Will Utah’s new barber licensing lead to ‘hack jobs’ — or new opportunities for cosmetology professionals?

In barbering school, customers with “salt and pepper” hair were Dave Broderick’s least favorite. Hair changes texture when it grays, and it threw him off.

Because Broderick’s instructor knew he “hated” it, the aspiring barber said he was assigned all of the salt and pepper haircuts at school, and in time, it became his favorite hair to cut. The repetition, he said, made him better.

Those early, rebarbative days are behind Broderick, whose own beard is sprinkled with the salt that once frustrated him. At Bureau Barber and Shop in downtown Salt Lake City, he sees up to a dozen clients a day. Each one is different, and Broderick said most of his job is to listen to their requests and tailor his services appropriately.

Sometimes, standing behind his chair, Broderick will offer advice: “We can always go shorter,” he told a customer this week who asked for a cut Broderick thought would be too deep. Some clients have sat in his chair for more than a decade; their hair, he says, is more familiar than their faces.

And after the 2025 legislative session, the barbering industry, like the hair of Brodericks’s clients, is in for some big changes this year.

If signed by Gov. Spencer Cox, SB330 —which passed in the final hours of the session — will change the licensing requirements for all trades under the cosmetology umbrella, including esthetics, nail art and hair design. Some trades, like barbering, are bracing for a cut they never asked for.

A barbering license in Utah serves as proof that a barber has built skill through repetition and training, 1,000 hours of it, usually at an accredited barber school. Broderick said barbering as an industry — and its clients — are in jeopardy under new regulations approved by the legislature this year.

Senator Scott Sandall’s bill, titled Cosmetology Modifications, tried to find a balance between industry concerns and the state’s legal duty to regulate safety without overstepping, he told colleagues in a Senate Business and Labor Committee hearing.

“The industry has used OPLR [the Officer of Professional Licensure Review] licensing as a measurement of competency, not just safety,” Sandall said. “So there’s a great disparity between the number of hours that OPLR came back with that needed to happen for a health permit or a safety permit, and what the industry has typically been looking for.”

That same hearing drew Broderick and dozens of other industry professionals to testify, mostly against the bill. Some barbers, especially, say the changes could be especially fatal to their industry.

“Barbers will lose their shops and they will close,” Richard Hite, owner of The Barber School in Midvale, told the committee in February.

And, Broderick said, customers who want a haircut will have to do more research to ensure they get a good one and not a “hack job.”

Not all barbers are so worried. Some, including Bureau shop owner Devan Pearson, say a free market could be a good thing. The “good” barbers will rise to the occasion, Pearson said, and the “bad” ones will weed themselves out.

“I am happy with how it ended”

For some professions, the changes in SB330 amount to — in industry talk — only a trim. A full cosmetology license will require 1,250 hours of supervised instruction at an accredited school — down from 1,600 hours under the current licensing requirements.

That was a huge compromise from the 800 hours OPLR initially proposed.

“Of course, I would’ve rather not had any changes at all,” said salon owner Lauren Spatafore. “But going through the long, tedious process of seeing how this bill transformed, I am happy with how it ended.”

The bill could make it easier for people who just want to practice specific skills, like nail art or eyelash and eyebrow shaping. It breaks down the professions under the “cosmetology” umbrella into even smaller component parts and allows for individual licenses or permits in each skill.

The effort — which has received praise and pushback from industry experts like Spatafore since last summer — will make it easier for people who want to practice specific skills, like nail art or eyelash and eyebrow shaping, by breaking down the regulation of professions under the “cosmetology” umbrella into even smaller permits.

That’s not entirely different from the old structure, which allowed for individual licenses in esthetics and nail design. But there are new license and permit categories, like a “master hair design and barbering” license, which includes cutting, styling and coloring hair and requires 1,000 hours of instruction.

Barbers will now be able to practice their trade with a master hair design and barbering license, a standalone barbering license or a barbering permit. A barbering permit will require 130 hours of instruction or practice.

