Louisiana Will Require Textured Hair Training For Licensure

Louisiana Adds Textured Hair Cutting To Licensure Requirements

Louisiana cosmetology students must soon prove they can cut textured hair to be licensed in the state. The resolution, which goes into effect in June 2022, is the first in the country to require a section on cutting textured hair in licensing exams and is a step towards creating a more inclusive experience for all clients who sit in stylists’ chairs. 

“It’s a maddening experience to go from cosmetology school to cosmetology school to teach texture,” Aveda Global Artistic Director Renee Gader told Louisiana’s KATC News. “What this does on a legal level is, if you’re gonna call yourself a hairstylist, you need to do all the hair that is possibly going to sit in your chair.”

Louisiana Board of Cosmetology Chair and CEO of Aveda Arts & Sciences Institutes Edwin Neill said his schools incorporated textured hair curriculum in 2020. The state board began working with Renee Gader in the summer of 2021 to investigate how to accomplish the testing, according to Allure. The board voted unanimously to pass the resolution.

“65 percent of the population has textured hair defined as wavy, curly or coily hair. We don’t want people to be turned away at a salon because the salon can’t do their type of hair,” Neill said to Louisiana’s WGNO News.

Meanwhile, legislation to prohibit race-based hair discrimination, known as the CROWN Act, was introduced in the state in 2020, but did not pass. However, the CROWN Act is law in New Orleans and Shreveport, Louisiana. 

Related: Connecticut Becomes Eighth State To Ban Natural Hair Discrimination