Published

States force barbers and beauty workers to spend a lot of time and money on schooling before they can get a license to work. States do this because policymakers think licensing is needed to keep consumers safe. But Clean Cut shows this simply isn’t true. This study analyzed thousands of health inspections across four states and found nail salons and barbershops were clean and safe, regardless of whether workers faced burdensome licensing, lighter licensing, or no licensing at all. These results make sense given that salons and shops have every reason to keep standards high with or without licensing—no one wants to dip their toes into a grimy foot spa or sit in a dirty barber chair. Businesses understand this, especially with how easy it is for consumers to post about bad experiences online. These results also show that states can make it easier and less expensive to break into barbering and beauty jobs without putting the public at risk.

Key Findings


2,148

For nail salons, we compared over 2,000 inspections across Connecticut and New York from years when Connecticut did not license manicurists.


3,218

For barbershops, we compared over 3,000 inspections across Alabama, which licenses barbers less onerously, and Mississippi, which licenses them more onerously.


95%

The businesses in our study did extremely well, no matter the license. Barbershops passed more than 95% of inspections, while nail salons typically met at least 95% of health and safety standards.

Press Release

Check out this report's press release and contact our media team member for additional information.

Andrew Wimer
Director of Media Relations
[email protected]

Press Release

New Study Shows That Heavier Licensing Burdens Do Not Improve Health and Safety

  • Andrew Wimer
  • January 14, 2025

New Study Shows That Heavier Licensing Burdens Do Not Improve Health and Safety Institute for Justice analysis questions the necessity of expensive and time-consuming training […]

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