Beyond Beauty: Fighting for Fair Wages, Education, and Rights in the Cosmetology Industry
Written by Margaret Ferguson
Most people have their hair done by a professional, but how often do you think about the people who do your hair? The world of cosmetology seems like a beautiful one, even “fun,” because who wouldn’t want to “play” with hair and makeup all day? But what happens when the beauty worker is sick, needs time off, or needs to leave the industry or retire? While being a beauty worker can be an enjoyable career path— in reality, it is one of high stress and demand with little financial compensation or labor protections. But worse, it is also an industry that needs help in reformation and currently has gained the attention of conservative lawmakers.
At Beyond the Chair, our vision is to establish the Beyond the Chair scholarship fund, a crucial resource that will assist cosmetologists returning to college who need to transition away from the physical demands of manual beauty labor. In the process of obtaining our vision, we are actively advocating for cosmetology certificates to be recognized as transferable college credits to state colleges to help expand the field of cosmetology into the humanities and create higher education pathways beyond entrepreneurship and business. Additionally, we are building awareness around the need for better labor protections and unionizing, offering a beacon of hope in a political climate that has begun to falter around women’s rights.
While most of the criticisms of the beauty industry have been focused on unrealistic beauty expectations and environmental practices, rarely do we ever discuss the labor conditions and training of beauty workers. Unlike male-dominated trades, which we typically associate with unions, benefits, and labor protections, the female-dominated trade of cosmetology has never begun to be given equal respect. The cosmetology profession has slid under the radar of labor laws as multibillion-dollar beauty corporations outsource legal responsibility to small businesses around benefits. Due to these local businesses' size and lack of resources, most are exempt from providing adequate labor protections for beauty workers. Since it has been neglected, this has enabled predatory practices to occur, especially around beauty education. Therefore, as a young non-profit that is still building its organization, we use our social media platform to generate educational content and discussions around the pressing issues of the industry.
For example, we make content around sociological theories that deeply impact beauty workers, like emotional and aesthetic labor, providing access to higher education topics that would not be accessible to them otherwise. We’ve also discussed the predatory practices of for-profit schools, issues of gainful employment, and access to apprenticeship programs, which are currently hot topics of debate for the industry. Finally, we have brought awareness around Beauty School lobbyists and their association with the Federalist Society. To top it off, the primary lawyers who have had the greatest impact in rewriting cosmetology regulations are also Federalist Society members. This is of great concern to Beyond the Chair as women’s reproductive healthcare and abortion access are extremely important to an industry that consists of 90% women. So, seeing our primary advocates for our education and beauty regulations associate themselves with an organization that played a crucial role in the reversal of women’s rights is disturbing. Therefore, we are currently aiding in educating beauty workers on deeper topics because we firmly believe that education is a tool for innovation and a shield against abuse and exploitation.
More often than not, beauty workers are overworked and underpaid and do not have the time or energy to devote to the activism needed; plus, they have little power because all of it falls into the hands of the government, product companies, and lobbyists. Moreover, cosmetologists are among the country’s most under-educated working demographic. This last point is what Beyond the Chair hopes to change exponentially by attempting to bridge the gap between vocational training and higher education. We believe education is the key to transforming the beauty industry into a more equitable and empowering space.
At Beyond the Chair, we believe that the cosmetology industry stands at the frontline of most women’s rights in the U.S. The profession lives at the center of most intersectional problems that disproportionately affect women and girls, such as racism, beauty oppression, income inequality, lower pay, lack of access to education opportunities, inadequate health or reproductive care, and non-existent childcare. By enriching the cosmetologists’ lives through education and providing them with resources for higher learning, they could refashion the beauty industry and make it a more beautiful place.