DeKalb beauty professionals express license renewal cost concerns amid COVID-19 pandemic

DeKALB – Dana Baars, owner of Dana’s Day Spa in DeKalb, said it hasn’t been easy keeping her one-woman-show afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Baars, who also is a single mother, said every single dollar matters now more than ever and the money she earns through her business is her only income. She said she would typically work 10 or 12 hour days pre-pandemic but, although business picked up ahead of Valentine’s Day, the week before was pretty slow and being closed for a few months in the beginning of the pandemic has brought along some financial hardships for her.

“It has definitely been a huge struggle,” Baars said. “ ... We’re just doing the best we can with being open now.”

Baars – who holds esthetician, nail technician and massage therapy licenses through the state, each requiring its own sets of continuing education hours requirements – said esthetician licenses are up for renewal this year and she, along with other beauty professionals in DeKalb County, has not heard anything from the state providing any financial relief for license renewal costs. She said the only financial relief opportunity she heard of was the Paycheck Protection Program and the small business loans through the state, though she added she received a PPP loan but personally missed the deadline to apply for the small business loan.

“And I guarantee you that the state, they’re probably not going to offer us anything like that,” Baars said, regarding the possibility of the state waiving license renewal fees.

It costs $50 every two years for beauty professionals to renew their cosmetology and esthetician licenses – which are both up for renewal this year – through the State of Illinois. In addition, they must complete 10 to 14 continuing education hours to keep those specific licenses, though half of those hours can be completed through online classes due to the pandemic, according to state officials.

Shannon Toms, owner of Refuge Salon & Barber Shop in DeKalb, said the set cost of the license itself is pretty easy to budget for, though continuing education costs are a lot more elusive planning-wise. She said most cosmetologists like to get their hours in-person at beauty conventions, but those conventions had been cancelled last year due to the pandemic and likely won’t happen this year for the same reason.

Toms said more classes are being offered online now, which has helped. However, she said, those continuing education classes can vary in price, whether they’re free or part of a promotion from a distributor or $200 per class or more.

“It just depends on what you’re learning or who you’re learning it from,” Toms said.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation is allowing barber, cosmetology, esthetics, hair braiding and nail technology schools to teach up to 50% of its available classes online when, typically, only 10% of those required hours could be from online classes, according to a renewed variance issued Feb. 9. That only applies to current students prior to April 30, 2021, when the variance expires, and, according to the state agency, Debutantes School of Cosmetology in DeKalb and Hair Knowledge University in Cortland are listed as active continuing education course sponsors within DeKalb County.

Chris Slaby, public information officer for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, was not immediately available for additional comment on Monday.

Jane Seymour Levinsky, owner of Studio One Salon in DeKalb, said she thinks it would be a small gesture on the state’s part to waive or discount license renewal fees this time around. On top of that, waiving some continuing education requirements – namely those that are in person – could help people save some money if they didn’t have to pay for transportation and lodging to attend them, she said.

“There’s no communication is the hard part,” Levinsky said. “And I do feel like salon and spa has been hit in a different way than the restaurant industry. We can’t do carry out services, so that makes it a little more of a challenge to bring your revenue back up to what it was before the pandemic.”

Levinsky said license renewals “easily” cost $2,000 for quality education, which is every two years, and the renewal process requires 14 hours of education.

Levinsky said she wanted to underscore that beauty professionals are doing everything they can to protect their clients health-wise, including keeping up with higher sanitation standards. She said the pandemic also has changed priorities for people overall – including whether they want to keep up with dyeing their hair as frequently as they once did – and, as a business, the salon will have to think about all of the people who may not want to do that again.

“We may have to rethink some of the services that we provide,” Levinsky said.

• This story has been updated on Tuesday, Feb. 16 to reflect the correct spelling of Dana Baars’s name and a correction that Baars received a PPP loan but not a small business loan through the state. The Daily Chronicle regrets the error.

• This story has been updated on Tuesday, Feb. 16 to clarify it costs $50 every two years to renew cosmetology and esthetician licenses specifically through the state.