Hair-braiders -- minority enterprises that cater to the black community without using either chemicals or cutting services -- have been under fire from state regulators in California. Licensed hair-care establishments, some of them black-owned, are using state regulations to challenge the braiding entrepreneurs.

• About 10,000 small hair-braiding companies operate within the United States.

• At an average of $50 per month, braiding is much cheaper for African-Americans than chemical hair-straightening done in licensed beauty salons, which requires a touch-up every four weeks -- leading to an average monthly cost of around $100, excluding cutting and styling.

• California bureaucrats have an interest in stamping out hair-braiders, since the state realized $544 million in 1995 from itinerant cosmetologists who shelled out about $6,000 each for 1,600 hours of training.

Cosmetology training is required in nearly all the 50 states -- a source of state revenue and a way for the cosmetology establishment to limit potential competition.

A lawsuit on the matter is now before a federal court, which denied a California motion to dismiss a case against a hair-braiding establishment in May.