A person with sharp implements around your head and neck carries a <i>modest</i> health and safety risk and it might be good to subject barbershops to modest regulation.<p>Will the regulation actually be modest? A person <i>braiding your hair</i> (uncommon among the white middle-class American community but quite common in African-American communities) poses a <i>trivial</i> health risk, and there are many cases of where the relevant occupational licensing required thousands of hours of (substantially unrelated) cosmetology training:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;washington-african-hair-braiding&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;washington-african-hair-braiding&#x2F;</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;missouri-hair-braiding&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;missouri-hair-braiding&#x2F;</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;txbraiding&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;txbraiding&#x2F;</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;utah-hairbraiding&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;utah-hairbraiding&#x2F;</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;taalib-din-abdul-uqdah-v-district-of-columbia-2&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;taalib-din-abdul-uqdah-v-district-of-colu...</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;cornwell-v-california-board-of-barbering-and-cosmetology&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;cornwell-v-california-board-of-barbering-...</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;armstrong-v-lunsford&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;armstrong-v-lunsford&#x2F;</a><p>The stories are pretty much the same. &quot;They used to require 1000+ hours of unrelated cosmetology training. Now they require posting basic sanitation standards, a written test, and a $25 fee. Thousands have entered the business.&quot; And these are just <i>some</i> of the cases that <i>one</i> nonprofit has <i>taken and won</i>. You can bet there&#x27;s plenty more out there in many, many fields.<p>Of course, if we want to be fully ridiculous, note that Louisiana once required occupational licensing to <i>arrange flowers</i>:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;meadows-v-odom&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;meadows-v-odom&#x2F;</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;chauvin-v-strain&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ij.org&#x2F;case&#x2F;chauvin-v-strain&#x2F;</a><p>... or look up the cases on interior design... or the sale of <i>headstones</i>...