Board of Cosmetology's Irrational Regulations Need a Makeover

The latest target of the Arizona Board of Cosmetology is entrepreneur Lauren Boice and her business Angels on Earth Home Beauty. Though Lauren’s unique business is a blessing to her homebound clients, the Board has come to treat her like an outlaw.

Lauren’s service as a hospice nurse’s assistant and her own battle with cancer inspired her to lift the spirits of those who must depend on others for daily care. Lauren’s unique business connects the elderly, sick, and terminally ill with licensed cosmetologists who can perform haircuts, manicures, or massages right in the clients’ homes and assisted-living facilities.

But even though Lauren neither practices cosmetology nor runs a cosmetology business – she merely dispatches beauty specialists to her clients over the phone – the Board is compelling Lauren to obey a host of cosmetology regulations. Just this summer, the Board forced Lauren to open a physical salon even though she will never use it.

Forcing Lauren to open a salon as a condition of doing business is as absurd as compelling Ticketmaster to open a concert hall or requiring Movietickets.com to open a movie theater.

These regulations do nothing to ensure the safe and sanitary practice of cosmetology. Indeed, because all of Lauren’s clients are homebound, by definition, no client or cosmetologist will ever set foot in the Board-mandated salon.

Lauren pleaded with the Board and the state to lift these oppressive regulations that have nothing to do with her business. But both refused.

So the Goldwater Institute is taking this courageous woman’s fight to court to defend her constitutional right to earn an honest living and help her sick clients.

The Board claims its purpose is to protect the public. But here and in other cases, its heavy-handed overreach stifles businesses and doesn’t help the taxpayers these boards supposedly serve.

It’s time for a makeover.

Learn More:

Goldwater Institute: Entrepreneur Providing In-Home Service to Elderly, Bedridden Fights Unconstitutional Regulations

Goldwater Institute: Boice v. Aune