LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — Michigan is taking a little off the top—of barber training hours—in a bid to make it easier to enter the trade.

A new proposal from Rep. Parker Fairbairn (R–Harbor Springs) would cut Michigan’s 1,800-hour barber training requirement down to 1,500 hours, putting the state in line with most of the country and easing one of the steepest licensing hurdles in the Midwest.

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Michigan currently ranks as the 6th most burdensome state for barber licensing, according to the Institute for Justice—a gap Fairbairn argues is hurting both barbers and the schools that train them.

“We’ve found so many rules and restrictive requirements that are hamstringing Michigan,” Fairbairn said, who called the bill part of a broader House Republican effort to roll back unnecessary regulations. “Michigan requires about 300 more hours of training than most other states to become a barber—and barbers and the schools that train them have told us that it isn’t necessary.”

The bill would also require barber colleges to restructure their programs accordingly, shifting to 225 hours of classroom instruction and 1,275 hours of hands-on work. Apprenticeships would follow the same 1,500-hour benchmark.

Other rules, such as allowing up to 1,000 hours of cosmetology instruction to count toward training, would remain intact.

The legislation cleared the House Economic Competitiveness Committee and now sits before the Rules Committee for further consideration. State analysts say the bill carries no fiscal impact for state or local governments.