Eyebrow threaders in Louisiana are filing a lawsuit against licensing requirements, according to the national public interest law firm Institute for Justice.
The Louisiana Board of Cosmetology is requiring threaders to spend 750 hours in beauty school and pass three exams before they can obtain an estheticians license to practice. Yet beauty schools aren’t required to teach threading.
"Eyebrow threading is a simple technique that uses just a single strand of cotton thread and nothing else," said Institute for Justice attorney Meagan Forbes. "The government cannot force threaders to quit work and waste time and money learning cosmetology techniques that threaders do not use. That’s not just wrong; it’s unconstitutional."
The Institute of Justice is fighting on behalf of Lata Jagtiani, who owns and operates the Threading Studio and Spa in Metairie, Louisiana.
"My business is my life," Jagtiani says. "I started this salon to support my family and to pursue my American Dream."
"But I had no idea it would have been easier for me to start a business in India than here," she says. "For some reason, the Cosmetology Board does not want my business to survive."
Jagtiani says the board ordered her to fire her unlicensed employees even though they had more than 20 years of experience. Now, it is hard for her to find estheticians who can thread as well as they did, which puts her business on the line.
"Licensing regulations have to have reasons," said attorney Wesley Hottot, who also represents the plaintiffs. "These regulations require zero threading training. The only thing these regulations accomplish is to make it harder to work as a threader."