Utah cosmetologists spend months in school. But I have observed something over the past four decades as a beauty professional, salon owner and educator: The training required does not pay off.
Unless we come together and take an honest look at the growing problem, the industry will continue to slide into turmoil. I already see warning signs at the salon I operate in St. George. When beauty school graduates come to me looking for jobs, they are unprepared.
Perverse incentives, built into occupational licensing laws, make reform difficult. For far too long, Utah’s regulatory regime has funneled aspiring beauty professionals into expensive programs, giving schools a near-total monopoly on training.
This lack of competition kills accountability. Schools have a captive audience, whether or not they teach students how to succeed in the real world. Many schools offer federal taxpayer-assisted grants to lure applicants but then provide little or no meaningful education.
The rigged system gives schools a double source of income. They are compensated both through high-priced tuition and through free labor in student salons. Clients pay the school — not the student — for services rendered. The deal is especially bad for dropouts, who walk away with thousands of dollars in debt and nothing to show for it.
Now is the time to challenge the status quo and provide alternatives for people who truly want to learn cosmetology.
Salons are the answer. Businesses like mine stand ready to hire and train unlicensed hair professionals. The result would be hands-on education. New recruits would learn firsthand from veteran stylists, who could mentor them in controlled environments.
Freeing salons to make their own personnel decisions would cost taxpayers nothing. Best of all, it would put poor and mediocre beauty schools on notice. They would have to improve to survive.
Skeptics might worry about safety. Regulators often claim that beauty schools are essential to teach sanitation and the proper handling of heat, harsh chemicals and scissors. Yet salon owners already have this knowledge and are eager to share it. They take employee training seriously and uphold high standards of cleanliness and safety because they care about their reputations.
New research from the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm, backs up this claim. The report, “Clean Cut,” analyzes barbershop and nail salon health inspection outcomes in neighboring states with vastly different regulatory regimes for workers and finds no meaningful differences.
Regulators insist that hundreds of state-mandated hours are the only way to protect consumers. But salons are safe either way. This is not just theory. Apprenticeship models have proved effective in Europe for over 100 years.
Some might point out that Utah already allows apprenticeships as an alternative to cosmetology school. But stifling rules kill flexibility and discourage participation.
One example is the way Utah traps apprentices at the same location once they begin training. Military spouses and others who need to move cannot transfer their hours. They must start over or quit.
A legislative overhaul is necessary to fix the broken system. Utah has a chance in 2025. The state’s Office of Professional Licensure Review spent all of last year gathering data, resulting in recommendations that could shake up the cosmetology cartel.
Lawmakers in Salt Lake City now must convert talk into action. One solution would be Senate Bill 330, which would authorize true salon apprenticeships. The measure would allow people to cut hair without an occupational license, as long as they work under the direct supervision of someone already licensed to cut hair.
Government inspection programs, which already exist, could check for health and safety. The restaurant industry has survived this way for decades. Rather than onerously licensing chefs, health inspectors come to the places where people eat. Online review sites like Yelp add an extra layer of accountability.
Utah consumers would be in good hands when they come for haircuts or similar services. Aspiring haircutters still could enroll in expensive programs if they want. But schools should have to earn their business.