This issue was brought to the attention of the Barber Advisory Board and the TDLR staff in a Barber Advisory Board meeting on July 30, 2007.   Since then, the TDLR staff has done nothing.   They haven't written a letter to the schools, PSI, the contract testing company, or done anything else to identify the problem or find a solution, except some discussion at a couple of board meetings.   They have been asked numerous times by members of the industry to do something, but have not.

At the January 12, 2009 Barber Advisory Board meeting, board chair Linda Connor appointed herself and board member Jimmy Johnson to a task force / work group to look into the reason for the drop in the number of barbers with the intention of finding solutions.   There wasn't another Barber Advisory Board meeting until April 26, 2010, 15 months later.   At the April 26th meeting, board chair Conner talked about attempts to get barbering taught in high schools or junior colleges.   Nothing was mentioned about why the number of barbers had plummeted right after TDLR took over.

Task force report and discussion at the July 12th Barber Advisory Board meeting was limited to presentation by staff and discussion of, "requirements for Barber Schools", "requirements for a Barber teacher(instructor)", "crossover licensing provisions", and "intern/apprenticeship programs".   During this portion of the meeting no mention was made of the drop in the number of barbers being licensed through the schools, even though it was brought up at the public comment section by Joe Shirley who asked the Board and TDLR staff to take action.

While each of the items discussed may have some merit, they would all require legislative changes to implement. Even if legislation was passed, it would not be implemented until September 1, 2011, a year from now.  

This is a critical failure on the part of TDLR and the Barber Advisory Board.

The June newsletter was sent out about a couple of weeks before the July 12th Barber Advisory Board meeting and contained a nice mention of the upcoming meeting.  

However, it contained nothing at all about the issues facing the barber industry that would be discussed at the meeting.   Licensees are forced to pay $10 per license renewal for the newsletter.   The original purpose was to inform barbers about issues important to us.   We are not getting what we paid for!

Jennifer Grisham is a Barber Advisory Board member, barber, and owner of the Salon Americana barber shop in Alpine, Texas.   She is on the committee to suggest changes to the barber rules.   Jennifer intends to visit all the barber schools in Texas and as many of the barber shops as possible to get input on needed rule changes.   She was in the Dallas Fort Worth area August 17th.   Jennifer is taking time away from her shop and family to get input for needed rule changes to improve the barber industry.   She isn't reimbursed for any of her expenses.   We need to do our part by reading over the barber rules and sending any suggested changes to her at: jenny@salonamericana.com.