As a lifelong natural hairstylist and makeup artist, it has always bewildered me how many regulations hinder talented artists from doing what they love. Over decades, I have honed my skill set through hands-on experience, salon ownership and management, and education. And I have the loyal client base and reviews to back it up. But, in North Carolina, the talent and experience that have helped make my clients feel confident and empowered for years don’t count for anything without a license.
Outdated and burdensome licensure requirements for beauty professionals are holding the industry back, denying us the opportunity to pursue our calling and build a sustainable livelihood for ourselves and our families. Although I am now a licensed stylist, it was a long and depleting road to get here, and it’s one I hope no other aspiring artist ever has to travel.
When my sister moved to North Carolina years ago, I knew from my first visit out to see her that I belonged here. I fell in love with the natural beauty of the state and the laid-back atmosphere, and I felt an immediate pull to put down roots and bring my hair business with me. I envisioned spending my days creating intricate natural hairstyles, my clients leaving my chair smiling and self-assured. Instead, I found myself sitting in a dark classroom, staring at a syllabus that offered nothing new.
To legally work as a natural hairstylist here, I was required to complete a minimum of 300 hours of schooling — alongside a sizable bill for the classes — and pass multiple exams to get a Natural Hair Care Specialist license. The irony? I’d been successfully styling natural hair for years.
One evening in class, I remember the instructor fumbling through a basic styling demonstration. I turned to the woman sitting next to me, who looked completely lost, and told her that I could help her understand. Before long, I was paying tuition to teach my classmates the techniques I had perfected over time. It felt like a cruel joke. The system wasn’t helping me improve my craft; it was holding me back.
This isn’t just my story. Across the Tar Heel State, beauty artists — many of them women, immigrants, military spouses, single moms, and young professionals — are navigating unnecessary and costly hurdles. Services like natural hair braiding, makeup artistry, and blow-dry hairstyling — none of which involve chemicals or cutting — should not be subject to burdensome licensure requirements.
Instead, those services should be exempted like many other states have done, a change that would let stylists like myself practice our craft without wasting time and money we don’t have fulfilling red tape requirements that do nothing to make consumers safer or better off.
Fortunately, there is already work being done to help future generations of beauty professionals. Sen. Tim Moffitt has introduced Senate Bill 656, a bill that would exempt natural hair care services, blow-dry styling, and makeup artistry from licensing requirements.
This is good news because we’ve seen the path for how to make reform work. Thirty-seven states exempt natural hair braiding from licensure, nine states exempt blow-dry styling, and 17 states exempt makeup artistry. In neighboring states like Georgia and Virginia, these changes have opened doors for beauty professionals to launch their careers without needless costs. Consumer protection and sanitation laws are still in place. North Carolina can and should follow suit.
Now is the time for the North Carolina legislature to follow Moffitt’s lead and exempt natural hair braiding, special-event blow-dry hairstyling, and makeup artistry from licensure.
I urge lawmakers to prioritize this reform and for North Carolinians to lend their voices in support. Together, we can remove these outdated barriers, create a more dynamic beauty industry, and ensure that beauty artists are set up for success, so that no one else like me is unjustly held up in the pursuit of their dream.
