Hairbraiders do not need licensing, advocates say

A state bill would eliminate the need for such workers to have cosmetological papers

By KARA PALANUK
Staff Writer

"The fight over hairbraiding is an issue of personal freedom, as well as cultural freedom," said State Sen. Ray Haynes Monday in a panel discussing his proposed legislation to exempt hairbraiders from needing a cosmetologist license.

About 30 people, including several USC students, convened at Louis Hall to discuss the necessary actions that need to be taken to help get Senate Bill 235 passed in California.

Currently, there is no law requiring hairbraiders to obtain a cosmetologist license. However, the salons and cottage industries developed around this service have become targets of undercover operations by the police and the Department of Consumer Affairs to shut them down, said JoAnne Cornwell, professor at San Diego State University and hairbraider.

As hairbraiding does not meet conditions to place it under the heading of cosmetology, it is difficult to license the profession because of the high cost of schooling and the lack of useful hairbraiding training, she said.

Cornwell holds the patent to a braiding technique called Sisterlocks and recently won a court battle against the requirement. The federal judge for the 9th Circuit ruled that people who braid, twist or lock hair in California do not have to go to beauty school, obtain licenses or be tested.

"They want to make you feel like you are dirty and ignorant," Cornwell said. "Let's face it, you do not have to be a brain surgeon to know about cleanliness....We have common sense, a sense of sisterhood and a head for business. That's all they need."

It is asinine to force hairbraiders into a mold that would train them in techniques that they would never use at a huge cost to them, she said. No cosmetology school would train her in Sisterlocks, so spending the money and 1,600 hours of training would be useless, she said.

Panel member Aii Rasheed, owner of a hairbraiding salon in San Diego, elaborated on what he called the absurdities of the cosmetology requirements.

"The Health and Safety Board requires three hours of training for food workers," he said. "Police officers who can kill you if they feel that their life is threatened...need 600 hours of training. Paramedics, who can cut you open and hold your life in their hands, need 1140 hours of training. Then why would hairbraiders need 1,600 hours of training?"

Other panel members also shared their stories of personal battles they have had to endure in order to braid hair. SaBrina Reese said she has turned hairbraiding into a lucrative business. On July 1, 1998, after spending five hours braiding a woman's hair and forming a bond with her, the woman identified herself as an undercover investigator with the Department of Consumer Affairs, she said.

"They had no warrant and continually ignored me when I asked what I had done wrong," Reese said. "They treated me like I was running a drug business when I was just making an honest living and providing that same opportunity to other girls in the community. I am from Compton and statistically I should not be at the point where I am, but I have been able to create a successful business."

After believing that Assembly-woman Carol Migden was going to be the first supporter of hairbraiders, Rasheed said he was disappointed to find out that her proposed legislation - which was amended Aug. 18 and has yet to be approved - was to require hairbraiders to obtain training, get tested and receive a licensee.

"She is an enemy to our community and our community's interest," he said.

The community has had a difficult time getting the black caucuses involved and their own representative to help them in their fight, but they expressed their appreciation for the support that they have found in Haynes.

"It is a totally voluntary relationship, yet the government is choosing to criminalize only the service giver," Haynes said.

Haynes said he is able to empathize with these hairbraiders because he had to raise the money to put himself through law school and then had to raise the capital to start his own business.

"The hardest part of a business is the start-up," he said. "If you require people to go to cosmetology schools (which are private), you are taking the money that they could use to start their business. You have to give people maximum personal freedom (without government interference), and when they decide to get started, they create the rising tide that brings everyone (in the community) up."

The panel made it clear that passing the exemption bill does not mean that there would be no training requirements. However, without a set of rules governing the hairbraiding industry, there is no way to target them as criminals.

"Bureaucracy is so cumbersome that it will never be able to keep up with the needs of the people," Cornwell said. "Yes, there needs to be training, yes, there need to be schools, but these should be located in the private sector (taught by masters who know what they are doing), not relegated by the government."

Hairbraiding is an economic base for many African-American communities and allows women to express themselves and their culture, some of those in attendance said.

"I think that it is a misconception that it is only single mothers who are braiders," said Felicia Medina, a junior majoring in political science and international relations. "There are a variety of braiders, including students who pay for their books and expenses by braiding. Ultimately, both the single mothers and the students deserve the same protection under the law of their craft."

The panel also expressed the need to become involved in the legislative fight by contacting their representatives and becoming less apathetic.

"I am disappointed that there are no representatives of the black community at USC here," said Congressional candidate Carl McGill. "We came here because there are so many students who braid on campus to help pay for their education. When this is over I hope that people will say, ŚWhy weren't you here?' because this is important to the community."

Vicki Lojero, a junior majoring in political science and sociology, said the issue should be important to the USC community because some students are hairbraiders.

"But I think that most Americans today are not focusing on minority issues because they do not feel that they are affected by them, and those who do care don't think that there are others who support the causes and don't want to fight alone," she said. "I think it is very sad and hopefully we will get more people to turn out next time an important issue arises."

The event was sponsored by the College Republicans, College Democrats, Student Senate, National Pan-Hellenic Council, Unruh Institute of Politics, Black Student Assembly, L.A. County Students Association and the Black Chamber of Commerce of L.A. County.

Copyright 1999 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 138, No. 59 (Tuesday, November 23, 1999), beginning on page 1 and ending on page 15.