I wanted to share a recent interview with Clive Lamb,the owner of Clive and Co. salon that was featured in Bureaucratic Barbed Wire: How Occupational Liscensing Fences Out Texas Entrepreneurs by Wesley Hottot.
Hairstyling
Clive Lamb owns and operates Clive and Co., a men's and women's hair salon near the Galleria shopping center in Dallas. He has been in the hairdressing business in Dallas for more than 24 years. Clive is also the presidng officer of the Texas Advisory Board on Cosmetology-a state agency providing policy guidance to the Texas Department of Liscensing and Regulation.
His story epitomizes the American Dream.
Born in London, England, Clive worked construction with his father as a young man. "I didn't come from the most wealthy background," he said.
At age 16, Clive learned hairdressing at an English community college. From there, Clive rose quickly through London's high-end hairdressing industry-working first as a junior stylist, then as an instructor, then becoming the general manager og education for Jingles International.
But Clive ws convinced that England's class system was holding him back.
"Whether or not you were accepted in society or certain areas of society depended on your accent," he said. By the time he moved to Dallas in 1985, Clive had 8 years of hairdressing experience. "This is the land of milk and honey," he said. "And if you're going to make it anywhere in the world, this is the place to do it."
Becoming liscensed to cut hair was a strange experience for Clive. In England, no one needs government permission to cut hair. Salons need business liscenses, of course, and salons are subject to inspection by the health department, but it is up to customers to decide who can and cannot cut hair well. Although the concept of cosmetology liscensure was foreign to Clive, the test he was supposed to take was even more bizarre. "It was prehistoric," he said. " It was hairdressing from the dark ages."
Because of Clive's experience as an apprentice, he believes in hands-on cosmetology training. He said," I can tell you now, if one of my employees did one of those haircuts in the salon that they had to do to pass the state's test, they would probably be fired on the spot."
Clive would rather see parallel systems where students can learn the trade in a or in a salon.
Since his appointment to the Advisory Board on Cosmetology in 2006, Clive has advocated for fewer regulations, especially in the areas of hairbraiding and hairstyling. During the most recent legislative session, he worked tirelessly, but to no avail, on a bill that would have created a specialty liscense for hairstylists and an apprenticeship option for cosmetology students.
"The rules and statutes have become far too complicated," Clive said. "I think too many beauty schools are looking to keep the rules and statutes in place because they see profit."
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