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KittyKat122 t1_ja6z770 wrote

Reply to comment by Miserly_Bastard in [OC] License to work? States ranked by number of low-income jobs requiring licenses by tildenpark

Hard disagree. Barbers/hair dressers and nail techs need to learn about and be able to demonstrate sanitation between customers. Also you can hurt people if you don't know how use clippers or a straight razer correctly. You could hurt customers if you don't know how to properly mix or use hair dyes and bleaches. You can hurt customers if the nail tech doesn't know how to properly apply nails.

In addition regulations on business buildings for salons is necessary as they usually have equipment that have high voltage needs/water needs. If you don't have the proper outlets and water hookups you could hurt customers by short circuits and/or cause fires.

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Miserly_Bastard t1_ja7m366 wrote

Yeah...so get them to demonstrate their basic skills in a test and/or Zoom meeting. Anything that requires expensive equipment can be done at a testing center and could be one level up from the basic license.

But at the end of the day, if you're only clipping hair or only doing nails or only braiding, you just don't need an expensive time-consuming license to start working. You don't need more than a deep-cycle battery and inverter for your equipment.

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KittyKat122 t1_ja9lq2c wrote

Again, I disagree. I don't think the license should be expensive, but having making it a test to get a license is a good idea. I'm pretty sure you don't need to take any training as long as you can pass the tests. If licensing is removed, anyone can claim they can perform those tasks without the knowledge and if they don't know how the consumer gets harmed. Without regulations how does one know to learn what is needed and what isn't needed for their equipment? There are plenty of people that do hair and nails from their house without licenses, but I'm not going there.

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Miserly_Bastard t1_jaa7yg1 wrote

I'll go there. My ex-wife worked without a license for a long time and bribed a school to forge hours. That way she could go straight to the test and wouldn't have to do the six months and thousands of dollars.

She worked for various businesses in various states. They all tolerated this as well as other stuff like working without a green card and keeping multiple sets of books in order to cheat taxes. Business owners themselves would routinely cut corners with regard to hygiene. They occasionally got caught but the fines were a slap on the wrist that did not prevent the behavior. Businesses being closed for health or occupational violations were very rare.

In short, it was all a farce.

What I'd have preferred to see is less onerous schooling for law-abiding people and better and stricter enforcement all around. Registration fees could be higher in order for better enforcement to exist, and in such a way they would be able to chase bad actors out of the market as well as protect consumers.

As someone who has a very different occupational license, I would also complain that the people who write licensing tests are themselves unlicensed. If they are going to turn my licensing process into a guessing game about whether I should answer the words on paper or the thoughts that are inferred to be going on in their heads, then the process is broken. Let me assure you: it's very broken.

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