JACKSON - Does a stylist who earns a living braiding hair need to spend $6,000 on 3,200 classroom hours to teach her craft? Three Mississippi women don't think so.
They sued the Mississippi Cosmetology Board on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Jackson, and are asking the court to declare the state's licensing process unconstitutional.
The lawsuit was filed by Tupelo resident Melody Armstrong - who has owned her salon, Naturally Speaking, since 2000 - and two women who want Armstrong to teach them how to braid, Christina Griffin and Margaret Burden. They are being joined by the Washington-based nonprofit Institute for Justice.
"African American women learn to braid hair from childhood," Armstrong said. "It's part of our culture as well as an art form."
According to the lawsuit, the cosmetology board requires braiders to be licensed after extensive training, but Mississippi offers no licenses specifically for braiding or braiding instruction.
The institute says none of the state's 40 licensed cosmetology schools offer courses in braiding. Instead, those who wish to braid hair must earn a license in wigology, which teaches the care of wigs.
Armstrong completed the 300-hour wigology curriculum so she could legally braid hair extensions, which the state defines as wigs.
But when she wanted to teach her trade, she said the state told her she needed to spend 3,200 hours in cosmetology and cosmetology instructor programs which would cost a total of about $6,000.
Griffin and Burden were told that without a wigology school nearby, they would need to obtain cosmetology licenses, which require about 1,500 hours in classes, to braid hair for a living.
"Caucasian and black people's hair reacts to chemicals very differently but Mississippi cosmetology school classes tend not to recognize that," Armstrong said. "I own the only salon in Tupelo that specializes in natural hair care for black women. Braiding does not involve any chemicals, none at all. But the state won't allow me to teach braiding even as an art form."
Neida LeFlore, licensing administrator for the state's cosmetology board, declined to comment.
The institute says the state has placed two regulatory hurdles - requiring a difficult-to-obtain license to practice hairbraiding, and another license in unrelated subjects to teach hairbraiding - which force talented braiders to operate outside the law and prevent them from teaching their trade.
The Institute previously visited Mississippi to represent landowners fighting the state's attempted seizure of land through eminent domain for the $1.4 billion Nissan plant in Madison County. The Institute helped represent landowners fighting the seizure. "We focus on economic justice for average working people," Institute senior attorney Dana Berliner said. "Mississippi actually requires hair-braiding teachers to take more hours of training than firefighters get."
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