Natural hair braiders face knotty fight against government regulations

Achan Agit has been braiding hair since she was 5. Fourteen years ago, she fled her home in what is now South Sudan, according to a profile of her on the website of the Institute for Justice, a legal advocacy group. She eventually landed in Kansas City, Missouri, where she styled hair in a salon while learning English. Agit was close to having her own salon in Des Moines, Iowa, but now has to practice out of her kitchen. Braiding hair without a license is illegal in Iowa, where she now lives.

Agit and another Des Moines braider, Aicheria Bell, are looking to change that. The two are the latest to challenge state cosmetology regulations that they say place unwarranted obstacles in front of individuals — primarily women of African descent — trying to make a living off hair braiding.

On Oct. 28, Agit and Bell sued the Iowa Board of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences to deregulate natural hair braiding. For Bell and Agit to legally run their businesses in the state, they must pay for and complete thousands of hours of cosmetology courses to learn skills they say they will not use. Most cosmetology schools teach students how to use hair irons, chemicals and dyes — products not used in natural braiding. Hair braiders say the practice itself is seldom taught in the very schools they are required to attend.

In Iowa, among the states with the strictest cosmetology licensing requirements, practitioners must complete 2,100 hours of training at a state-approved school. Nationwide, the cost of cosmetology school ranges from $5,000 to more than $20,000.

“Braiding is a skill I already have,” Bell said in a statement released on the website of the Institute for Justice, the Arlington, Virginia-based group that is representing the women. “It’s a way to keep my culture alive, and it has helped me provide for my family. I just want the right to earn a living and not feel like I’m a criminal.” Bell, Agit and their attorneys declined to comment further on the case. A spokesperson for the Institute for Justice also declined to comment.

The institute, which on its website describes itself as “litigating to limit the size of government power,” has taken the lead in challenging cosmetology licensing requirements on behalf of natural hair braiders across the country. It has filed suits in 13 states.

“The cosmetology industry was created on a foundation that was fundamentally exclusionary, and it still is,” said JoAnne Cornwell, founder of Sisterlocks, a San Diego natural hair-care company whose services are marketed to African-American women. “And the funny thing is that most people in it don’t know that and aren’t deliberately doing anything racist. But the systemic aspect of it is still there.”

Cornwell, a former professor of Africana studies and French at San Diego State University, successfully challenged California’s cosmetology regulations in 1999 with the help of the Institute for Justice.

“What it really was, was licensing for the care of white peoples’ hair,” Cornwell added. “Because there was nothing, especially early on, that recognized specific needs and characteristics of different hair types. In order to conform to the law, you had to learn somebody else’s cosmetology.”

Cosmetology regulations began to emerge in the early 20^th century, expanding as more chemicals were introduced into the industry. Currently, 24 states require hair braiders to be licensed cosmetologists, 11 require no form of licensing, and a handful of others have a separate certification process for the skill.

The American Association of Cosmetology Schools, which supports training and licensing of people who work in the hair industry, says licenses are “necessary to protect the public.” 

“Training is critical in order to provide safe and sanitary services to the public involving contact with a growing, living, cellular structure,” said a spokesperson for the group, who declined to be named. “Consumers look to licensure to ensure they are receiving services from professionals trained per established guidelines to provide safe and sanitary services.”

Violating cosmetology regulations can result in fines, business closure or even arrest, depending on the state. In 1997, salon owner Isis Brantley was arrested in front of her clients in Dallas for braiding hair without a cosmetology license.

“It was just the most embarassing moment of my life,” Brantley, now 57, recalled. “It felt like it was a joke.”

Her business was shut down, and she has spent the years after her arrest fighting the regulations in court. In 2007, Texas lowered the number of hours of training cosmetologists must complete, grandfathered Brantley into those new regulations and gave her a license. 

When she began teaching natural hair braiding in her shop in 2013, Brantley again ran afoul of state regulations. Teaching the practice requires further licensing in Texas. She sued the state, and in January a federal judge ruled in her favor. With widespread support, Texas’ legislature then passed House Bill 2717 bill to deregulate natural hair braiding. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in June.

Earlier this year, Arkansas’ legislature passed a similar bill deregulating natural hair braiding after its requirements were challenged in court by a braider. Over the years, some states, including California and Utah, have had their cosmetology regulations concerning natural hair braiding struck down in court. Oregon and Virginia are among those that changed their laws without litigation.

“I see a shift that is maybe not that perceptible at this stage,” Cornwell said. “But it can only go in one direction.” She added that states are losing tax revenue by keeping regulations that force hair braiders to run their businesses out of their homes off the books.

Brantley, who was at the signing of the Texas law, said it was a validation of her nearly two-decade-long legal battle.

“Beauty standards in this country for African women and black women and black children are totally disregarded and dehumanized,” she said, “and we’re trying to pick up the pieces now.”