Lawsuit filed over African-style hair braiding business rights

Two Des Moines women are suing the state cosmetology board, with help from a national justice organization, for the right to start African-style hair braiding businesses without cosmetology licenses.

Aicheria Bell and Achan Agit are both trained in African-style hair braiding and would like to start businesses in Des Moines to support their families, but they don't want to spend thousands of dollars on cosmetology school to attain a license, especially because the cosmetology programs in Iowa don't specialize in African-style braiding, according to a litigation document from the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based nonprofit assisting Bell and Agit with the lawsuit.

The civil lawsuit against the Iowa Board of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences was filed Tuesday morning.

In Iowa, a cosmetology license is required by state law for someone to legally conduct business braiding hair. To pass the state's licensing exam, a hair braider would have to complete 2,100 hours at a licensed cosmetology school.

The required schooling can cost as much as $22,000, according to the litigation document.

The civil lawsuit seeks right for African-style hair braiders "to earn a living free from arbitrary government regulation," according to court documents.

State laws requiring a cosmetology license "deprive plaintiffs (Bell and Agit) and other African-style hair braiders of their constitutional right to economic liberty," the civil lawsuit documents claim.

The Iowa Department of Public Health, which oversees the cosmetology board, could not comment on the case Tuesday evening because Public Health officials had not yet received a copy of the lawsuit, though they were aware the lawsuit had been filed, said state Public Health spokeswoman Polly Carver-Kimm.

Iowa laws surrounding various job licensing, including cosmetology licenses, have been criticized over the years, including in a Des Moines Register editorial campaign.

A bill introduced in the Iowa Legislature last session would have exempted hair braiders from certain cosmetology licensing requirements, but the bill did not become law.

The Institute for Justice document states African-style hair braiding is important to African and African-American communities, with many people learning the skill when they are young, taught by family members.

With Iowa's laws, "licensed cosmetologists enjoy a near monopoly on all forms of hair styling, including African-style hair braiding," the litigation document states.

Meagan Forbes, an Institute for Justice lawyer, spoke for her clients Tuesday evening, saying both women are passionate about hair-braiding and want to use their skill to support their families. Bell is a single mother, and Agit is a refugee from the area of Sudan that is now South Sudan, she said.

Bell is a U.S. citizen, and though Agit was a refugee, she is a legal permanent resident of the U.S., according to court documents.