BIG STORY: Fight ensues over “antiquated” S.C. cosmetology law

By Jack O’Toole  |  A Charleston businesswoman’s battle against what she calls South Carolina’s “antiquated” cosmetology laws is powering a major push for licensing reform in the state legislature.

Megan O’Brien moved from California  to Charleston a year and a half ago with a simple business idea: at-home beauty services like hair styling and makeup application for everyone from housebound senior citizens to brides-to-be. 

The problem, as she soon discovered, was that her idea is illegal in the state of South Carolina where cosmetologists are forbidden from working outside of a brick-and-mortar salon.

“It was brought to my attention by people who owned a cosmetology school as a way to deter me, I think,” O’Brien said in an interview. “They said, ‘You’re never going to be able do this – the cosmetology board is really strong in this state – so you should just go do  this  business  somewhere else.’”

Today, O’Brien’s business, Ring My Belle, reflects that advice, with successful operations in several cities across the country, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Boston. But here in its home base of Charleston, the service remains illegal – a situation that O’Brien believes may be about to change, thanks in part to a powerful ally she’s found in the fight.

“I’ve been working for a year and a half to try to change the law,” she  said. “I went on TV, I started petitions, I did all sorts of things. But it didn’t really begin to move until I found out about the Institute for Justice.”

Libertarian economics as social justice?

Dubbed “a merry band of libertarian lawyers” by the columnist George Will, the nonprofit Institute for Justice (IJ) came into existence in 1990 to pursue what it sees as the cause of economic liberty through the court system. In particular, its work has tended to focus on three major issues:  occupational licensing, property rights and free speech.

IJ’s previous work in S.C. has included a successful challenge to Charleston’s tour guide licensing ordinance, which a federal court found to be unconstitutional, and passage of a law limiting the power of state licensing boards to deny occupational licenses to people with criminal histories.

Just weeks after O’Brien contacted IJ, legislation (S. 857) to allow mobile cosmetology was introduced in the state Senate, along with amendments to more fully deregulate the industry. 

According to IJ, this larger push for deregulation is a question of economic fairness.

“Our law firm has done a lot of research related to occupational licensing barriers, especially  for lower and middle income workers,” said Meagan Forbes, IJ’s director of legislation and senior legislative counsel. “And what we’ve found is that some of the greatest barriers are in the beauty and barbering industry, which is why we’re working to remove those barriers.”

Specifically, IJ’s research finds that S.C.’s cosmetology law requires 1,500 hours of training – 10 times the number of hours required by the state for emergency medical technician training – at a cost of approximately $17,000, more  than a third of which is funded with student debt.

As a result, the IJ-supported amendments to the proposed bill include language to reduce the number of training hours required for a cosmetology license and lift licensing requirements entirely for some classes of beauty workers. 

“We believe 1,500 hours is too high and creates a serious burden to providing these services,” Forbes said.  “In addition, we’re working to remove licensing requirements for simple beauty services, like blow-dry  styling, hair braiding and makeup artistry. These are great entry-level jobs to get people into salons, but that licensing requirement creates a real barrier.”

On the other side

Some current industry professionals, however, disagree with that analysis, stressing the need for stringent regulations to protect public safety.

“Regulations that oversee the safety of beauty services have worked well for a number of years and protect the safety of professionals and clients,” according to a web statement by the Professional Beauty Association (PBA), an industry trade group. 

Among the threats the PBA highlights:  unlicensed workers with access to products they have not been trained to use safely; greater risk of chemical burns, staph infections, contagious diseases and bacterial infections; and “[h]ealth hazards like lice, open wounds and infections.” 

“Consumers trust that the professional providing their beauty service is educated, trained, and licensed – that they know what they’re doing,” the PBA statement reads.

Prospects for passage

Beaufort Republican Sen.r Tom Davis, chairman of the Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee and a co-sponsor of the mobile cosmetology bill, believes there’s “general consensus” in the legislature on mobility, but that it may be “a little more problematic” to pass the larger regulatory  reforms this  session.

“That’s a broader, more complex conversation,” Davis said, requiring the legislature to balance health and safety concerns against the high costs and steep barriers to entry created by the current requirements – barriers that can have the effect of protecting existing businesses from needed  competition.

Charleston GOP Sen. Sandy Senn also supports O’Brien’s cause. 

Calling the regulation against mobile cosmetology “a foolish law,” Senn said in  a recent constituent newsletter, “This bill will move on to the full committee and then hopefully to the Senate floor for a positive vote. That way we can all rest easy in knowing that our stylists will not be fined for providing beauty services.”

Davis said he personally is  inclined to support deregulation, but wants to hear more testimony from both sides. 

“I  want to keep an open mind,” he said in an interview. “But we need to make sure the regulations are there to protect the public and for no other reason.”

For her part, O’Brien said she would like to see major  reform, and as quickly  as possible.

“I’ll be  fine because I can open wherever,” she said. “But we really need to change this here, not just for me but for everybody. It shouldn’t be like this.”

• Jack O’Toole reports on statewide issues for Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper.  Have a comment?  Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.