Gapers Block has ceased publication.

Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
 Thank you for your readership and contributions. 

TODAY

Tuesday, December 3

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In 2001, braiders, twisters and lockticians came under the purview of the state Department of Professional and Financial Regulation. Prior to that, they'd just done their thing; suddenly, they were required to go to cosmetology school and be licensed in techniques they had no interest in practicing. This week, the Reader profiles, among others, Taalib-Din Uqdah, who calls himself a "modern-day abolitionist," and Amazon Smiley, the local "queen of the braiders," as they seek to emancipate themselves from the Illinois Barber, Cosmetology, Esthetics and Nail Technology Act.

 
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