In a milestone reshaping the foundation of cosmetology education in the United States, Washington, Vermont, and Maine have joined five other states —California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Minnesota, and New York—to pass legislation that mandates education on textured hair in all cosmetology schools. The move, backed by a powerful coalition known as the Texture Education Collective (TEC), founded by executives from Aveda, DevaCurl, L’Oréal USA, and Neill Corporation, under the Professional Beauty Association (PBA), signals a tectonic shift in how beauty education, licensing, and professionalism will be defined in the years to come.
At its heart, this is just as much a reckoning as it is a curriculum change. With 65% of the US population possessing some form of textured hair, according to internal research cited by TEC, the longstanding exclusion of textured hair from core education has exposed a deep fissure in the industry. A fissure, TEC believes, that must be sealed with urgency, intentionality, and equity.
“We often reference the statistic that 65% of the US population has some form of textured hair—curly, coily, or wavy,” said Erica Roberson-Peters, Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at L’Oréal’s Professional Products Division (PPD), to BeautyMatter. “And yet, many stylists across our country aren't equipped with the skills to service textured hair. That all stems from not being trained in cosmetology schools.”
From Deficit to Demand: Why This Matters
The implications of this gap are not simply cosmetic. They’re deeply personal, often traumatic, and directly tied to consumer trust, business viability, and professional integrity. “We’ve heard stories where out of 1,500 hours in cosmetology school, only two hours were devoted to textured hair, and even then, the focus was on straightening, relaxing, or pressing,” Roberson-Peters said. “True inclusivity means understanding the full spectrum of how textured hair can be worn, cared for, and celebrated,” she added.
As consumer behavior evolves and more clients embrace their natural textures, the demand for capable and confident professionals has grown exponentially. However, until recently, formal education lagged behind, failing to equip future stylists with the skill sets that modern clients not only expect, but deserve. “Our goal is simple,” Shawn Stearns, Education Lead for L’Oréal PPD’s Schools Division, told BeautyMatter. “We want every professional to be able to take care of any guest that sits in their chair—whether their hair is straight, wavy, curly, or coily.”
While textured hair is technically included in many existing state curricula, Stearns explained that the coverage is often superficial. That is, an isolated lesson, a single chapter, or a mannequin that may never appear again. This has cascading consequences. At many schools, clients with textured hair often request stylists with similar hair types due to past trauma, and administrators accommodate this request for comfort and expediency. “It helps in the moment,” said Stearns, “but what happens is we end up graduating cohorts of stylists who have no real experience with certain hair textures.”
To counter this, L’Oréal and its partners engineered a 360-degree curriculum that goes beyond theoretical instruction. The approach includes hands-on mannequin training with different curl patterns; lesson plans customized for textured haircare across cutting, coloring, and styling; marketing strategies to attract clients with textured hair to student clinics; and support for instructors, many of whom may lack expertise in this area. The curriculum has already reached over 150 schools nationwide, with widespread enthusiasm. “We’ve seen a dramatic uptick in instructors’ confidence and students’ readiness,” said Stearns. “It’s no longer about patching gaps later—it’s about preventing them from the start.”
Legislation as a Lever: If It’s Not Tested, It’s Not Taught
Much of TEC’s advocacy is grounded in one truth: testing drives teaching. “If something isn’t on the licensing exam, it often doesn’t get taught seriously,” Stearns noted. By embedding textured hair education into state board licensing exams, the laws in Washington, Vermont, and Maine—and their predecessors—guarantee that students must engage deeply with these topics, not skim the surface.
Also while some may see legislative mandates as restrictive, TEC sees them as enabling. “This isn’t about forcing schools’ hands,” said Stearns. “It’s about giving them the resources they’ve never had access to and taking the pressure off instructors who may not be experts themselves.”
TEC, formed in 2023, is a joint initiative between groups like L’Oréal, the Professional Beauty Association, and other key industry stakeholders. It was created to unify efforts across a fragmented regulatory landscape, where each state governs its own licensing structure. “We believe there’s power in coming together as an industry to advocate for changes that are long overdue,” Roberson-Peters explained. “L’Oréal has been embedding inclusivity into the beauty industry for over 20 years. TEC is just the next evolution of that mission,” she said. From grassroots education to legislative advocacy, TEC’s role is strategic and symbolic and is sending a clear message that beauty is incomplete without inclusivity.
For luxury salons, brands, and training institutions, this wave of legislation has direct business implications. Roberson-Peters emphasized that the initiative isn’t just about social justice but also about economic opportunity. “Stylists who expand their skill sets to include textured hair gain access to a much broader clientele,” she said. “It’s a business growth strategy as much as it is a DEI one.”
Luxury beauty brands, many of which pride themselves on holistic care, must now rethink both their training programs and brand narratives. In the era of social media, clients are becoming increasingly transparent about their salon experiences, both good and bad. Exclusion has become a silent offense and also a viral indictment.
Challenges Along the Way
Despite broad support, Stearns acknowledged that scaling the curriculum across diverse geographies and school systems posed logistical challenges. “We had to ask: How do we get this into the hands of every cosmetology school in the country?” he recalled. “Time, resources, and reach were our biggest hurdles, but with digital tools and strategic partnerships, we’re breaking through.”
Fortunately, resistance was minimal, thanks in large part to L’Oréal’s longstanding commitment and internal alignment. “When I proposed a specialized curriculum for schools, the answer I got was ‘yes, yes, yes, and yes,’” Stearns said. “That level of buy-in is rare.”
Also, these legislative victories arrive at a time when DEI programs across industries are facing political scrutiny. Yet, Roberson-Peters and her team remain undeterred. “Creating ‘beauty that moves the world’ is our mission, and that includes every texture, every identity, every story,” she said. “We’ll always work to identify gaps, build bridges, and make room for everyone.”
Ultimately, TEC’s vision goes far beyond state compliance. “We want consumers across the country to feel welcomed, seen, and celebrated when they walk into any salon,” Roberson-Peters said. “And we want stylists to feel empowered to serve any client confidently, competently, and with care.” For the luxury beauty sector, long seen as a standard of taste and talent, this movement is both a call to action and an invitation to evolve, to lead, and to redefine what excellence truly looks like in the modern salon.
