I’m always weirded out by the eyebrow threaders in the mall. I, myself, am an eyebrow tweezer – even intimidated by the eyebrow waxers at the nail salon. But I’m pretty sure that if I went to either, I’d want the eyebrow professionals to be licensed and skilled in what they’re doing, considering their close proximity to my eye and the fact that they’re correcting something on my face.

So what are the requirements for eyebrow threaders? Well, of course, it varies from state to state and it’s always important to first check with your state licensing board before you go for your degree so that you know what you’re in for. Some states require eyebrow threaders to have a cosmetology license; others require an esthetician license; and some may not require any type of licensing. But what happens if the state decides to change the law and require a license all of a sudden Businesses are stuck, especially if they have a group of unlicensed individuals on staff.

This is what has been happening in Texas, recently. Eight businesses have challenged the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation’s new rule that all threaders must be licensed in order to practice, deeming that this is unfair and imposed without warning. In fact, many unlicensed threaders have received fines as high as $2,000, according to the Houston Chronicle. The businesses don’t think licensing is necessary because there are not many eyebrow threading courses offered in cosmetology schools.

It’s interesting to see both sides of the story. Some clients may say they wouldn’t care if a threader was licensed or not. However, I can’t really say I feel the same. Let’s go back to the main idea of what a license is. In order to obtain a license in any field, you must achieve success in a particular course of study and have put in a certain amount of hours of both study and practice. This means that you’ve passed and learned in the amount of time that the program dictates you need.

Yes, it is oftentimes the case that you learn by doing more than sitting in a classroom. This is why I think that there is a required practice part in a beauty school program. But you’re working with instructors who have been there before and have paid their dues. Why shouldn’t an eyebrow threader be licensed? They are still in the beauty profession, working with clients and providing a (somewhat invasive) service for which people are paying.

I don’t think it’s fair that the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation didn’t give the businesses fair warning before they began issuing fines. You can’t just decide all of a sudden to change something that has been in place for a while. But with the rise in popularity of eyebrow threading, I think it’s important that professionals be licensed. What do you think?

-Amanda Fornecker

Tags: beauty school, eyebrow, eyebrow threader, eyebrow waxing, threading

This entry was posted on Friday, December 11th, 2009 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Beauty. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.