Carolina Journal reports on a Texas Supreme Court ruling against requiring those who practice eyebrow threading to be licensed cosmetologists. The ruling is important because the hurdles to getting a license as a cosmetologist are especially burdensome in terms of time as well as money.
Requiring such practices as eyebrow threading and, in North Carolina and elsewhere, African hair braiding are obvious ways for licensed cosmetologists to limit their competition and keep their prices high, which is fine for established practitioners but not so good for either (a) their customers or (b) their potential competitors unable to enter the market because of these extraneous obstacles.
The article quotes me in favor of voluntary certification over occupational licensing. I wrote a Spotlight report on that subject earlier this year. Here is a chart from that report; click on it to see the full-size version:
