An overwhelming majority (94%) of general election voters from across the U.S. overwhelmingly support the required licensing of beauty professionals and feel these licenses protect the public and improve both the quality and safety in the beauty industry, according to the Professional Beauty Association’s (PBA) first-ever national poll on this subject.


In 2011 and 2012 alone, nearly a dozen states, including Florida, Indiana, South Carolina, Texas, Missouri, and Michigan, have considered legislation to deregulate or detrimentally alter state licensing or regulation of the cosmetology industry.

I am very strongly in support of required licensing for nail techs, cosmetologists, barbers, and estheticians for consumer safety, so I am happy to see the results of this poll.


According to the PBA, while support was broad across the different demographics polled, the strongest support came from women, older voters, African Americans, and voters with low household incomes. Key points gleaned from the survey include:
• 80% of voters understood that beauty professionals must attend school in order to receive a license. Voters were least likely to know that training in preventing the spread of disease was necessary, though 60% did identify it as a requirement.
• 82% of voters said that quality and safety would decline if states ended licensing and regulation in the beauty industry.
• 88% of voters believe that requiring licensing protects the public from possible infection and disease (responding either “a lot” or “some”). A majority of voters (54%) believe that state licensing helps protect the public a lot.

It’s important that all of us stay engaged in the political process and that if a deregulation bill is proposed in your state that you immediately contact your state representatives to tell them why beauty professional licensing protects all of us.

—Sree