Patel v. Tex. Dep't of Licensing & Regulation

Patel v. Tex. Dep't of Licensing & Regulation

Opinion

 [*73]  In this declaratory judgment action several individuals practicing commercial eyebrow threading and the salon owners employing them assert that, as applied to them, Texas's licensing statutes and regulations violate the Texas Constitution's due course of law provision. They claim that most of the 750 hours of training Texas requires for a license to practice commercial eyebrow threading are not related to health and safety or what threaders actually do. The State concedes that over 40% of the required hours are unrelated, but maintains that the licensing requirements are nevertheless constitutional.

The trial court and court of appeals agreed with the State. We do not. We reverse and remand to the trial court for further proceedings.

I. Background

Eyebrow threading is a grooming practice mainly performed in South Asian and Middle [**3]  Eastern communities. It involves the removal of eyebrow hair and shaping of eyebrows with cotton thread. "Threading," as it is most commonly known, is increasingly practiced in Texas on a commercial basis. Threaders tightly wind a single strand of cotton thread, form a loop in it with their fingers, tighten the loop, and then quickly brush the thread along the skin of the client, trapping unwanted hair in the loop and removing it. In 2011, commercial threading became regulated in Texas when the Legislature categorized it as a practice of "cosmetology." See Tex. Occ. Code § 1602.002(a)(8) ("'[C]osmetology' means the practice of performing or offering to perform for compensation . . . [the] remov[al] [of] superfluous hair from a person's body using depilatories, preparations, or tweezing techniques . . . ."). That categorization and its effects underlie this case.

] In order to legally practice cosmetology in Texas a person must hold either a general operator's license or, in certain instances, a more limited but easier-to-obtain esthetician license. Id. § 1602.251(a). Licensing requirements for general operators include completing a minimum of 1,500 hours of instruction in a licensed beauty culture school and passing a state-mandated test. Id. § 1602.254; 16 Tex. Admin. Code § 83.20(a). Requirements [**4]  for an esthetician license include completing a minimum of 750 hours of instruction in an approved training program and passing a state-mandated test. Tex. Occ. Code § 1602.257(b); 16 Tex. Admin. Code § 83.20(b). Commercial eyebrow threaders must have at least an esthetician license. See Tex. Occ. Code §§ 1602.002(a)(8), .257; see also 16 Tex. Admin. Code § 83.10(36).

Full case includes Shepard's, Headnotes, Legal Analytics from Lex Machina, and more.