Legislator seeks to untangle hair braiding regulations

When the Indiana General Assembly regulated hair-braiding salons in 1997, Nicole Barnes-Thomas lost her job, her apartment and, quickly, her life unraveled.

Once self-sufficient, she struggled to find work for about a year, then took an office job, though she says it's not what she'd prefer to do.

"It was devastating to say the least," said Barnes-Thomas, who saw Indiana's strict regulation of an African-American tradition as being culturally insensitive at the least, and economically devastating at most.

But now Barnes-Thomas has a new ally, one who may seem unusual in these politically polarized times. A white conservative Republican lawmaker from Elkhart, Timothy Wesco, has taken up her cause of hair braiding, a move that is being repeated across the country.

Already, 20 states have deregulated the practice, and bills are pending in Missouri, New Hampshire and New Jersey.

Hair-braiding salons are just one of many businesses Republican lawmakers are hoping to deregulate, with Indiana lawmakers considering changes in the licenses of psychologists, mental health counselors and social workers. But hair braiding, which has been an African tradition for thousands of years, is an industry with a nontraditional constituency for Republican lawmakers.

So says Nadia E. Brown, a political science professor at Purdue University. She specializes in the study of minority women and legislative decision making.

Brown says Indianapolis has a long and storied history in African-American hair, dating before Madam C.J. Walker, the famous black hair product manufacturer who built her reputation as a hair care specialist in early 1900s Indianapolis. However, "whether ill-intentioned or not, laws regulating African-American hair are also nothing new," she said.

Cautiously hopeful that the bill will serve the needs of communities of color, Brown said Wesco's bill may be indicative that "the next generation of Hoosier lawmakers will take into consideration the needs of their constituents. By 2050, this nation will be a minority-majority voting bloc, after all."

Economic independence passed into law

Barnes-Thomas, a 36 year-old Lawrence resident, whose natural talent for braiding turned into a small business by the time she was 15, charged hundreds of dollars for several hours of intricately weaving designs into clients' hair. And clients were willing to spend the money. By the time she was 16, braiding put more than food on the table.

"I was independent, I loved what I did, and I enjoyed putting a smile on people's faces," Barnes-Thomas said.

That all changed when House Bill 2011 passed into law in 1997, effectively requiring hair braiders to complete cosmetology school in order to be licensed to practice under Indiana law. The change made it an infraction to braid hair without schooling. Currently, if braiders practice their craft without a cosmetology license, they could risk committing a misdemeanor, punishable by fine of up to $500 per infraction.

As a result, many women like Barnes-Thomas were forced to either give up the craft, spend up to $20,000 for tuition in beauty school to complete 1,500 hours of training or simply operate without a cosmetology degree with the fear of getting caught. And while many women have chosen to operate businesses without a license, Barnes-Thomas said she prefers to follow the law.

Wesco proposed House Bill 1243 earlier this year, which would remove natural hair braiding from the cosmetologist licensing requirement. This past week, the bill passed through the Employment, Labor and Pensions Committee and is headed for a full House vote. He said the change would create economic opportunities for potential business owners.

To Wesco, the regulation is a burden on potential small-business owners and "this is a perfect example of regulation we don't need."

There is push back, however, from the profession itself, including hair stylists. Licensing rules ensure the safety of clients, they say.

A bad braider can cause balding in clients, said Lashon Owens, a stylist in Indianapolis. "It’s about safety first, and in my opinion, anyone touching someone’s hair needs to go to school for it,” she said.

A history passed down from generations

With a history that goes back more than 5,000 years, hair braiding has been credited to early African origins, where it is considered a traditional art and a time-tested way of naturally caring for tightly coiled hair without scissors, heat or chemicals.

In committee this past week, Wesco explained the importance of hair braiding in the African tradition.

“This is predominantly an issue in the African-American community of those who have learned this craft from someone who they have inherited, from basically a mentor or even a relative,” Wesco told the committee.

The vast majority of braiders are African-American and African immigrants and are almost entirely women. They range from 10 years-old to their late 60s, and come from a host of different backgrounds, said Paul Avelar, senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, who leads the libertarian legal assistance organization's Braiding Freedom Initiative.

"Some are from here, some come as refugees, some have their bachelor's and master's degrees, and some have fallen in love with the cultural aspects of braiding, I think it attracts a whole host of people," Avelar said.

To Barnes-Thomas, braiding is part of what it means to be a free, black individual in society, unencumbered by societal expectations of appearance.

"In its natural state, African hair kept people from getting jobs, and in some ways it still keeps people from getting jobs," she said. "Braiding solves that, and for me, to open a businesses is a great form of independence."

Indiana has one of the strictest hair-braiding regulations in the country, requiring braiders to complete 1,500 hours of practice before receiving a license.

South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard recently signed into law HB 1048, which exempts hair braiders from cosmetology laws requiring 2,100 hours of training — the strictest requirement in the nation.

Yet, some say the regulations are designed to solve a problem that doesn't exist. Complaints against braiders are so rare that a person is 2.5 times more likely to get audited by the IRS (8.6 in 1,000) than a licensed or registered braider is to receive a complaint of any kind (3.4 in 1,000), according to the Institute for Justice.

A representative from the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency told IndyStar that the state has never actually seen a complaint from a consumer regarding unlicensed hair braiders.

That is one of the reasons why the organization has openly supported Wesco's bill.

Not everyone is convinced that deregulating the business would be good for consumers.

Owens, a licensed stylist and instructor at Elite Hair in Indianapolis said, “even though it’s being advertised as totally natural, there are some chemicals being used.”

The deregulation bill also spells competition for Owens, though she says she does not braid hair as often as she installs a weave, which is a hairstyle created by weaving pieces of real or artificial hair into a person's existing hair, typically in order to increase its length or thickness.

Brown argues that despite intentions to help braiders build their businesses, "there are multiple sides to this issue."

"How well-vetted is the law? What are the unintended consequences of how it will affect existing business owners?" she asked.

Occupational licensing gone wrong?

For some, it's not a cultural issue. Some say unnecessary professional licenses can be a drag on the economy.

In a 2015 report on the costs of occupational licensing on American homes, Salim Furth, a researcher at the conservative Heritage Institute, stated that it costs the average American household an additional $1,000 per year.

Occupational licensure at the state level costs consumers $127 billion per year.

And research by Morris Kleiner, Alan Krueger and Alexandre Mas estimate that by restricting employment, “occupational licensing can result in up to 2.85 million fewer jobs nationwide, with an annual cost to consumers of $203 billion.”

Letitia Bailey, a stylist at Evelyn's Beauty Salon near Downtown Indianapolis, said she sees a middle ground where people can forego school, but could complete continuing education to keep their license.

“I think that if you’re naturally talented at something and a school can’t teach you to do something you’re naturally gifted in, there could be some sort of certification class,” she said.

“There are a lot of good braiders that should have a chance,” she said.

Avelar, who has made a mission out of deregulating the braiding craft, sees it as a bipartisan problem with a bipartisan solution.

"If a person believes strongly in economic liberty, the right to earn an honest living away from arbitrary and unreasonable government regulation, through hard work — that is so fundamentally American," Avelar said. "There is no one who disagrees with that."

Call IndyStar reporter Fatima Hussein at (317) 444-6209. Follow her on Twitter: @fatimathefatima.