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Hey Reader,

I was recently approached by a company that works within the beauty and barber industry to participate on a data related project. They're trying to answer some relatively simple questions that have never been answered. Well, there are answers. They just feel off.

Here are the two questions:

1. How many active licensed barbers are in the US?
2. How many barbershops are there in the US?

You'd think there'd be an easy way to estimate these answers, but even AI struggles to pull it off. If your prompt is like mine, AI should answer with a footnote that the data is very fragmented and there isn't really a central source of truth.

Vision for better data

Before we even try to answer either of those questions, let’s take a step back and look at the big picture.

Why even ask the question? Who cares?

A Business POV

From the business point of view, companies want to know the total address market. They want to understand potential. If I'm creating a booking app, I want to know how many licensed barbershops are in the US so I can track my market share. Divide the number of barbershops using your booking app by the total number of barbershops in the US, you get your market share. Is it 5% of the market? Is it 10% of the market? Investors care about that number to measure how much revenue potential there is within that market.

Any company within the barber industry that is looking to sell a service or a product to barbers or barbershops is surely presenting the total addressable market within their presentations to investors. From the business point of view, they benefit from answering these questions.

A Political POV

From the government or political point of view, the beauty and barber industry represents a very large population. If there were certain bills or legislation being proposed that would either hurt or help the industry, it'd make sense for a politician to seek the 'beauty and barber vote'. They'd surely benefit from being able to gather support of whatever agendas they’re pursuing. We've seen this happen recently with different bills that could affect student loans within beauty schools. From the political point of view, they benefit from answering these questions.

A Barber POV

From the licensed professional point of view, it can provide a connection to the larger community. Depending on how the community engages with each other, it could deliver national or local benchmarks that might provide insights for your business.

There are a lot of myths out there that could easily be snuffed out or fact checked with access to real stats from the active licensed population. The engagement of that population could make it even more significant so long as the community actually engaged by answering surveys, sharing opinions and taking action. That would be a very powerful network.

Think about the professionals clientele and existing network, if they were to rally they could make massive waves within communities, counties etc. The rolodex of beauty professionals is significant and at our best, we’re leaders within our communities that can lead towards significant change. We all know how significant the black barbershop to rally and build momentum during the civil rights movement.

The Problem

We're fragmented. Every state is governed by a different state board. Some govern both barbers and cosmetologists, others have separate boards for each. Each has different license requirements and even name them different things. Some are 'master barbers' others are 'barbers' some have 'barber instructors' others have 'restricted barbers'. Some count 'establishments' others count 'appearance enhancement businesses' while others count 'cosmetology salons'.

It's a mess. To answer the question, you'd have to go to each state board website and treasure hunt for their data lists. (This isn't easy to do btw). If you're lucky enough to find it, you download the lists and keep a central list to keep track of all 50 states.

The Future

Spoiler alert. Yes, I have started this work to answer those 2 questions. If you've been following my work, this should come as no surprise. I've been researching and studying data within the barber industry for the last 6 years and am always up for a challenge.

Here's my question though.

What value (if any) do you see in having the answer to those 2 questions?

1. Number of active licensed barbers
2. Number of active barbershops

Does it mean anything to you? Why or why not?

This is one of those newsletters where I'd really love your reply. Please reply and let me know what you think.

Best,

doza.

P.S. If you've read this far, I appreciate you. You're a real one.

Written by: Matthew Mendoza​​
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