Oklahoma Bill That Would Lower Hours Needed To Obtain Cosmetology License Advances

A bill that would lower the hours required to be a licensed cosmetologist in Oklahoma moved forward in the state senate this week.

The current law requires 1,500 hours of cosmetology courses to pass the state board exam. This new bill would cut this down to 1,000 hours.

Cosmetologists worry that the public will suffer if students aren't getting enough training and they're not just talking about a bad haircut. A cosmetologist practices everything that has to do with beauty, they work with nails, hair, skin, and makeup.

Ashley Shutterworth is a master instructor at Jenks Beauty College. She says one reason students need 1500 hours to get a license is to learn how to work with strong chemicals that can do serious damage.

"If they are mixed incorrectly, you could have all types of issues with the skin issues with blistering, infection," said Shutterworth.

Senator Michael Bergstrom sponsors the bill that would lower the hours required. He says big corporations are asking states to make changes.

"There are all kinds of national entities like Ulta Beauty, JC Penny Salon, Great Clips, and a whole bunch of others requesting states change their hours from 1500 to 1000 hours," said Senator Michael Bergstrom, (R) Adair.

But the owner of a Skiatook Cosmetology School, Artisan, Chayelynn Moore, says any decrease in education is a danger to the public and she brought that message to the capitol/

"Not only can you cause someone to lose your hair, you can cause someone to lose their sight, you can cause chemical burns and amputations without proper training and education," said Chayelynn Moore, Owner of Artisan.

Moore says the current requirement for a cosmetology license is still not enough time.

"I have a hard enough time getting all 32 chapters of my cosmetology book into the 1500 hours while also preparing them in this business," said Moore.

Moore also says this hurts business owners because most courses are paid by the hour, and they would be losing 500 hours that students would normally pay for.

If this bill passes it would go into effect November 1st'