Crucial to the industry’s growth are common sense licensing standards that ensure public safety while minimizing barriers to entry.
Smart reforms that lower hours to licensure and increase mobility will guide students into the workforce faster, support our licensed professionals, and help employers meet the demands of a growing industry, while also maintaining the high standards that protect and serve the public.
1. Focus on student success
License-for-license reciprocity between states
- Facilitates movement between states of mobile workforce
- Minimizes the tendency of stylists to drop out of the industry or go underground due to lengthy license transfer process.
- Gets newly relocated stylists back into the workforce sooner, earning wages, paying taxes and repaying loans
- Enables multi-state employers to relocate employees, increasing their career opportunities
Require no more than 1,000 hours for licensure
- Based on research conducted by an independent research firm, there is no justification for requiring more than 1,000 hours for licensure
- There is no relationship between hours required and earnings
- There is no relationship between hours required and pass rates on licensing exams
- There is no relationship between hours required and completion rates
- The longer the program required, the higher the student costs
- The longer the program required, the higher the student debt load (federal)
- There is a negative correlation between program length and employment rates – the longer the program, the fewer cosmetologists per capita, an indication that longer programs do create a barrier to entry into the profession
- There is no correlation between hours required/length of programs and the financial viability of beauty schools based on accrediting agency data
Standardized national exam should be used
- Facilitates license reciprocity
- May reduce cost to states (or at least keep costs the same)
- Professional testing standards uniformly applied with content-appropriate questions
Eliminate the Independent Contractor (Booth Renter) license, only require registration
- Does not measure or control anything to do with safety or sanitation
- Unnecessary complication to the licensing process and cost to entrepreneurs
- Already eliminated in some states, not required in others (called ‘booth renter’ or ‘mini salon’)
Cosmetology Apprentice
- Require OSBC to develop examination on basic safety, infection control and legal information to know to test before starting an apprenticeship program
- Modeled after states with existing apprenticeship program (AL, WI, TN, CA)
- Encourages salons and schools to partner for apprentice success
- Salons need an option if schools do not produce enough graduates annually
Change permits to allow on-demand scheduling and working outside a salon
- Language permits the Ohio State Board of Cosmetology to designate on-site services
- add to definition of “licensed facility” means any premises, building, or part of a building licensed under section 4713.41 or the Revised Code, or any other temporary location identified in rule by the state board of cosmetology, in which cosmetology services are authorized by the state board of cosmetology to be performed.
Make any specialty licenses that have marginal impact on health and safety a boutique service registration
- Hair Weaving, Eyelash Extensions Application and Wig Styling
- Require only registration, not licensure, for independent contractors
2. Setting Schools of Cosmetology Up for Success
Pre-graduate testing should be required
- Practical exam (where required) administered by the schools: This will allow the written exam to be taken after 80% of the hours are completed
- Given the almost universal high pass rates (90%+), it is questionable if the practical exams serve a useful purpose.
- Gives students the opportunity to get remedial training if they fail before graduation
- Graduates can be licensed immediately upon graduation
- Gets graduates into the workforce sooner, earning wages, paying taxes and repaying loans
- Example (modeled after PA law) Cosmetology – A cosmetology license shall authorize the holder to engage in the practice of cosmetology. An applicant wishing to obtain licensure in the practice of Cosmetology, may be permitted to apply to take the written examination upon completion of at least eight hundred (800) hours of instruction in a duly licensed school of cosmetology. The examination shall include both theoretical and procedural skill questions as prescribed by the Ohio State Board of Cosmetology. Any applicant may apply and be eligible for licensure upon: (1) passing the written examination; (2) completion of the one thousand (1,000) hours; and (3) certification by a duly licensed school of satisfactory completion of all program requirements. Licensed cosmetologists may operate a salon under any practice of cosmetology.
Distance learning should be authorized and encouraged as much as possible
- More flexibility for students, especially for students who are working while attending school
- Lowers costs to school by minimizing the need for on-site classrooms
- Expedites the process, facilitates moving toward competency-based programs
Give schools maximum leeway and discretion to teach what the market demands
- Minimum required sanitation, infection control and health & safety hours: 150 (15%)
- Minimum for nails (as part of the cosmetology curriculum): 50 (5%)
- Minimum for esthetics (as part of the cosmetology curriculum): 50 (5%)
- Minimum hours for laws, rules and regulations to ensure that students are exposed to the legal requirements of each state; may vary by state. Average is about 20 hours.
- All tests use two cosmetology texts for developing the appropriate questions to test competency: Milady and Pivot Point. Schools are responsible for preparing their students to pass the required test(s), therefore should create curriculum content consistent with the goal of preparing the students to pass the tests and initiate a successful career.
Change Advanced License to Instructor License
- Instructor courses do not teach technical competency or grasp of subject matter, focus on the development of lesson plans, etc.
- Schools will be motivated to hire instructors who can best teach the students, get them through the programs more effectively and into the workforce more quickly.
- Other states have instructor licenses, not an “advanced license”
- Permit existing advanced licensees to renew their license in the future or transfer their advanced license to an instructor license
3. Administrative Changes
Safety and sanitation rules and regulations should be consistent with known causes of infection or disease or other health threat
- Ensure that the correct terminology is incorporated into laws and regulations
- Endorse recommended national standards consistently applied
- Sanitation changed to “infection control” nationally
- Define “infection control” as: “At all times, except for the immediate period during which a licensee performs a cosmetology service and prepares the service area for the next patron, the salon including all equipment, implements and other personal property in the salon shall be properly cleaned and disinfected.”
Definition of “cosmetology” revised to include shaving of the face with a disposable safety razor and manual massage techniques
- Add definition of “disposable safety razor”
- Permit Cosmetologists and Hair Designers to use a safety razor (not straight razors like barbers)
- Add to definition of “cosmetology” means the art or practice of cleansing, stimulating or massaging a person’s scalp, face, neck, or arms; embellishment, cleansing, beautification, and styling of hair, postiches, face, body, or nails and treating a person’s mustache or beard by arranging beautifying, coloring, processing, styling, trimming or shaving with a disposable safety razor. – states like TX permit such limited scalp, face, neck and arm massage techniques
- Add definition of “disposable safety razor” to mean a razor that is fitted with a guard close to the cutting edge of the razor that is intended to: (1) prevent the razor from cutting too deeply; (2) reduce the risk of accidental cuts; and (3) be used once on an individual and then thrown away so as not to be used again for any other purpose.
Board membership and authority
- Adds an additional public member
- Ensures that estheticians who practice under their cosmetology license can serve on the Board. One individual who holds a current, valid esthetician license or cosmetologist license and who has been actively practicing esthetics for a period of not less than five years immediately preceding the individual’s appointment. – there are several qualified individuals that obtained their cosmetology license, but have dedicated their entire career to practicing esthetics – they should not be disqualified from serving on the OSBC
- Add language that permits the OSBC to reduce fines/penalties.
OSBC Recommendations (all from OSBC Executive Director and Staff)
- 4713.01 – Eliminate the definition for “Practice of Braiding” and amend the definition of “Braiding” to include the additional information from “Practice of Braiding.” These changes would be beneficial since the term “Practice of Braiding” does not appear anywhere in statute. It would also be more consistent with the other boutique services, which are only defined as “Shampooing” and “Threading.”
- 4713.01 – Eliminate the definitions for “Advanced cosmetologist,” “Advanced esthetician,” “Advanced hair designer,” “Advanced manicurist,” and “Advanced natural hair stylist,” and amend the definition of “Advanced license” to reference R.C. 4713.30. These changes would be beneficial because the definitions do not actually clarify or define the advanced licenses, and appear to place restriction on the locations where these individuals are permitted to work.
- 4713.07 – Replace the phrase “of which the board is aware” with the phrase “where applicable” in subsection (A)(7) This change would be more consistent with Board policies on pursuing criminal actions for violations.
- 4713.08 – Remove the sentence “If one or more renewal periods have elapsed since the license was valid, the fee shall not include lapsed renewal fees for more than three of those renewal periods;” from subsection (A)(18)(a)(i). This language does not apply to inactive licenses, and should be placed in R.C. 4713.10(A)(11).
- 4713.08 – Remove the sentence “The board shall consult with the Ohio department of health when establishing the sanitary standards.” from subsection (E). It is unnecessary for this to be mandated in statute.
- 4713.10 – Add the sentence “If one or more renewal periods have elapsed since the license was valid, the fee shall not include lapsed renewal fees for more than three of those renewal periods;” to subsection (A), as noted above. This would be consistent with expressed legislative intent.
- 4713.28 – Remove the phrase “licensed in this state” from subsections (A)(7), (A)(8), (A)(9), and (A)(10). This would remove barriers for individuals from other states in obtaining licensure in Ohio, and would be internally consistent with subsection (A)(11). It would also likely assist Ohio students in obtaining licensure in other states by increasing reciprocity.
- 4713.34 – Remove subsection (C), which only extends reciprocity to individuals from other jurisdictions that extend similar reciprocity to Ohio licenses. This language is problematic since there are very few, if any, formal reciprocity agreements in the cosmetology field. In addition, removing restrictions on reciprocity would likely assist Ohio students in obtaining reciprocity in other states.
- 4713.44 – The Board should consider language amending the amount of the bond required by subsection (A)(8). Information would need to be obtained regarding industry standards on bond amounts, and the amount needed to adequately protect students.
- 4713.55 – Remove the phrase “the type of salon in which the license entitles the holder to work and.” This change would avoid the same accidental restriction on the locations where these individuals are permitted to work that was noted above regarding R.C. 4713.01.
- 4713.55 – Replace the phrase “the branch of cosmetology that the license entitles the holder to offer within a licensed salon” with the phrase “that the holder is only entitled to practice a branch of cosmetology within a licensed salon for which a current, valid license is held.” The current language is problematic to implement, and unnecessary since licensees holding an independent contractor license must also carry their practicing license.
- 4713.61 – Remove the phrase “the later of the following” along with subsections (B)(1) and (B)(2), and replace it with “the individual holding the license submits proof satisfactory to the board that the individual has completed the continuing education that a rule adopted under section 4713.08 of the Revised Code requires.” This would eliminate an unnecessary and confusing time restriction, and would make it easier for licensees to remove their licenses from inactive status.
- 4713.63 – Remove the sentence “The board shall deposit all fees it receives under division (B) of this section into the general revenue fund.” Division (B) of the section no longer references fees, and this sentence was left in accidentally.
- 4713.69 – Remove subsection (A)(3), which requires boutique registrants to have the equivalent of an Ohio public school tenth grade education. This education requirement is unnecessary for boutique registrants. In addition, a large number of individuals who practice boutique services come from other countries where educational requirements differ, and where it may be difficult to obtain documentation.