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Comment by comrh | Hacker News Reader

I always thought it was weird barbers and hair salons need licenses. I get the historical context but still?

NPR did a good story on this:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/06/21/154826233/why-its-...

Why? I, as a customer, would like to know that the person in front of me actually went through some sort of 'test' instead of hoping that a crappy business would be out of business by now..

I had lots of fun discussions with both Israeli and US acquaintances about the fact that 'Business Administration' (as in, 'front desk & more') is something you have to learn in Germany (usually 3 years, apprenticeship split between working and learning at a school). These people usually said 'WTF? So, I know Word, Excel and can communicate quite decently - that's all it would take to get a job like that here'.

Expectations matter and are - to make matters more complicated - often heavily influenced by culture as well.

(You wouldn't be able to tell that I care about a barber that knows what he's doing, tbh. My wife claims I fail selecting the correct shop anyway, whatever I try. But I do support the 'please prove that you have a basic understanding of what you are doing' system)

barbers at least operate sharp tools in dangerous vicinity of your ears and they required to have at least some training as a condition of the license. What could go wrong what is supposedly stripper's license saving us from, and what kind of training government requires here?

I would guess that it's to keep underage girls out of the stripping business.

Probably previously the onus was on the owner to avoid hiring underage girls. But a couple scandals later, the government responded by requiring licensing.

That and chemicals for dying, perming and straightening hair, which can have dangers to both customer and hairdresser if misused. On the other hand incumbents sometimes band together and demand regulations to keep out new entrants to a business, as in a recent controversy over whether a license should be required to braid hair (a popular service in the black community).

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