State licensing laws require a person to perform hundreds of hours of training, pay fees and pass a test just to cut, style, wash, braid or do other services with hair in Michigan.

Barbers need 1,800 hours of training, while cosmetologists need 1,500. (State lawmakers apparently value men’s hair more than women’s.) The total number of hours needed to cut hair legally in Michigan is more than the total educational hours required for lawyers.

Prior to 2020, these hours needed to take place in one of Michigan’s few barber colleges. That is, students mostly sat and learned barbering by traveling to a physical college. This law was changed in 2021, and student barbers became free to learn their skills either through college or as an apprentice in a shop under the supervision of a licensed barber. Cosmetologists have a similar apprenticeship-type program.