The beauty industry has joined with restaurants in suing Governor Gavin Newsom in an effort to to compel the immediate and permanent reopening of their businesses.

High-profile Los Angeles attorney Mark Geragos is their lead counsel.

“What has become obvious is that the Governor and so called health officials never followed ‘science or data’ on closing down outdoor dining or capricious lockdowns of safe barbershops and beauty salons,” said Geragos in a statement. “Instead of following the science they followed the lobbyists and allowed film companies to utilize hairstylists and makeup artists, while preventing the same services to be done in salons by the very same trained professionals.”

The Professional Beauty Federation of California says that 10 months into the lockdowns, the state has failed to produce any “data and science” justifying restrictions on personal care services.

GV Wire℠ asked a PBFC representative if the recent lifting of California’s stay at home order was enough for them to drop their lawsuit. The answer, in short, was no.

“We want an authoritative, precedent-setting ruling from a high enough court to prevent these unjustified lockdowns from ever being imposed upon our safe salons again,” said PBFC attorney Fred Jones.

‘Go-To Sacrificial Lambs’

“Our small businesses, less financed and politically connected than multi-national corporations, Hollywood and other so-called ‘essential businesses’, have become the go-to sacrificial lambs to the COVID Gods.”–PBFC Counsel Fred Jones

The PBFC says the majority of their industry is made-up of women-owned and operated establishments, including a large percentage of first generation immigrants and those from the LGBT community.

“Our small businesses, less financed and politically connected than multi-national corporations, Hollywood and other so-called ‘essential businesses’, have become the go-to sacrificial lambs to the COVID Gods”, says Jones. “This has been ruinous for thousands of our establishments and the livelihood of tens of thousands, without any justifiable basis.”

According to the PBFC, California has 620,000 hair, skin and nails licensed professionals and 53,000 licensed barbering and beauty establishments.

Cutting Hair a Criminal Act

PBFC President Ted Nelson says Newsom is destroying the livelihoods of state-licensed professionals.

“Cutting hair is a criminal act in only one State in the Union,” says Nelson. “(They have) the formal education and training to keep their clientele safe from infections, as the CDC has acknowledged,” Nelson said.

Copy of the Lawsuit