After more than decade of bickering, New Brunswick’s barbers and cosmetologists are splitting hairs again.
The latest wrinkle is this: Come spring, barbers hope to have legislation introduced that will prevent cosmetologists from employing a red, white and blue pole to solicit business, and will open the door to allow hair dressers to hold dual licences as barbers.
As it stands, the Cosmetology Association of New Brunswick does not allow hair dressers to work in barber shops, but its members still use barber poles to attract customers in need of a new ‘do.
"All we want is fairness for everyone," said Mike Doucet, a barber in Grand Bay-Westfield and the president of the New Brunswick Registered Barbers’ Association. "There are a lot of hair dressers who aren’t able to get enough hours, and then they receive offers from barbers who have a chair open a day or two a week but they can’t take advantage of it. If they work in a barber shop they’ll have their cosmetology licence revoked.
"This is a hard business to make money in, and we want to protect people so they have a choice. If they want to have two licences, they can."
A class war has been brewing in New Brunswick since the Cosmetology Act was established in 1998, and barbers were placed under the supervision of the Cosmetology Association. Barbers have complained they have been treated like second-class citizens since then, and the squabbling has continued even after the barbers’ autonomy was restored when the Registered Barbers Act was enacted in 2007.
Barbers tried to clarify licensing issues and claim ownership of the rights to the barber pole in a private member’s bill that was introduced in 2009, but the legislation died when the house went into recess.
"The reason we want control of the pole is that the Cosmetology Association tried to abolish barbers, and that was a real slap in the face to us," Doucet said. "But despite that, they want to keep their hands on the pole, which is an iconic symbol that has identified barbers for hundreds of years.
"The only reason they want to keep their hands on it is because it represents income to them."
J. Gaye Cail, the executive director of the Cosmetology Association, acknowledged that hair dressers do, indeed want to retain use of the pole for advertising purposes.
"It is still part of what cosmetologists use to identify their business," she said. "But originally, it was used by surgeons. It never had anything to do with barbers."
In existence since medieval times, the colourful poles have been used to identify both barbers and surgeons. In fact, early barbers were called upon to perform surgery and tooth extractions and would be present at the birth of a child to cut the umbilical cord.
In other places, including parts of Asia, barber poles are used to advertise other trades, among them, prostitution. But nobody in New Brunswick is clamouring to retain its usage for that purpose.
"We are not trying to take a copyright on the pole," said Blaine Harris, a Saint John barber who serves as the registrar for the Registered Barbers’s Association. "It is the professional use of it that we want regulated."
For its part, the Cosmetology Association complains that it has been dragged through court by the barbers for three years, costing $80,000 in legal fees.
"The barber’s pole is an icon, but it’s not a trademark," said Douglas Black, the president of the Cosmetology Association of New Brunswick. "What this amounts to is a money grab by the barbers
"I’m sick and tired of it."
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