Painted pole at Winchester salon polarizes shop owner, state

Sarah Lounder is seen outside her shop, Cuts on Main, in downtown Winchester Wednesday. She is next to the painted bricks that have resulted in a fine from the state’s Board of Barbering, Cosmetology, and Esthetics, on the grounds that they appropriate the sign of barbers to advertise. Lounder says the bricks predate her occupancy of the building, which she doesn’t own.

By Isaac Stein Sentinel Staff

 

WINCHESTER — There’s an ongoing conflict here that’s small in dollars and size, but pits a local business owner against the state of New Hampshire. The dispute is over some bricks on the outside of a hair salon. They’re painted red, white and blue — the colors of a barber’s pole.

But the state — specifically, the Board of Barbering, Cosmetology, and Esthetics, which is an arm of the N.H. Office of Professional Licensure and Certification — takes issue with the idea that a licensed cosmetologist has those painted bricks outside her shop.

Their claim? That she’s appropriating the sign of barbers to advertise, which is misleading, as barbering requires its own certification.

Sarah Lounder, who owns Cuts on Main at 128 Main St., says the bricks are “not deceitful, and not willfully misleading,” and that she doesn’t own the building. She added that the paint predates her occupancy, and that the previous business in the space was a barbershop, but said she doesn’t know whether the barber applied the paint.

He did, however, have a physical barber’s pole, which Lounder said he took with him when she moved in.

To back its argument with respect to the paint, the board points to Bar 302.05 of its organizational rules, which states that “if a licensee chooses to advertise, the licensee shall not advertise or solicit clients in any form of communication in a manner that is false or misleading.”

For the paint, the board gave Lounder a three-point fine after its February inspection of Cuts on Main, according to Kathryn Wantuck, the board’s executive director.

That translates to $3.

However, as per state statute, the board is entitled to assess a range of penalties upon licencees for offenses that include “failure to observe the requirements of any rule adopted by the board.”

Sanctions can include warnings, license suspensions or revocations, or administrative fines of up to $500 per offense.

Wantuck explained that the board — whose website indicates it has six members— oversees roughly 2,000 establishments, all of them inspected on a regular basis.

Lounder, of Warwick, Mass., said she isn’t concerned about the dollar amount of the fine. But, she said, enforcing such rules “is just so silly,” and discourages people from starting businesses in New Hampshire.

“People don’t know or care about the (legal distinction between) barbers and cosmetologists; they just want a haircut,” Lounder said.

Among other distinctions, barbers are allowed to use straight razors without guards, while cosmetologists are not, according to Lounder, who has been in business in Winchester since last June.

New Hampshire law defines barbering as shaving or trimming the beard or cutting the hair; giving facial or scalp massages or treatment with oils, creams, lotions or other preparations, either by hand or mechanical appliances; or shampooing, arranging, dressing or styling the hair.

Cosmetology is a bit different. That means arranging, dressing, curling, waving, cleansing, cutting, bleaching, coloring or similarly treating the hair of any person, and performing other work customarily done by a cosmetologist, such as giving facials, manicures, pedicures and artificial nail enhancements, applying makeup or eyelashes and removing superfluous hair, according to the statute.

Both are licensed professionals who can cut hair.

In an email to Lounder dated Tuesday, Wantuck addressed the specific point about the exterior paint “not (being) a barber pole in the traditional sense,” but said the board voted and decided it was still misleading.

A quick web search shows that the sign barbers use to identify themselves has evolved over time.

Since the medieval period, the barber’s pole has been used to identify those in the hair-cutting trade, though the precise colors varied by place and the services offered, according to a 2013 article in the U.K. edition of “The Huffington Post.”

The article reports that “the pole’s red and white stripes represent the bloodied bandages,” back when barbers were also sometimes the go-to surgeons in town.

Conversely, the report notes that red, white, and blue barbers’ poles in the U.S. might “have more to do with the colours of the nation’s flag than anything else.”

In any case, it appears the parties in the Winchester dispute are at an impasse.

Wantuck said Lounder has not been given a date for when she must comply with the board’s notice about the painted bricks. While the point penalty could be reassessed, she added that the board could decide on a new penalty if Lounder declines to comply with its direction to remove the paint.

For her part, Lounder said she’d “rather not paint it over.”

Isaac Stein can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1435, or Istein@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @ISteinKS

 

Can it get any sillier in NH ?  What's next, does the owner of the building sue her for defacing his property if she complies with this mandate ?  This all seems a bit suspect ..