Massachusetts trims old law, legalizes barber house calls

BOSTON (AP) — It's now legal in Massachusetts for hairdressers to visit someone's home to cut or style their hair before a wedding or other special occasion.

For years, stylists who made house calls had technically been breaking the law. Not that the state had been enforcing it.

But language in one of the "outside sections" included in $39 billion state budget signed Friday made it immediately legal for 75,938 licensed barbers, cosmetologists, hairdressers and manicurists overseen by the state Board of Registration of Cosmetology and Barbering to make house calls.

State Sen. Ryan Fattman wrote the legislation after hearing about the problem from his own barber. The Webster Republican tells The Boston Globe ( ) in age when you can summon a driver on your phone, you should be able to summon a barber.