That provision is what worries Broderick and Hite. It’s more than a trim; it’s a close shave. And shaving is a dangerous business.

“When you introduce a shortcut, [people] are always going to take the path of least resistance to get in the door,” Broderick said. “And that’s going to lower quality. It’s going to lower standards.”

Adding a 130-hour permitting option, he said, will also saturate the market with inexperienced barbers, putting the onus on seasoned barbers to train their newly permitted colleagues.

He also couldn’t charge someone full price — or $50 — to be a “test dummy.” One bad haircut at the shop could jeopardize its reputation.

“The Bureau has a standard,” he said. “People walk out of here with a $50 haircut that looks great. Now, you’re risking people walking out of here with a $10 haircut, a $5 haircut, a hack job. And all they’re going to say is, ‘I got this down at the Bureau.’”

Barbering isn’t the only profession that may allow safety permits in lieu of full licenses to practice. SB330 also proposes a basic esthetics permit, a chemical hair services permit, a facial hair removal permit and a haircutting permit. These permits can be stacked so that practitioners can offer multiple services, but limit what kind of work professionals can perform.

Each permit requires fewer than 300 hours of practice or instruction, and hours spent obtaining a permit can be counted toward license eligibility.

Spatafore said she, too, has concerns that salon owners will have to pay more to train people who enter the workforce with fewer hours of schooling.

“Long term in our industry, it will be harder to hire and grow our small businesses,” she said.

Capable in their craft

A few chairs down from Broderick’s at The Bureau, shop owner Devan Pearson said he’s not too worried about the changes.

A “free market” is a good thing, he said. And one saturated with inexperienced workers only makes his “1,000 hours of training” and “12 years behind the chair” more valuable.

“I’m not afraid of it,” he said. “The career has already been growing at an unprecedented rate, and it hasn’t stopped us.”

The 130-hour permit could make the profession more accessible, he said — which was OPLR’s stated goal when they proposed the changes last summer. And while barbering may become easier to learn for the sake of a permit, Pearson said, it will still be hard to master. Shops like his could pivot to offer their own training programs or apprenticeships.

Hite, who runs The Barber School, agrees that the changes will “separate the good from the bad” — the good barbers, and the good schools.

He is worried about non-accredited schools popping up and offering basic barbering permits, he said.

“You know, there’s a certificate, and there’s a license, and it’s drastically different,” Hite said. “I think it’s going to make the vulnerable more vulnerable because the [permit] is not going to be worth anything.”

And cosmetology schools will have to update their curricula to fit new standards.

Lawmakers considered whether changing licensing requirements would impact financial aid eligibility. Roughly 40% of cosmetology students receive federal financial aid in the form of a Pell Grant, said OPLR Director Jeff Shumway. Pell Grants are typically for “undergraduate students who display exceptional financial need and have not earned a bachelor’s, graduate or professional degree,” according to the program website.

All licenses under the cosmetology umbrella still meet the 600-hour threshold to qualify for Pell Grant eligibility. Basic safety permits do not.

Shumway said the beauty schools he spoke to had “gotten on board” with SB330 by the time it reached the legislature.

“I think it speaks well to them and the process,” Shumway said in an interview with The Tribune after the bill passed its first committee hurdle in February. “We tried really hard to bring them along, and it was not always smooth.”

If signed into law, SB330 will take effect in May. But the rollout will be long, Shumway said.

The Department of Professional Licensure (DOPL) will have to write new rules, which will take time. The department will also likely account for a transition period for license renewals.

“I think we’re trying to push those out as far as possible to give everyone time to plan a just program,” Shumway said. “We’re trying to make it as gentle as possible.”

Broderick said customers might have to be more wary of new barbers when the new requirements set in. They’ll want to know whether their barber is licensed, or just permitted.

“You better ask!” he said. “You have to have the confidence that the people who are there are capable, are safe, are knowledgeable in the application of their craft. And that’s what this is, a craft.”

Shannon Sollitt is a Report for America corps member covering business accountability and sustainability for The Salt Lake Tribune. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by clicking here.