The Professional Beauty Association (PBA), is strongly opposing House Bill 2325 which would deregulate licensing for hair, skin and nail services in West Virginia. This bill has been fast tracked without a thorough understanding of what this means for both the professional beauty industry and consumers.
House Bill 2325 was substituted on February 22 to prevent the Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists from regulating the use, application, or administration, by unlicensed persons whether for compensation or not of hair, nail, skin, and other beauty products that are commonly available as retail, consumer products.
Salons throughout the United States were shut down due to Covid and many are still only open with a reduced capacity due to health and safety. HB 2325 disregards these measures. West Virginiaโs phase two reopening plan placed a standard of protocols to re-open and operate safely. As part of the WV reopening plan the following is stated:
โIt is acknowledged that all services within the [beauty] industry carry some risk in this viral environment due to the nature of the services provided and the inability to maintain social distancing. With that said, licensed or certified professionals have been trained to mitigate these risks significantly through the use of proper infection control standards required by the state regulatory licensing rules and regulations.โ
Small businesses in the professional beauty industry are looking for support, especially as they continue to try to recover from the devastating impact of COVID- 19. Licensed beauty professionalsโ education and training are more important now than ever as their mandated education allows them to provide a safe salon environment and safe services to clients.
Instead of supporting the recovery of small beauty businesses, 73% of which are owned by women, House Bill 2325 will ignore training and education that keeps clients safe by allowing anyone that can purchase a beauty product to provide beauty services for compensation. The mandatory training and education that is required in all 50 states for licensed beauty professionals is in place to protect clients from the spread of bacteria and diseases.
Help PBA oppose this bill and take action to send a notice to your legislator*. Visit probeauty.org for more details.
*Please note only West Virginia residents may take action on this alert. The messages are editable and may be changed to reflect your role in opposing the legislation. You may also change the email subject line and we encourage you to do so. Please share this campaign with your friends and family.