Ohio beauty industry professionals and students!! Please join the Ohio Salon Association (OSA) in support of Ohio Senate Bill 133. If passed, this will push Ohio into the forefront of a nationwide movement to reduce barriers into the Cosmetology and Barbering fields.

Senate Bill 133 will:

• Open doors to the Ohio beauty industry for existing licensees entering our state with a valid license in good standing without requiring additional education credits.
• Will reduce hours needed to take state licensing exam from: 1,500 to 1,000 for cosmetologists and from 1,800 to 1,000 for barbers. NO hours will be taken from the core curriculum.
  Allow for distance (online) learning up to 50%, was 10% pre-Covid-19.
• Allow for testing in other parts of Ohio. This is a HUGE barrier for single parents, those without a reliable vehicle, or financial barriers that limit the ability to travel across the state. Currently, the only testing site is in Columbus, Ohio.
• As it stands some cosmetology schools are charging upwards $28,000 for a 1,500 hr program and 750 of those hours are students providing free, unpaid labor on the school's clinic floor.  SB 133 will reduce state mandated cosmetology requirements by 500 hours and barbering by 800 hours – according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics median wages that’s over $6,500 in lost wages back into a cosmetology student’s pocket and over $12,000 back in a barber student’s pocket before tips!  

More than 2.5 million women left the workforce during the Covid-19 pandemic and a disproportionate amount of women's jobs were affected by the pandemic. With 75% of salon owners being female NOW is the time to act by updating the antiquated cosmetology and barbering laws and implementing common sense licensing practices. In this unprecedented time, we MUST preserve and value the importance of education and the pride we have in our professional licenses, while not putting our future professionals ability to earn an income on hold.