Georgia Introduces Bill to Exempt Some Beauty Services from Licensure

House Bill 1231 (HB 1231) was introduced into the Georgia legislature this February and would allow individuals to provide blow-dry styling, braiding, threading, and cosmetic application services without being licensed by the State Board of Cosmetology and Barbers. Facilities that offer only blow-dry styling, braiding, threading, and cosmetic application services would be exempt from all facility licensing requirements.

HB 1231 defines the exempt beauty services below:

(5.1) “Blow-dry styling” means the practice of only:
(i) Shampooing, conditioning, drying, arranging, or braiding hair;
(ii) Curling, straightening, or styling hair using only:
(I) Mechanical devices, including, but not limited to, driers, flat irons, and curling irons; or
(II) Topical agents, including, but not limited to, hair sprays, balms, oils, and serums; or
(iii) Using and styling of natural or synthetic fiber for hair extensions, hair pieces, and wigs.

(6.1) “Braiding” means hairweaving; interlocking; twisting; plaiting; wrapping by hand, chemical, or mechanical devices; or using any natural or synthetic fiber for extensions to the hair.

(19) “Threading” means removing hairs from the eyebrows, upper lip, or other body parts by using a cotton thread to pull hair from follicles. Such term includes the use of tweezers, scissors, and over-the-counter astringents, gels, or powders incidental to such method of hair removal.

“Cosmetic application services” is not defined in the bill.

HB 1231 is a deregulation bill to the extent it removes threading from cosmetologists and estheticians and would create a carve-out for blow-dry styling, braiding, threading, and cosmetic application services, so that unlicensed individuals could offer these services without education or training from a cosmetology or esthetics program.

It is our belief that should this bill become law, licensed estheticians and cosmetologists would still be able to practice threading and cosmetology and esthetics schools could still teach threading—the subject would simply no longer be required to be taught and the service would no longer be regulated.