A newly enacted California law mandates hairstyling, barbering, and cosmetology courses to include training on all hair types and textures. It also requires licensing exams to feature questions on these subjects.
For Brittaney Gandy, this issue hits both professionally and personally.
When she relocated to San Diego a decade ago, Gandy struggled to find a stylist who knew how to work with her tight curls. As a temporary fix, she resorted to wearing wigs. Frustrated, she decided to become the stylist she couldn’t find.
“When you sign up for school, you aren’t given any details about the curriculum. You just assume you’ll learn about sanitation regulations and similar topics,” she explained.
She attended a well-known hair school, but found that its techniques were better suited for straight hair. One example she highlighted was the practice of cutting hair while it’s wet.
“Curly hair behaves completely differently when wet. It doesn’t exist in a two-dimensional space; it’s more like a 3D structure. You have to consider shrinkage,” Gandy said.
Rather than focusing on how to care for curly hair, the school concentrated on teaching students to straighten it. Determined to learn, Gandy turned to YouTube for guidance, studying various techniques from stylists worldwide.
She practiced on herself, gaining confidence until she was finally comfortable wearing her natural hair.
“Not feeling like I need to hide behind a hat or something else to feel confident—it’s liberating,” she said.
While she welcomes the new law, Gandy believes there’s still much more work to be done. She expressed concerns that simply offering natural texture training in schools doesn’t guarantee the quality of that training.
“I hope schools hire knowledgeable educators who truly understand curly hair, so students don’t leave thinking they’re experts and end up ruining clients’ hair,” she said.
The demand for curly hair specialists caught even Gandy by surprise. After launching her salon, CurlCousin, in 2022, 700 new clients sought her services in the first year.
“As a Black woman in San Diego, I didn’t expect to see many people like me, but they’re out there—and they’re in my chair,” she remarked.
Gandy also stressed that hairstylists should willingly choose to work with diverse hair types.
“A hairstylist has the freedom to specialize in whatever they want. The last thing you want is someone doing your hair who doesn’t truly want to,” she said.
However, she emphasized that textured hair is far more common than many stylists might think.
“The majority of clients in their chairs already have textured hair. You’re just blowing it out,” she noted. “And textured hair education isn’t just for people with coils or curls. It’s also for those who want to embrace their wavy hair.”
