Proposed TN law would lessen training time for natural hair care

JACKSON, Tenn. — A bill has been proposed in Tennessee that would remove certain requirements regarding natural hair care.

Cosmetologists are required to have 1,500 hours to be licensed in Tennessee. Of those, 300 hours are in natural hair styling.

The bill, if passed, would allow stylists working with natural hair to have only 16 hours of health and hygiene training.

Some cosmetologists are on the fence about this change, but some feel that not all natural hair stylists should go through the whole cosmetology school process.

“I think it’s great,” said April Mosley, a licensed cosmetologist with Mickey’s Natural Beauty Bar. “I don’t think that a stylist should have to go — a braider, a natural, however you want to word it — I don’t feel like they should have to go to school to do 1,500 hours for something that they were born to do.”

The bill will exempt braiders from having a license. They would instead be required to pay a $30 fee every two years and have a sign saying they are not licensed.