State Moves to Relax Rules for Braiders

The delicate art of twisting locks into braids is no longer just something done for girls by their moms and girlfriends.

With the popularity of intricately braided styles, a specialty trade has arisen, and now state legislators are trying to decide how best to regulate, train and certify braiders.

Those who braid for a living must know the proper techniques, stylists say, because the wrong techniques can result in permanent hair damage and hair loss.

The Assembly last month voted on a bill that removed braiders from a tangled web of state regulations and exempted them from the nine-month course that other hair stylists must complete to receive a cosmetology license.

A state senator is now preparing a bill setting a new set of less stringent regulations for the braiders.

Some Orange County braiders said that poorly trained, unlicensed stylists can pose a public health and safety risk.

“I see an awful lot of women who come through, and their hair is destroyed,” said Joanne Washington, owner of Hairoots Styling Salon in Fullerton. “There are ‘kitchen braiders’ who are doing these things in their home, but they don’t have the background and the knowledge to tell these women how to maintain and keep their hair healthy.”

Washington and others said that botched braiding jobs can result in hair loss when the braids aren’t cared for properly. Braids left in hair too long can cause severe tangling and other damage.

The legislation changes come because some lawmakers believe braiders don’t require the same level of regulation as hair stylists, who deal with sharp objects and potentially harmful chemicals.

“It’s kind of ridiculous that hair braiders who don’t involve themselves in cutting and dying have to go through the same course and pay the same amount of money as those who do,” said Sen. Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), who is drafting the new bill.

Migden’s chief of staff, Alan Lofaso, said the senator is considering more modest requirements for braiders, including health and hygiene exams.

Some Orange County braiders express concern at the changes.

“When [the legislators] write the bill, they need to be careful,” said Washington, who has been braiding for 11 years. “People come into the shop and say, ‘Gee, this is awesome.’ But it’s not just twisting hair. This is really an art.”

Washington spent three years in a cosmetology apprenticeship and learned braiding through separate classes. She began offering braiding classes out of her salon 18 months ago, teaching her students how to braid and maintain the hair.

Gina Campbell, co-owner of Marg and Gina Live Hair Salon in Fountain Valley, said that under the proposed system, braiders who plan to become full-time stylists would need to go through the same cosmetology training they are being excused from.

The practice of hair braiding has long been popular in the African American community, where it is sometimes passed down from generation to generation. Increasingly, however, the hair style is becoming popular in the mainstream, including Orange County.

Some women braid hair in their homes. But it is illegal for those who are not licensed to charge for the service. In a typical salon, braiding hair can take anywhere from two to 15 hours and cost $65 and up.

Some rules of thumb from the braiders: Braids should stay in hair no more than two months; hair should have a one- to two-week period to “rest” between braidings; and those with braids must use the proper hair care products.

Once, Washington said, she had to chop off a customer’s hair because it frazzled into a tangled ball after removing the braids, which had been in place for four months.

“Luckily, we were able to cut it in a style that she could wear and look nice,” Washington said, “but that’s not always the case.”