Female barber? Stylist? What to call the ladies of the industry.

Let’s get into it! There’s a lot of confusion regarding our titles and their separation in the hair industry but it just boils down to licensing.

At Ritual Grooming we are mainly divided into two categories: Barber and Master Barber. There really is no difference in licensing based on gender. Barbers are mainly differentiated in licensing for the use of straight razors. Cosmetologist is another form of licensing which involves waxing and chemical usage such as coloring, perming and relaxing the hair which barbers are not licensed for. On the other hand cosmetologists are not licensed for the use of a straight razor. A master barber, however, is licensed for straight razor usage as well as chemicals and waxing, basically a combination of the 2 licenses. All 3 professions are trained in client safety, hair cutting/styling and sanitation/disinfection among many other things. Another common misconception is whether a shop is a salon or a barbershop.

I myself have been asked about my “salon” many times before when in reality my business is licensed as a barbershop. This also boils down to licensing and can get a bit confusing. If a space has predominantly cosmetologists operating in it then it’ll likely be licensed as a salon, same thing going for barbershops. But barbers can work in salons and cosmetologists can work in barbershops, in a lot of ways they can overlap. Best thing to do is just go off of the business name, most barbershops or salons will have it in the name!

Some women in the industry like to go by “lady barber” or “female barber” which is totally cool. Us at Ritual Grooming prefer to be called a barber or master barber because we see no difference in gender when it comes to our profession. A common saying in the shop: We cut hair with our hands, not our genitals.

Have an awesome weekend!