Should hairbraiders be licensed?

Jet, Oct 27, 1997

"The government has no business regulating hairstyles in the first place," insists Cornwell. "The cosmetology license isn't appropriate. They don't teach what we do. They don't know about what we do. The hairbraiding and natural hair-care professionals are outside of the cosmetology structure."

Within the last three years, all states, excluding D.C., which requires a special hairbraiders' license, require that hairbraiders receive a cosmetology license. Maryland and Michigan hairbraiders, however, after lobbying the state legislature this year, won the right to be exempt from such regulations.

This, says Cornwell, doesn't mean that hairbraiders are seeking to bypass standards. For the most part, she maintains, hairbraiders have developed their own training and safety standards.

"The hairbraiding and natural haircare business itself sets the standards. It is appropriate for those who do it to set the standards. We have a separate industry."