Petition · Oregon Board of Cosmetology

Teach every skin and every texture

We are calling on the Oregon Board of Cosmetology to require melanin rich skin and textured hair education in every beauty school in Oregon, and to make hands-on work with both a requirement to graduate.

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Our call to action

Oregon's beauty students are trained to serve a public that includes Black and brown clients, yet too many graduate without ever having worked on coily, curly or kinky textures, or on melanin rich skin. Clients feel it in the chair: burns, hyperpigmentation, missed consultations, and services that were never designed for them. The fix is training, and licensing standards that make it non-negotiable.

1. Add it to the required curriculumEvery Oregon beauty school program, including esthetics, cosmetology and hair design, must teach melanin rich skin and textured hair as core content, not an elective or a single guest lecture.
2. No graduation without hands-on practiceBefore a student completes the program, they must document services performed on clients with textured hair and clients with melanin rich skin, under instructor supervision.
3. Built on cultural intelligenceThe curriculum includes a cultural intelligence framework: understanding history, bias, communication and consent, so skill and respect go together.
4. Led by those with the expertiseThe material is developed and taught with practitioners who have real professional and lived expertise in textured hair and melanin rich skin, so it fills what has been missing instead of becoming a marketing label.
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    Who is behind this

    Beauty University PDX is led by Ms. Hood, a licensed esthetics educator in Oregon, and taught in person by women of color who specialize in the services they teach. Meet the trainings · School Partnership