Suit challenges need for license for braiding hair
In the morning, a nonprofit law firm filed suit on her behalf, claiming the state Department of Licensing would require her to spend $7,500 and 1,600 hours of training to obtain a license in cosmetology.
In the afternoon, the director of the state agency declared it made no sense to regulate African hair braiders as cosmetologists. He overruled the state cosmetology board, which had recommended earlier this year that "braiding, in any form, should be regulated."
Diaw charges around $65 for braiding hair into Bantu knots, cornrows, Senegalese twists or fishtails — each an intricate six- or seven-hour process.
She said she was told to apply for a license by the department, and a friend who was also a hair braider closed her shop after a visit from an inspector for the licensing department.
"They are stopping African people from braiding their hair," said Diaw, 36, an immigrant from Senegal who operates Touba African Hair Braiding. "But it's a part of our culture that we can't leave behind."
The Institute for Justice, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit law firm that represents entrepreneurs, took up her cause.
"The State of Washington precludes Benta and other African hair stylists from lawfully pursuing their chosen livelihood by the enforcement of arbitrary, excessive, and anachronistic occupational licensing laws," says the group's suit, filed yesterday in King County Superior Court.
Diaw's lawyers pointed to a January letter from the state Cosmetology Advisory Board to the Department of Licensing, urging that "braiding, in any form, should be regulated under our licensing [laws]."
Jeanette Petersen, lead attorney for Diaw, said such a licensing requirement would be "unconstitutional" because it imposes training that is unrelated to the trade itself.
"The training teaches braiders to clip nose hairs, use harsh chemicals that damage your hair," said John Kramer, vice president of communications at the Washington D.C.-based law firm. "What it doesn't do is teach braiding."
Diaw, 36, said her grandmother, who is now 104 years old, taught her the art of braiding more than 20 years ago back in Senegal.
Diaw and members of the law firm announced the lawsuit in Diaw's salon on Western Avenue in Belltown.
Less than two hours after their announcement, after calls from reporters, the state Department of Licensing issued a news release stating that African-style hair braiders are not required to obtain a license.
"We don't have a policy with respect to braiding hair," said Department of Licensing Director Fred Stephens in an interview, "To do so wouldn't make sense since there's no potential danger to anyone."
The department regulates cosmetologists because they use dangerous tools and caustic chemicals while cutting, coloring or curling hair, he said. Braiding is done with water and a natural African moisturizer, shea butter.
Stephens added that any pronouncements by the board, which is made up of professional cosmetologists, were not final.
"The ultimate authority rests with me," Stephens said. "I am not bound to honor that recommendation and I have decided that I will not honor it."
Petersen said that Stephens' response was a coup for Diaw and other Seattle small businesses.
"It's great news," she said. "It appears that they are backing down from this."
The group noted that the Department of Licensing instituted a complaint against another braiding salon, Daru Salam African Hair Braiding, last year. The salon owner closed its doors voluntarily before the investigation was complete, the institute said.
That left "every African hair-braiding salon operating under the threat of investigation and prosecution by the government," Petersen said.
Brad Benfield, a spokesperson for the Department of Licensing, said the characterization of the Daru Salam investigation was not accurate. Inspectors were responding to a complaint that the salon was "doing something it was not supposed to be doing," Benfield said.
The inspector gave the owner an application for a license but didn't pursue the matter, he said.
Petersen said she was not seeking monetary damages but hoped to see an exemption for hair braiders in the regulations.
Along with the lawsuit, the Institute of Justice released a 28-page report, co-authored with the Washington Policy Center, criticizing the number of regulations governing small business in Seattle.
"A business owner with no employees has 35 sets of regulations to conform to in order to legally run a business in Seattle," Petersen said.
William Bradford, a University of Washington professor and former dean of the business school, said regulations in Washington are typical.
"For low-income business owners, especially minorities, they are typically burdened by licensing and other requirements. But for a business that offers reasonable returns, they are not unreasonable barriers," said Bradford.
Brandon Sprague: 206-464-2263 or bsprague@seattletimes.com.