1 billion in federal loans and grants. Unfortunately, the federal loans and grants invested in these institutions have not translated into adequate earnings for program graduates.”
So when they look at all the… And they being lawmakers, those who look at regulation, employment boards, all these kinds of things, when they look at the data, they’re like, “Wow, we’re pumping a billion dollars a year in funding into educating people for this industry. And then they come out and their earnings are $16,000 a year on average.” Can you see just from a common sense standpoint? That’s not great. So then I looked at other industries, and I found this to be very interesting. By the way, I’m a huge proponent of trades. My daughter went into a trade. We’re going to be pushing our son to go into a trade. I’m all about the trades. I think that they’re really smart, they’re genius.
Listen to these stats. The average dental assistant makes $25,414 their first year out of school. The average nursing student, $79,436, generic construction fields, $49,667. And then there’s us, it’s 16,588. That’s not great. It’s not great. And so when we’re looking at like, okay, people are spending six months, nine months, a year in a school on average paying $10,000 to be a part of that program, which by the way, some private education programs are more like 28, $30,000 to be a part of for one year or multi-month cosmetology program. So let’s say we’re spending anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 to get a license. A lot of people taking on student loans. I had to take federal funding when I went to a local cosmetology school program. I couldn’t afford my kit, I couldn’t afford my tuition. I couldn’t afford freaking anything.
And then by the way, I couldn’t work full-time when I was in cosmetology school because I was in cosmetology school 40 hours a week. And a lot of you can relate to that. So I’m working part-time, trying to go to school, trying to be a mom. I have a daughter at home during all of this. I’m making next to nothing, living on federal support to get through the program. I leave the program, join a salon, I’m making $8 an hour, which is minimum wage at the time. I know that in 2007, minimum wage is a lot less than it is now. But you go through all this and then you go into a minimum wage job and you were like clawing your way out of it.
Can you see how when you zoom out and you look at the system and the model from the bird’s eye view, that’s not great? And so for us who are in the industry, we’re like, “Regulation is important, rules and guidelines are important, having people licensed and trained and skilled and certified to do these things is important.” I can’t argue against that. The problem is the schools are not getting people to the place they need to be to graduate and be skilled enough to do the damn thing. That’s the actual break. So the powers that be have the choice to try and fix all the schools, which by the way, I don’t have a guideline for how you would do that, that would take years. And listen, maybe that’s the approach they’ll end up taking or they say this is an extremely broken model, and people who go into this trade will need to instead more like apprentice.
And I don’t know how that will go. I know somebody in my life in recent years who went through an apprenticeship and I actually advised them to walk away because I didn’t agree with how the apprenticeship was being run. There were elements that felt a little bit like low-cost labor to me. Now that being said, I don’t think all apprenticeships run like that. In our salon when I was there, I was part of one apprenticeship. We took on one gentleman, he was amazing. He joined us, wasn’t licensed, and did a two-year apprenticeship with us. He was incredible. The training was incredible. He was treated super well. He’s gone on to be incredibly successful. I don’t know if that’s a Cinderella story or if that’s normal, but I’ve seen apprenticeship done correctly. And man, when it’s done correctly is it phenomenal. He got such better education with us in the salon over the course of two years than he ever would’ve gotten in cosmetology school.
And by the way, he was making a paycheck. He didn’t have to pay $10,000, $30,000 to be a part of our salon team. He was earning a living while learning how to be an incredible stylist. And health and safety, all of the things that you would need to know, he learned that on-site. I’ve seen the beauty that that can be. I’ve also seen people take an advantage of an apprenticeship. So here’s the thing about this podcast episode. I don’t have the perfect solution and I don’t have the perfect answer, but what I want you to know and understand is let’s say our industry deregulates tomorrow, it’s not like everything was going super well and they pulled the rug out from under us.
I don’t think there’s anybody listening to this episode who was like, wow, I went to cosmetology school and I walked out, and the first year I made a hundred thousand dollars and it was not a big deal. Or even $72,000, like the average nurse does. Or you know what? 30-something thousand dollars like a dental tech. Our industry has some fatal flaws. And I’m not pro-deregulation, but I’m also not scared of it because I feel like the system we have is not working great. And so maybe putting some pressure on and looking at other ways to make sure that those who want to get into this industry can do so, can find viable opportunity, can learn without going into massive debt, signing up for programs that are not going to teach them even how to pass the licensure and then end up unemployed. I want you to think back to your cosmetology school class. I share very openly. I was part of a class of probably 26, 28 graduates. I am one of three still in the industry, and by the way, I’m not even doing hair.
And I look back to those who went through the program with me, graduated with me, some didn’t even take state board. Many did and never stepped foot in a salon. We got problems. Like I said, I’m not pro-deregulation, but I do see the flaws in what we’ve got going on. I think some of the moves, like not having people spend so many hours in cosmetology school, potentially could be a good thing. But it’s only a good thing if the salon owners elevate, step up, and create opportunities for those new graduates to come in and learn the gaps. And I think we have to take a really aggressive approach to that. I think when I look at salon training programs where it’s like video trainings and very passive, and you’ll learn as you work. I really think as we see the industry shifting in this direction, a heavier hand with a focus on short-term learning is really important.
You need to really pour into a new hire in the first 30, 60, 90 days. They should go from 0 to 60 in 90 days, and then we take them from 60 to 85 over the next few months ahead. But they need to learn a lot really, really fast because we know the data, we know the reality. If not given some pretty strong handholding, the average person graduating from cosmetology school is going to struggle and suffer and maybe not make it. We have a really high churn rate in the industry, and I think we need to be less scared of this and more scared of what will happen if something does not change. So I hope this has gotten you thinking. If you have any questions, I would love it if you left me a rating or review on iTunes. I’d love to keep the conversation going. And as I always say, so much love, happy business building. And I’ll see you on the next one.
