News Jun 28, 2012 at 4:00 am

Wait... Braiding Hair in Oregon Requires a License?

Comments

1
"In Oregon, getting a food handler's license takes $10 and less than an hour. But professionally braiding hair, as Portlander Amber Starks discovered, requires 1,700 hours of training to earn a cosmetologist's license that is largely irrelevant to one's ability to braid hair."



Yeah, in GA (and i'm certain the same goes for many other places) most girls learn to brad hair - well - by age 13. No license, no training - other than by slightly older girls. Oh, and here's a mind-blowing fact that most OR natives probably don't know - in the South, North East, Mid-West parts, Southern CA, and anywhere else where there's an abundance of Black people, most folks don't get their hair braided by professional licensed hair-dressers in trendy salons - they get it done FOR FREE! Typically by someone's sister, cousin, aunt, gf, or someone else in the neighborhood.
2
So you read the New York Times. Yay.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/magazine/so-you-think-you-can-be-a-hair-braider.html
3
Basically, this is just more racist bullshit right here, in this case, coupled with governmental over-reach. I bet that if hair-braiding were something that were mostly associated with Caucasians, this wouldn't even be a freakin' issue!
4
I hope Starks and Jackie Dingfelder can reform Oregon legislation in 2013. Washington keeps surpasses Oregon in bringing back individual freedoms for their citizens. Or maybe their just showing us the way?
5
Thank you Sarah for writing this article on mine and other braiders/natural stylists' behalf. This is a great article. And I'm looking forward to readking more comments.
If people want to support or find out more information they can join us on FB at facebook.com/groups/consciouscoils.
-Amber Starks
6
This is the dumbest law I have ever heard of.
7
i got some corn rows done the other day. soon as i left the parking lot damn police pulled me over. when he saw i was white he said "oh, sorry sir. i thought you were somebody else." good thing he didn't spot my bag of weed sitting right in the passenger seat
8
on a more serious note...basically anything that could be considered a profession through services rendered requires a license. it's big brother's way of validating your existence and it's a mechanism for monitoring your labor output so that you aren't working under the table. there were some recent local stories about movers operating without the proper credentials being caught. i'll accept that the license requirements are partly for consumer protection but it's also obviously there to level the playing field amongst the competitors, and a way for the overseeing governmental system to cash in too. what about reiki, permaculture, and all those other pdx/nw trends?
9
Actually, Oregon creates lots of jobs by regulating everything and then requiring people to complete X hours of training (says the woman who sat in insurance licensing training facility reading novels after completing said training in about a tenth of the time but who couldn't take her exam until she met the REQUIRED number of hours for training). Requiring a cosmetology license to braid hair is ridiculous. Tattoo schools? Another moneymaker, when in reality a small amount of training on blood-born diseases and medical waste disposal would be enough, along with actually working with other artists. Now if you want to be a tattooist, you have to pay $10,000 to a proprietary school.

I'm not saying don't require people to know their stuff, but why not just have an EXAM? Why do you have to have a school, a minimum number of hours of training, etc.?

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.