Is your dream job to become a cosmetologist? Or a commercial pilot?
Would it surprise you to hear it takes more hours to get your license to style hair than it does to get a license to fly a commercial airplane?
That’s right–even if you just want to braid hair, not using a single chemical, pair of scissors, or hair dye. Just the tying of hair into braids.
According to the FAA, all you need is 1500 hours of flight experience, and you can take the Federal Aviation Administration‘s (FAA)
ATPL Practical Test on the road to obtaining an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate (ATP).
To become a cosmetologist? Would you believe you need 2,000 hours?
That’s right. To fly airplanes with people on them requires fewer hours of practice than the state requires before you braid hair.
Related articles
- Big Hair’s House of Cards: It’s about money, not the public interest. (publiusonline.com)
- Big Hair Strikes Back: Utah’s Hair Braiding Regulations Fail the Laugh Test. (publiusonline.com)
About Daniel Burton
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We all know that if you go down in a plane crash, you’re most likely going to die. However, if you get a bad haircut or dye, well then you have weeks, maybe months of embarrassment to deal with while your hair grows back to a manageable length to get it re-cut and styled. And most likely, a picture will be taken of you during that horrible hair time, which will only add to your embarrassment and push it into further decades. I mean, what if the picture makes it to Facebook? You’ll never live it down. So much better to just die in a plane crash… AND, for the record, they learn more than just hair at Cosmetology School. Nail painting and such, I think.
In all seriousness though, vanity often beats out personal safety. Consider all the people willing to undergo un-needed plastic surgery, permanent make-up tattooing, the use of chemicals to enhance eyelashes, diminish wrinkles, etc. I would speculate that American women on average spend more a year on beauty products, make-up, manicures/pedicures, fake nails, hair styling, tanning, etc. etc. than they do on airline tickets. Right or wrong, this is one of the reasons why it takes more hours to become a Cosmetologist, than a Commercial Airline Pilot.
Once again though, I think that the main people getting juked here are the Cosmetologists paying for this expensive, long education. I’m pretty sure that most Cosmetologists make less income over their lifetimes than Commercial Airline Pilots do. I would say it’s cause they’re all blondes that they’ve gotten themselves into this predicament… but really most of them are brunettes with a great hair dye. 😉
Feel free to share this with all of your “blond” and “brunette” friends on FB.
When I first read this post, I honestly thought the headline was “cosmologists” vs. commercial pilots. I would have thought it natural that the study of the structure of the universe took more time than learning how to fly an airplane.
In which case…yes. I suspect cosmologists require many more hours than commercial pilots…and why are we regulating cosmology and the study of the universe anyway? 😉