Fix teeth, yes, cut hair, absolutely not. How can you conflate those two things? It is utterly bizarre for the state to license barbers and hairdressers, especially in the so-called land o' the free.
The license locks in professionals to continually give money to a private organization every year, and keep out everyone else.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/you-shouldnt-need-a-...
https://bostonrealestatetimes.com/advancing-commercial-inter...
https://citizens.org/dietetic-association-and-efforts-to-mon...
The added layer that blew my tiny British mind was that the licensing is done by states (because somehow licensing barbers was omitted from the constitution)
The consequence of this is that if you want to move or if you live in a state border city like KCMO, you have to do the licensing all over again with another state. Bonkers, as we say here.
(at least, you certainly will post-Brexit; not 100% sure what the pre-Brexit story was on that, but I have a feeling it may have similar)
I just picked it because it was closest to the border. You can have Brighton or Hastings or Rye if one of them works better for you.
Let's consider the choices of a homeowner in this market, who needs electrical work done: (a) pay a licensed professional to travel into their market (expensive), (b) have someone unlicensed do the work (or DIY it), or (c) just don't do it.
This is why I think certification (not mandatory licensing) is the way to go. It's not clear that criminalizing economic activity when it's someone's only real choice--and there may be major health/safety hazards if the work isn't done--is beneficial.
I’m not saying that the actual licensing regime makes sense (I don’t know much about it), but requiring that one demonstrate knowledge of the rules before professionally cutting hair seems fine. At least California does this for restaurants, too.