The strangest thing I read today: Hairdresser laws in the Outaouais

Saw this on David Karp’s Blog :

 In the
 [
  Outaouais region
 ](http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/regions/profils/region_07/region_07_00_an.htm)
 (the Quebec portion of Greater Ottawa), central planners
 [
  have been controlling hair cuts
 ](http://www2.publicationsduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/dynamicSearch/telecharge.php?type=2&file=//D_2/D2R4_A.htm)
 : who you can get them from, the minimum price hairdressers can charge, and what hours they can work. According to
 [
  an article in Le Droit
 ](http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-droit/actualites/gatineau-outaouais/201101/06/01-4357835-un-decret-des-annees-1930-qui-en-decoiffe-plus-dun.php)
 , it's a depression-era practice that was repealed decades ago everywhere else in Quebec, but for some reason still exists in the Outaouais area.
   

   

 
 
 This law is stupid. It's not good for customers. Licences might make sense — one would want their hairdresser to practice proper hygiene — but
 [
  there is nothing stopping an electrician from getting a hairdressing licence
 ](http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/regions/profils/region_07/region_07_00_an.htm)
 , the bureaucrat in charge of the hairdressing rules notes. And why outlaw haircuts before 8:30 in the morning or on Sundays? Some people working long hours might want to grab a haircut before they head to work (which would explain why the barber shop near my office tower opens at 7).

 [
  Read the entire post...
 ](http://dmkarp.blogspot.com/2011/01/hairdressing-is-also-way-too-socialist.html)

[
](http://dmkarp.blogspot.com/2011/01/hairdressing-is-also-way-too-socialist.html)

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** Related: ** Ottawa Beauty Guide