A Beauty Shop Disaster

I’ve often heard industry representatives express wonder and amazement that hair stylists need to be certified and licensed to do work, whereas, if you’ve got the basic tools, pretty much anyone can enter the auto glass industry. We all know that this might not be a good thing, but this week, as I was scanning the CNN headlines on my lunch break, I came across one that caught my eye—Woman: Trip to Braiding Shop Ends with Trip to ER.

The woman in the story had gone to a North Carolina beauty shop to have her hair braided, but soon after, she started having all kinds of pains in the area of the braids, and, soon the braids started to actually fall out. It turns out, they think the person who braided her hair actually stabbed her with a finger nail accidentally, leading to infection.

I thought the story was pretty gruesome and, for that reason, apologize for sharing it with you here. Though now state legislators in North Carolina have stepped in, and, as of July 1, all “hair braiders” in the state are required to pass a test and become licensed.

Many in the auto glass industry have been very adamant that licensing should be required, but we all know safe procedures should be followed—and that comes in the form of following the Auto Glass Replacement Safety Standard (AGRSS). Auto glass installations are much harder to track than hair braiding, of course, as it was pretty obvious to this woman what the source of her pain was. I thought this article was a good lesson as to what can happen when something goes wrong—and what state legislators might do to an overall upstanding industry.

I’m sure if you’re reading this, you do care about safe installations, but what about the others? Have you taken the time to promote the importance of the AGRSS Standard in your area? Have you encouraged your competitors to become involved? Maybe now is the time to think about it.