MINNEAPOLIS — Some Minnesotans have been fighting a rule for a while now. For the longest time, natural hair braiders had to jump through hoops and go through hours of training just to get a license.
Now, with the passage of the omnibus bill, Minnesota became the 27th state to untangle its licensing laws.
About this, Lillian Anderson couldn't be happier. She's been braiding hair and putting in hair extensions for hundreds of clients over the past 30 years. She is truly a wealth of knowledge about the topic.
However, it doesn't take an expert like her to know that the demand for her services is through the roof.
"I mean you guys don't even know, the extensions market is huge," Anderson said.
Her business, Extensios Plus, has been going steady since she started nearly three decades ago. However, the hoops that she has had to jump through in the past few years have been intense.
Back before 2007, hair braiders like Anderson had to go through hours of cosmetology school to be licensed.
"1,500 hours yes, they wanted me to take 1,500 hours," Anderson said. "In those 1,500 hours--there wasn't much, probably...I would say not even 30 hours of extensions [training] in all that."
It was 1,550 hours to be exact, all for a school that didn't spend much time on the very thing Anderson wanted to be licensed for. Extensions and braiding were both topics cosmetology school skimmed over, according to Anderson.
Just to put those 1,550 hours into perspective--the Institute for Justice says it EMT certification requires 142 hours of clinical and skills training. It takes six hours of training to apply for a concealed carry license.
Anderson said she decided she just didn't have that kind of time so she decided to fight.
"I don't think the fight was just for me because there were other people that wanted similar opportunities," Anderson said. "Other people who were already familiar and good at the craft. All they needed to do was just get some kind of certification that wouldn't take 1,500 hours."
And in 2006, she won. By 2007, hair braiders only needed to get 30 hours of training and $20 for a license. It gets even better though. This year-- more than 14 years after she put in her initial lawsuit, hair braiders don't need a license at all to practice what they've been doing for years.
"It's a huge relief, I think we are in a really good place, a better place," Anderson said.
She said now with the last knot untangled in the legislature, she wants to devote her time to teaching her craft to young women who want to learn.
"I think that the trade will really benefit them because it has really good revenue," Anderson said. "Benefit young people to be able to become independent entrepreneurs and not only that--it will be really good women empowerment."