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Hernando Today

Reach For A License Before The Clippers

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By KYLE MARTIN

Hernando Today

Published: December 20, 2008

SPRING HILL - There are 13,312 licensed barbers in Florida.

Authorities say Alberto Figueroa is not one of them.

On Wednesday, Figueroa, 30, was clipping a child's hair when a deputy and two state regulators walked into the shop, according to a report.

They were following up on "repeat offenders" who were cutting hair without a license and had just finished inspecting two other Spring Hill shops. Figueroa was their last stop. He was given a cease and desist order in October, but there were no more warnings on Wednesday.

He was given a misdemeanor citation.

In the grand scheme of things, catching an unlicensed barber might not seem as important as busting drug dealers or purse snatchers.

So why do it?

"You want to work with somebody, no matter the profession, that has had the proper schooling," said Alexis Antonacci, press secretary for the Department of Business and Professional Regulation in Tallahassee.

There's more to cutting hair than meets the eye. Barbers have to be knowledgeable about the types of chemicals they're mixing together and putting on your head. Proper sanitation is necessary for the combs and razors used from one person to the next.

Figueroa couldn't be reached on Friday. The owner of Rayzors, where Figueroa was allegedly clipping, didn't want to comment.

Getting your barber license in Florida takes 1,200 hours of training. Taking the test costs $241. Then there's a $255 application fee for obtaining the endorsement. Re-applying costs money, too, and two hours of "continuing education."

That means taking a class online about topics such as AIDS prevention. There's no requirement to prove a barber can cut hair.

The license money goes toward operational costs for the department, Antonacci said.

Twelve-hundred hours of training is comparable to other states' requirements, said Charles Kirkpatrick, executive director of the National Association of Barber Boards of America.

"There's a lot to learn," Kirkpatrick said Friday from Arkadelphia, Ark.

The hairstyling field has changed a lot over the past century and much can be attributed to the advent of rock 'n' roll. When Elvis came on the scene and later the Beatles, long hair became the rage.

Business dropped as customers who would come in twice a month for a crew cut trim began showing up twice a year. So barbers learned to adapt and many started cutting women's hair, Kirkpatrick said.

Those who didn't inevitably went out of business.

"I follow the dollar," Kirkpatrick said.

It's getting harder to recruit new barbers because there's not much interest. But the main selling point for Kirkpatrick is that barbers are not dependent on anyone else; all they need are their skilled hands. Worries about outsourcing are nil.

"No one is flying to China to get a hair cut," he said.

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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