HF 711 isn’t a magical “bridge”—it’s a detour around professional standards that protect clients, stylists, and salon owners.
1. Quality Education Takes More Than Two Hours
The “2-hour Laws & Sanitation” box-check is laughable. Real sanitation training is woven through hundreds of hours of instruction and supervised practice—not crammed into one afternoon. Cutting corners on sanitation risks client safety and public health.
2. Apprenticeships ≠ Free Labor
Allowing salons to train unlicensed workers without robust oversight opens the door for exploitation: unpaid shampoo techs and floor sweepers, not true apprenticeships with structured curriculum and accountability.
3. Copyright Restrictions Don’t Disappear
HF 711 doesn’t magically make Pivot Point or Milady materials usable. Salons can’t legally teach from those resources without licensing agreements. That means many salons will improvise training, and “improvise” is not a curriculum.
4. Staffing Shortages Aren’t Solved by Lowering the Bar
Empty chairs are a symptom of larger issues—wages, benefits, and career support. Diluting education only guarantees more unprepared stylists and higher turnover.
5. Trainees Deserve State-Recognized, Transferable Credentials
Students who complete a legitimate cosmetology school can move states, apply for reciprocity, and continue their careers. A salon-specific “bridge” leaves them with training that may not be recognized outside that one establishment.
6. Public Trust Matters
Clients book services believing every stylist has met consistent state standards. Undermining that trust risks the reputation of the entire Iowa cosmetology industry.
Bottom line: HF 711 doesn’t build a bridge—it builds a rickety rope swing over a canyon. Protect the profession, protect the public, and demand real solutions: better-funded schools, meaningful apprenticeships with enforceable standards, and fair pay to keep stylists in the industry—not a shortcut that weakens everyone’s future.
Amanda Marie
Cosmetology Guild of Iowa
The regulatory analysis for establishment training was submitted in RMS. This will be published in ARRC on October 15 (when it is first available to the public). There will then be a public hearing on November 4 at 10a.m. It is already on the DIAL public calendar. Considering all comments, we will then draft the Notice of Intended Action and the board will vote on it during the November 17 board meeting. After that is approved and submitted, it will also be published. There is an option to have another public hearing at this time. The board will then vote on the adopted and filed version (hopefully at the February meeting). This then goes before ARRC where the public is able to provide more feedback. ARRC can then approve and it would become part of rules.