Imagine that after pouring your heart and soul into creating a thriving business, a government bureaucrat tells you to shut it down. The bureaucrat informs you that the only way to save your business is to go to a state-approved school that teaches nothing about your business, take a state exam that tests nothing about your business and pay for it all out of pocket, with curriculum and fees exceeding $10,000. The bureaucrat tells you that failure to comply could result in heavy fines and up to six months in jail. Does that sound like nothing more than a bad dream?
Unfortunately, this is the nightmare that Arizona eyebrow threader Juana Guttierez is living through right now.
Threading is an ancient Eastern method of hair removal that is gaining in popularity throughout the United States. Threaders use a single strand of cotton thread — and nothing more — to remove hair by forming a loop in the thread and then brushing it along the skin to trap and pull out the hair by the follicle.
Unlike other types of hair removal, threading uses no chemicals, hot wax or sharp objects. It is sanitary, safe and less expensive than traditional methods. This in turn creates vibrant competition within the cosmetology industry.
Sadly, the booming industry and competition drew the ire of the Arizona cosmetology cartel. So the Arizona Board of Cosmetology — without any change in existing laws or any attempt to understand the practice of threading — decided that Guttierez and other skilled threaders must obtain a Board-issued license or face fines of up to $2,500 and criminal penalties of up to six months in jail.
The license requires Guttierez and all other threaders to attend a private, Board-licensed beauty school and sit through 600 hours of classroom instruction that can cost over $10,000 and then pass the Board’s written and practical exam. But not one hour of class time includes instruction on threading. And the Board’s exam does not test on threading. To put this in perspective, the state of Arizona only requires 585 hours of training to be a police officer.
Guttierez has been threading for eight years without any trouble. She manages six threading kiosks in Arizona while juggling the responsibilities of being a new mom. Due to her financial circumstances, she was back at work only one week after her first child was born. She does not have the time or money to waste on irrelevant and expensive classes.
Requiring threaders to get cosmetology licenses has very little to do with public health and safety and everything to do with stifling competition. The Arizona Board of Cosmetology is conveniently made up of cosmetologists, who are unelected and unaccountable, many of whom own cosmetology businesses. Indeed, three of the states that border Arizona — California, Utah and Nevada — exempt threaders form their licensing schemes because they recognize that threading is distinct from conventional cosmetology and that it is a safe and sanitary practice. Licensing threaders is simply about economic protectionism.
Luckily for Guttierez and other threaders, because the delegates at Arizona’s 1910 constitutional convention were worried about the corrupt influence of the railroad and mining monopolies on state government, there are provisions in the Arizona Constitution that protect individuals from unreasonable government regulations.
This is why the Institute for Justice Arizona Chapter, a non-profit law firm that litigates to secure the constitutional right of each individual to work in the occupation of his or her choice, has filed Guttierez v. Aune. This case is not only meant to vindicate Guttierez’s constitutional rights, but is meant to remind judges that they have a responsibility to be defenders of our economic liberty. The Arizona Constitution empowers judges to strike down regulations that have no rational connection to any legitimate governmental purpose.
In these hard economic times especially, the government should be doing everything in its power to encourage — not discourage — entrepreneurs like Guttierez to create jobs. Guttierez is not looking for a government hand-out but rather for the government to get out of her way so that she can earn an honest living and pursue her own American dream.
Thomas Grier is a third-year law student at The Ohio State University and a law clerk at the Institute for Justice Arizona Chapter. A graduate of Arizona State University, Grier writes on constitutional law, politics, and pro-growth policy. He can be contacted at Thomas@revolution-strategies.com.