Congratulations to nail technicians in Illinois and Nebraska. In NAILS’ 2001 Fact Book, we revealed that these two states were doing a tip-top job for nail technicians, and were in the forefront of industry professionalism. Because of a variety of factors, we have named them the “Most Progressive States for Nail Technicians” –and industry first.

We got the idea of evaluating the 50 states for progressiveness after a show earlier this year. The moderator of a panes discussion asked the panel: “What state is the most progressive for nail technicians?” It got us thinking: What makes a state progressive? We thought if we could begin to define what makes a state progressive, then identify the states that were doing a good job and the ones that needed work, we could give nail professionals in those states some ammunition to use to improve the lot of the profession. State legislators are as competitive as anyone, and we thought if we showed them their state was lagging in the cosmetology arts, we could get them thinking about improvements.

Our complete report on progressive states is published in this year’s Fact Book. We’ll keep you posted and let you know what comes of this report and whether it gooses anyone into action.

So what does make a state progressive? We targeted 25 different areas, everything from licensing and continuing education, growth in licenses and salons, to community involvement, and the state’s inspector-to-salon ratio.

As we said in the article in the Fact Book, this may not be a perfect system and it is a subjective analysis, but it is at the very minimum, a starting point. It is also a way to galvanize nail technicians who answer “no” to the question. “Is my state doing everything it can to advance the professional needs of nail technicians?” Write and let me know what you think about our portrayal you state’s progressiveness.

 

 


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