I'm a licensed instructor and education leader for Rudy and Kelly Academy in Virginia Beach. I wanted to share my feedback and thoughts on these changes. 
 
 Firstly I want to say that I went to cosmetology school at Rudy and Kelly Academy back in 2010 and I’m so thankful for the education that I received, so grateful in fact that I ended up coming back to teach and have done so since 2011. I also worked in a salon for 5 years, so I’ve seen and experienced different sides of our industry. I believe that  Reducing it down to 1000 will create undereducated and unprepared stylists going into the industry who will not be confident enough to be behind the chair on their own which will result in many of them apprenticing or shadowing in the salon first which will prohibit their ability to make money to take care of themselves and their families, as well as push back their ability to begin to pay back their student loans if they feel that they have to shadow or apprentice behind the chair for 6 months to a year. This may also lead to under-trained stylists dropping out of our industry as they go into the salon and feel they don't know enough or have had enough practice with guests to make it as a stylist behind the chair.
 
 Cosmetologists are hairstylists first and the majority of salons focus on hair services. Reducing the number of hours of instruction based on hair will make them weaker, less educated, less practiced, less safe, and less confident in themselves coming out of school at only 1000 hours. Skin services such as body treatments, extractions, and the use of machines on the skin are not something that cosmetologists are trained in and are not services that an average stylist working in a salon performs, same goes for shaving on skin with a razor, barbers perform this service. Our cosmetology instructors do not have experience nor are we licensed in esthetics or barbering, this will translate to future graduates not understanding the proper safety procedures and technical skills required to perform these services as this is not what cosmetologists are trained to do. Nail services as well are not common in most hair salons, at most they may perform basic manicures and basic pedicures only if they choose to work in a full-service salon that offers spa services, again most salons focus on hair services.

To fit the curriculum proposed into the 1000 hours, we will need to cut or eliminate many classes focused on hair to fit in the lessons focused on esthetics, nails,  and barbering services. This will make our future professionals weaker in their knowledge and also the practice of their most important skillset which is how to cut, color, and style hair, not to mention we will need to remove lessons that focus on how to build their soft skills such as consultation skills important in ensuring that they can determine what the guests needs are, how to market themselves using social media, how to build their brand, how to manage their guest service and re-booking,/ take hjome sale numbers, how to budget, these will all have to be cut to fit in lessons that they are not coming to hair school for and services they will not be performing in a standard hair salon.

We will also not offer these esthetician and barber services to the public as we are a hair-focused cosmetology school. By adding these services in they will receive fewer hair services throughout their time here which again will weaken their skillset and put people at risk in the salon once they graduate by receiving services from a newly graduated stylist who hasn't had enough hands-on training in the area they will be working on the most as a stylist-hair service.

These changes will also reduce the number of hours they are in the clinic classroom performing services in general as they will need to have more in-class days to teach all of this curriculum, this weakens their skillset, safety, soft skills, and timing efficiency which produces a stylist that will not be successful behind the chair. Other states have moved down to 1000 hours, however, they are using all that time to teach and give their future professionals practice in their chosen field as a cosmetologist, not as an esthetician, or barber. You are proposing that a cosmo will be doing things outside of their licensure, estheticians go to schools with esthetics programs, and barbers go to schools with barber programs, they don't choose to attend a cosmetology school.

We can still prepare our future pros to be successful although it will be a lot harder to do so in such a short amount of time, only if we can teach them hair-related curriculum and basic nail and skin services, they do not need to learn esthetics and they do not need to learn full nail services, nor do they need to learn barbering as the majority of them will become hairstylists working in a hair salon.

Making this change will harm our industry at large. You will create a new generation of stylists who are not prepared properly, they will melt and chemically damage hair, cut themselves and their guests with their scissors from lack of experience, cut holes in haircuts, and not know how to communicate with their guests effectively or build and retain a clientele, have a lack of confidence in themselves as a new stylist, many of them will drop out of the industry and go back to school to learn some other trade, local salons will lose their ability to hire and retain new stylist as we will produce fewer new stylists with this focus on nonhair related curriculum. Chain salons that pushed for this reduction in hours will also not gain the stylists they are hoping for, our future pros and most of Gen Z don't want to work for a corporation or chain, they want to be independent or work for a small privately owned salon ( a mom and pop shop). All of this is to say these changes will not have the outcome you want or it is perceived you are hoping for.

I would like you to reconsider the addition of the esthetics, nails, and barbering curriculum as this is not what a cosmetologist broadly speaking does behind the chair, these belong under a separate license. We are now only getting 1000 hours with them to ensure their success and safety behind the chair, that time needs to be primarily focused on hair-related criteria. 

I appreciate your consideration!