For over 20 years NJ has not issued a barber liscense. Barbering is a skilled trade that at one time in NJ was open to anyone with the drive and a little creativity. Since 1980 NJ passed a law combining cosmetology and Barbering. This may have seemed like a good idea but, all this did was make barbers obsolete. Pre 1980 if you wanted to cut mens hair you went and took a course of study that rarely cost more than a thousand dollars. After completion of a certain amount of hours you were issued a final exam and issued a Master Barber liscense. This was a key factor because many low income families were granted financial aid, which gave many people a chance to earn a decent wage without doing strenous manual labor. Post 1980's NJ is not the same. If you want to be a barber it will cost you upwards of 11,000 dollars. There is almost no financial aid, all of the schools are privately owned. On top of that all male students must learn how to dress,dye and cut womens hair. Even if you never have plans to work in a salon you are forced to learn, and then tested on your knowledge. Almost all of the states in our nation issue Master Barber Liscenses and offer two options; Barber school or Cosmetology. If NJ changes we can create hundreds of jobs and give people of average to low income a chance to make more than minimum wage!