DILLON, SC (WBTW) – For a lot of us a trip to the barber shop is a bi-weekly, sometimes monthly routine.
However, some local state lawmakers want to make that trip a bit easier.
Representative Pat Henegan, out of Marlboro County, has filed a bill that would allow mobile barber shops in the state.
The idea is that barbers could help people in rural areas, the homeless, or people who just can’t make it to the barbershop. The state would continue to regulate barbers.
“It would be a great service to a community for a barber to go out and take care of haircuts where folks were confined to their homes,” said Patrick Barfield, Owner of Barfield’s Barber Shop in Dillon.
The bill would require the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation to regulate and inspect mobile barbershops, along with charging permit and renewal fees.
“The toughest part is to be able to schedule the appointments,” Barfield mentioned.
The South Carolina Board of Barber Examiners has no policies regarding mobile barbershops as they have not been permitted in this state previously.
Barfield on the other hand doesn’t see it potentially standing in the way business here.
“I can’t see where it hurt anybody like us,” he stated.
The bill is now in a senate committee, after it passed in the house by a 93-5 vote.
One of those five “no” votes came from longtime State Representative Grady brown of Bishopville, who is by profession a barber.
