If you’re a barber—or thinking about becoming one—you’re likely running through a list of burning questions about this career choice. 

Is it profitable? Does this career have longevity? How much of an investment is this career choice? What do I need to make sure I’m doing this right?

And at some point on this list of frequently asked questions, you’ll get to one of the most common—do barbers need insurance to cut hair?

The question might sound complicated—because it all depends on how you, as a barber, define the word “need.”

• Does need mean “required by law”?
• Does need mean “necessary to rent or own a shop space?” 
• Or does need simply mean “crucial for running a successful, protected business?”

We’ve got news for you, barbers—need can actually mean all of these things in all of these contexts depending on where you work, how you work, and what you’re planning to do with your career.

So, the short answer to the question “does a barber need insurance to cut hair?” is yes. 

But at NAOB, we don’t really do the whole wham-bam, one-and-done short answer thing—especially when it comes to important information that barbers need to succeed. 

That’s why we’ve put together this little guide to help you better understand why insurance is so crucial to the health and wellness of your career—and maybe even required in some circumstances, too!

Do Barbers Need Insurance to Cut Hair?

Again, the short answer is yes. Barbers need insurance to cut hair—but it might be for a number of reasons. Here are a few specific circumstances that sometimes surround that YES answer to this frequently asked question. 

Sometimes It’s Required by Law

We’re not going to go out on a limb and scare you into insurance by saying “you’re always required by law to have professional barbering insurance.” That might sell more insurance, but it’s definitely not always true.

The fact of the matter is, whether or not you’re required by law to obtain insurance to cut hair is going to depend on the region, city, county, or state that you’re operating in. It will also depend on the type of service you offer. This means the rules might be different if you’re a barber working in a traditional shop or you’re a freelance barber working out of a mobile unit. 

The only way you can know for sure is to check—do the research necessary to figure out whether or not you’re legally obligated or required to have insurance. Otherwise, the consequences could be far more serious than just limited coverage. If something bad happens, it’s possible that your license could come under review.

Your Landlord Might Require It 

Let’s say you’re on the hunt to rent a salon, shop, suite, or booth. You’ve got all your necessary licenses and requirements but you don’t have insurance. This could end up being a big dealbreaker for landlords. 

Why? Because not only do they want to know that their tenants are responsible enough to plan for any eventuality, but they also could be left to deal with the fallout if something bad ever happened while you were renting from them. 

Yes, this matters to landlords—even if they offer their own type of insurance that you might fall under. But even so, that shouldn’t be the only insurance you rely on. Remember, insurance is like an umbrella in a rainstorm—the person holding it is going to have the most protection, everyone on the outskirts of the umbrella is more likely to get wet. 

You get the metaphor, right? If you have your own barber liability insurance (professional, general, product, and beyond), you get to hold your own umbrella—that means you get the most protection possible when the bad weather hits.

It Might Be Necessary to Purchase Property 

Again, we’re not going to sit here and say every person or company selling commercial property is going to without-question demand that you have barber liability insurance to purchase their space. But it is far more likely they’re going to care than the odds that they aren’t. 

If you want to own the building you run your shop out of, it might be more than necessary to obtain barbering insurance to even get the acquisition ball rolling.

The Success of Your Business Depends on It 

Now, we’re talking about “need” in the sense that you absolutely, 100% must have barbering insurance if you have grand plans of running a successful barbering business. 

No, you might not be required and no it might not be an obligation to rent the space you want but it is without a doubt the most necessary investment you can make into your barbering longevity and the success of your career.

Why? Because barbering liability insurance—and all that comes with it—is a safety net. 

You might never need it, you might never stumble and fall into it, and you might wish (at some point in time) it wasn’t there—but the fact of the matter is, if you ever did need it, it’s going to catch you. That means you’ll have support, financial coverage, and more to ensure that if something does hit the skids (actually or allegedly) you’re going to be taken care of.

We hope this article helped you out a bit with answering one of the most frequently asked questions about barbering careers. Remember, when someone wonders “do barbers need insurance to cut hair?”—the answer is an absolute yes for the reasons we mentioned above (and more).