Twisting The Dream

For natural hair braiders across the country, requirements for licensing have made the American dream harder to achieve

- Tanya A. Christian

Throughout the United States, many of those who move nimble fingers through the texture of Black hair have been in an ongoing battle to practice their craft freely. Though the tradition of hair braiding predates the arrival of Africans on American shores, legislation from New Jersey to Nevada threatened the profession. Today, largely due to the unwavering efforts of Black women and the attorneys and advocates who believe in their cause, states whose licensing requirements once involved hours of unnecessary and expensive beauty school instruction have replaced their heavy-handed demands with less intrusive government regulations. And yet the fight is not over.

“Forcing someone to go to cosmetology school for a year, to spend upwards of $20,000 to learn something you’re not going to do, is overly burdensome,” asserts Pamela Ferrell, co-owner of D.C.’s Cornrows & Co. The longtime entrepreneur took up natural hairstyling as a career in the late seventies after being fired from her job for wearing braids. Today she considers herself a pioneer in the natural hair care field and lends her voice to a growing movement that is focused on removing unreasonable licensing requirements for natural hair braiders.