Frequently Searched

Do You Have a License to Use That Shampoo?

July 23, 2020

July 23, 2020

Tammy Pritchard was a Tennessee police officer looking to make some extra money, and having worked in a salon years before, she decided that she wanted to work a few nights a week at a salon shampooing hair. No big deal, right?

Well, it was a big deal. Shampooing hair without a license—something that people do every day at home—was a crime punishable by up to six months in prison, a $500 criminal fine, and a penalty of over $1,000 per incident. But getting a license to wash hair in Tennessee isn’t exactly easy: Someone seeking a license needed to spend about 300 hours and $3000 on the required training, and then pass two separate tests to get the needed government permission slip. Fortunately, Tammy challenged these unnecessary requirements in court and won. (You can learn more about Tammy’s story in this “Why Minutes” video.)

https://twitter.com/i/status/1285280778604081152

Tammy’s story isn’t unique, though—many states erect similar barriers to work. Take blow-drying: In most states, write the Goldwater Institute’s Jenna Bentley and Christina Sandefur in a 2019 report, blow-dry salon workers are required to obtain a license just to be able to wash and style someone’s hair—with no cutting, dyeing, or perming involved. “This results in a regulatory mismatch, forcing a person who wants only to wash and dry hair to invest considerable time and money taking classes on a host of complex services they will not offer,” Bentley and Sandefur explain.

There is a better way: allowing people who only want to wash, dry, and style a person’s hair to do so without obtaining an occupational license. The Goldwater Institute has been a strong advocate for this reform, and last year, we were successful in making this reform a reality in Arizona. In April 2019, Governor Doug Ducey signed the bipartisan, Goldwater-backed law removing the requirement that blow-dry salon workers—stylists who dry and style hair, but do not cut, perm, or permanently alter hair—must obtain a cosmetology license in order to do their job. This made Arizona just the second state in the country—after Virginia—not to require a costly, time-consuming license for blow-dry stylists.

Other states should take steps to cut out unnecessary red tape that holds back Americans like Tammy Pritchard—people who just want to earn a living or just a little extra money. To read more about what the Goldwater Institute is doing to break down barriers to work across the country, click here.

 

 

More on this issue

Donate Now

Help all Americans live freer, happier lives. Join the Goldwater Institute as we defend and strengthen freedom in all 50 states.

Donate Now

Since 1988, the Goldwater Institute has been in the liberty business — defending and promoting freedom, and achieving more than 400 victories in all 50 states. Donate today to help support our mission.

We Protect Your Rights

Our attorneys defend individual rights and protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Need Help? Submit a case.

Get Connected to Goldwater

Sign up for the latest news, event updates, and more.

Wait! Don’t close this yet!

We are grateful for your support of the Goldwater Institute’s efforts to advance and defend liberty throughout the United States. For over 36 years, we’ve been defending the rights of Americans to live their lives free from government interference.

And Goldwater is unique in that we direct our efforts to the 50 states where we introduce and advance innovative ideas that expand freedom. And we fight in courtrooms and capitals nationwide to defend individual liberty.

In 2024 alone, we scored over 50 policy and litigation victories defending liberty!

And that’s just the beginning.

Our plans for 2025 include:

  • Stopping pernicious DEI and other woke programs in America’s universities.
  • Ensuring that patients suffering from rare and terminal diseases have access to cutting-edge, lifesaving medical treatments, without having to first seek permission from the government.
  • Defending parental rights across the United States so that parents can send their kids to the school that best fits their needs, free from leftist indoctrination.
  • Eliminating government interference in the fundamental right of individuals to own property and use it as they see fit.
  • And much, much more

We seek to restore the presumption of liberty; that people are free to act without first asking permission from the government.

But we cannot do this without you. Will you join us as we fight to preserve and advance liberty throughout the country? As we seek new and innovative ways to defend freedom in all 50 states?

And there’s great news: Thanks to a generous Goldwater supporter, your donation today will be doubled!

So please, join us in fighting to advance liberty and score real wins for freedom from coast to coast!