By RACHEL MIPRO
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — The day before lawmakers voted to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors, citing child safety, they also voted to deregulate sugaring practices — doing away with regulations for people who come into contact with both adults and minors’ pubic areas.
Sugaring is a hair removal technique that uses pastes instead of chemicals or waxes. Senate Bill 434 would exclude sugaring from the list of practices regulated by the Kansas Board of Cosmetology. The bill landed on the governor’s desk following a 38-1 vote in the Senate and a 71-52 vote in the House.
Opponents of the bill argue safety and sanitation measures tested in the licensing process should not be skipped. Sugaring in many cases is used for pubic hair removal. Rep. Jo Ella Hoye, a Lenexa Democrat, pointed out the potential health and safety hazards deregulation would bring.
“In Kansas, we do not have any age requirements or any parental consent to be able to have waxing services,” Hoye said during Monday’s House debate. “… You’re getting a Brazilian sugaring process done, you’re going to have genitalia exposed on a surface. … If that is not properly cleaned up, you can have risks of sexually transmitted infections and a lot of other serious public health spreading of infectious diseases.”
Supporters of the bill argue that sugaring makes up less than 1% of cosmetology curriculum and is not tested during the examination for a cosmetology license, subjecting practitioners to unnecessary regulations.
Rep. Barb Wasinger, a Hays Republican, argued current regulations are hurting one of her constituents, a mother who wants to start her own sugaring business. Wasinger said Bryn Green, the prospective business owner, didn’t have the time or money to go to cosmetology school.
“The Board of Cosmetology is preventing her from supporting her family and creating a business that gives her the freedom to raise her son with a flexible lifestyle,” Wasinger said in March 6 testimony.
Prospective cosmetologists learn disinfection and sanitation, as well as what to do in cases of bleeding. Michelle Legg, a licensed Olathe cosmetologist, said she was scared by the thought of deregulation.
Legg pointed out that state licensure comes with background checks. Convicted felons currently have to go through an oversight process conducted by the Board of Cosmetology to prove fitness for the business, which wouldn’t happen under SB 434.
“There will be no one to ensure that service providers are not double dipping or reusing implements without proper disinfection, which is a great way to spread infection and STDs,” Legg said in March 6 testimony against the bill. “There will be no one to ensure that someone that is on the offender registry doesn’t set up a shop and start offering intimate sugaring services to the general public.”
Leticia Martinez, another licensed cosmetologist opposing the bill, brought up a sugaring procedure she did in February, in which the client had dehydrated skin and started to bleed. Using her training, she was able to safely clean up with a state-mandated blood spill kit.
“Without the proper knowledge of disinfection and sanitation, you could easily infect the public with ringworm, herpes, hepatitis, AIDS and now we have Covid-19,” Martinez said. “In this world today new diseases are popping up. This type of contamination could kill someone. Why is the community’s well-being not worth one year of education and a state licensing test?”