Curl Equity: New York State Passes a New Law Requiring Cosmetology Students to Learn to Style Textured Hair
iStockphoto/Sofia Zhuravets
NYS just took one step forward toward a more inclusive salon industry. Here’s what it means for local students, stylists, and clients.
In 2021, LI Beauty Scene published a blog on why it costs more to cut curly hair. Two years later, that story remains one of the website’s most trafficked pages and a top performer on Google.
Why does it cost more to cut curly hair? As the blog explained, curly hair is considered a specialty in the industry. Textured hair (defined as curly, wavy, or coily) is currently not required in the curriculum, so curls may get the shaft in the classroom. To become a specialist, licensed stylists go on to take additional (often pricey) courses — a cost that may get passed onto the client.
Considering that at least 65 percent of the U.S. population has textured hair, this exclusion affects a significant amount of people, including people of color. It’s another example of systemic racism that’s embedded into our society. Women of color can’t walk into any salon and know they can get their hair done.
But new legislation in New York aims to make the beauty industry more inclusive. Bill S6528A, part of the Health Equity and Opportunity package, recently signed by Governor Kathy Hochul, will make NYS cosmetology schools’ curriculum more diverse, regardless of the student’s race or ethnicity. “According to the summary of the bill, it will require that education and cosmetologists have more information regarding services for all hair types and textures, including, but not limited to, various curl or wave patterns, hair strand thickness, and volumes of hair,” explains Dana Persico, owner of Long Island Nail Skin & Hair Institute and president of The New York State Beauty School Association (NYSBSA).
From the signing in November, schools will have 180 days to prepare for a curriculum change. Persico explains that texture is currently included in the curriculum and there is some technique in the state boards, but says additional requirements would be great. As written, the Bill will add theoretical questions to the exam related to services for people with varying hair types and textures. Persico hopes to see changes to the practical exam as well. “If this is going to be done correctly, you have to test people on theory and practical knowledge,” she says.
Persico points out that a 300-hour natural hair care license is already available in NYS, which encompasses shampooing, arranging, dressing, twisting, wrapping, weaving, extending, locking, and braiding hair or beards. However, it doesn’t include cutting, straightening, or coloring. This license will remain an option for those who want it, but Bill S6528A means that all students enrolled in the 1,000-hour cosmetology program will have at least some education on natural texture and curly hair.
Springing into Action
This local legislation has roots in a bigger movement happening in beauty, specifically the hair industry. In 2019, the CROWN (Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) Act was enacted, making race-based hair discrimination illegal. Since then, 23 states, including New York, have enacted it.
Brands, stylists, educators, salon owners, and publicists have joined together to keep the momentum going in making the hair industry more inclusive. Aveda Arts & Science Institute, a consortium of 18 beauty schools, has an award-winning “Desegregating the Salon” campaign (created with RED PR) to promote textured hair education nationwide. Louisiana, where the Institute’s CEO and its creative director live, was the first state to mandate textured hair be part of the cosmetology curriculum.
“I can’t force a salon to integrate. But what I can do — what a board can do — is look at the landscape of our constituents and the state that we’re in and make sure that there are rules and regulations in place that are reflective of the needs of our constituency,” says Tatum Neill, creative director of Aveda Arts & Science Institute. He points out that New Orleans, where he lives now, has a population that is 60 percent Black. “So looking at the needs of our citizens, we think it’s important that the people servicing the community, within the context of hair, should have some core competency on how to do all hair types,” says Neill. Adding curly hair to the test encourages schools to bring texture into the curriculum. “That little thing alone will open the door for hair integration.”
The Local Impact
How are Long Island salon owners reacting to the legislation? Elizabeth Rabanal, owner of Curly Culture Salon in Glen Cove, is curious to see how it will unfold, but she believes this initiative is a reflection of the times. She says, historically, beauty schools have taught to the communities they serve. For example, schools in areas with more women of color focused more on chemical relaxers and heat styling. In contrast, other schools might spend more time on blowouts with a round brush and techniques that are unrelated to textured hair. But, she says there was a time when cutting and styling textured hair wasn’t even taught in Black beauty schools. “Because we were doing relaxers then,” says Rabanal. “And now, for at least 10 years, the trend has been toward natural textures, so it has to be taught,” she says. “We’re now seeing what’s missing in the schools.”
Noticing this gap, Rabanal typically trains her new stylists, offers workshops for parents of kids with textured hair, and even offers consultations on how to have a successful textured hair business.
Allison Bridges, owner of Curl Evolution in Babylon, has already been working with local beauty schools to offer education on curly hair. “We’ve found that students come to us for positions, and they don’t have much education on curly texture,” she says. “So we now visit about 10 schools a year.” Bridges has also been asked to sit on an advisory board for Eastern Suffolk BOCES to lead them in teaching about curl care. “There’s a lot of movement right now, which is great,” she says. “The students want the education, and this Bill should make it more attainable.”
Bridges currently has an active petition, #NoCurlLeftBehind, to mandate natural hairstyling and curly hair education in cosmetology schools nationwide. To sign in, go to juicycurls.com/SignThePetition/
At the very least, the curriculum change will introduce students to curly and textured hairstyling and allow them to decide whether to pursue it further as a specialty. “It creates more freedom,” says Rabanal. “There’s freedom for the students in the school to pick and choose what they want to do because they now have access to the education, but there will also be more options for clients,” she says. “There will be no excuse for not predominately textured hair salons to say, ‘we can’t do this [hair type].’”
So, will it affect prices? In the near term, no. Long-term? It’s possible. “It’s supply and demand,” says Neill. And with more people embracing their natural texture (and more states adopting the CROWN Act to make it illegal to discriminate against someone in the workplace for doing so), the need for more textured hairstylists will increase. “The pressure is on us, the hairdressers, to have that skillset; it’s just going to take a little time for us to get there,” says Neill. Over time, there may not be only one person in the salon who can do curly hair, but several people.
Persico adds, “Like anything else in the industry, once you’ve got enough people educated about a certain discipline, it takes the exclusivity out of it.” She says that should affect pricing, but it’s not likely to happen quickly with this initiative.
Closing the Gap
The BIll has the potential to affect way more than hair. Bill S6528A aligns with the NYSBSA goals to close the equity gap in underserved communities and bring education back to the communities by students who graduate from programs. Persico and the NYSBSA recently announced support for Bill S6528A, stating that “by advocating for its inclusion in the curriculum, the NYSBSA aims to equip future beauty professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary to serve a diverse clientele effectively, which, in turn, helps to grow communities.” Persico says, “The hope is that the stylists bring that education back to their communities and service the clients.”
LI Beauty Scene will continue to follow this new legislation and report on its impact on the local beauty industry.
