Currently, many professional hair and lash extension services are being offered by non licensed service providers. As a licensed aestetichian and  cosmetologist  , I understand the importance in protecting the consumer and integrity of current licensed professionals.

I am a licensed cosmetologist of over 32 years to teach cosmetology to students, provide services for consumers, and a multi- licensed aesthetic director for a beauty school ,   and a recent kidney cancer survivor that facilitates for the Lookgoodfeelbetter foundation .  I have been heavily involved in working with, supporting and helping many individuals through living with cancer and Trichotillomania, and educating and supporting recent beauty school graduates to add value to their new careers through hair health. My goal is to educate and change the law with regard to non licensed hair extension services as I have witnessed many of these non licensed individuals not properly following health and sanitation regulations, resulting in endangering the consumer longterm. Being licensed has a broad range of benefits and requirements for the professional. You must understand the foundations of anatomy, physiology and chemistry as well as important laws and regulations designed to protect public health and consumer safety.

The maintenance and work with hair loss and extension enhancement is not limited to the average woman that wants to have longer hair. In my work through focus on cancer patients and clients diagnosed with Trichotillomania and clients seeking corrections to damaged hair by non licensed professionals, it is very important that extensions are installed properly to prevent future hair breakage and proper maintenance and ensure that clients extensions and color services are therapeutic, natural and effective. Many of these non licensed services are being performed on hair that has been colored by non-professional salon grade products. These non-licensed professionals are not educated properly to identify when their extension services are actually creating further damage to treated hair.

Many of these non licensed beauty professionals are opting not to attend beauty school to obtain licenses, as a result, many of these individuals are not properly reporting income, working out of their home and charging heavily discounted fees which are endangering the integrity of the salon professionals and diminishing the current and future income potential of the tax paying licensed professionals.

The beauty industry and community is experiencing a rapid decline in student attendance of beauty schools which in turn is impacting jobs in this industry in our community as many salons are being forced to close. Personally, I have lost a source of income as I lost a teaching job in a local cosmetology school due to low attendance and lack of required license for extensions. If we can regulate and require licenses for extensions, we will be supporting the community by ensuring consumer safety and salon professional job stability.

Arizona is currently one of the few states that does not require a license for hair extension services and we really need to follow suit in understanding how to keep the community safe. As a licensed professional we are regulated by the State Board of Cosmetology and are subject to inspection and review. These non licensed professionals have no regulations and standards to uphold when treating their clients.

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