You Can Now Braid Hair in Nebraska Without Going to Jail
Until about two weeks ago, if you were a Nebraskan looking to get your hair braiding hustle on and charge for it, you would have had to complete over 2,100 hours of training to receive a cosmetology license.
If you didn't enroll in school and pay over $22,000 in tuition, you could run the risk of being fined or even thrown in jail. But recently, Nebraska's governor, Pete Ricketts, signed legislation to lift this law, no longer requiring braiders to obtain a license.
In 20 states, super-strict laws require professional hair braiders to have a cosmetology license. But is hair braiding really that serious?
Nebraska state senator Nicole Fox, who represents the third poorest district in the state with a very high number of single females, is the woman behind this new legislation.
"For somebody who is a young single female, potentially a young single mom, who doesn't have a lot [of] resources and is already struggling to make ends meet, cosmetology in the state of Nebraska is expensive," Fox told the Daily Signal.
Fox's efforts managed to get bipartisan support for the bill, which passed the legislature in a unanimous 42–0 vote. Basically, people were 100 percent in support of this.
Salim Furth, a research fellow in macroeconomics at The Heritage Foundation, also told the Daily Signal that she thinks more states should follow suit.
"If you talk to women who get their hair braided, many of the braiders are unlicensed and thus work in the 'shadow economy,'" said Furth. "With that regulation out of the way, it's easier for them to move into the formal economy, open a storefront, employ others, and teach their craft."
Hopefully Nebraska's decision to lift these excessive laws is just the beginning.
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