⚠️This fact has been debunked
Extensive search found no legislative records, bill numbers, or Louisiana statutes confirming this law. It appears only in 'strange laws' lists that circulate online. Research shows most such 'dumb laws' are fictitious urban legends rather than actual legislation.
In Louisiana, a bill was introduced years ago in the State House of Representatives that fixed a ceiling on haircuts for bald men of 25 cents.
The Louisiana Bald Man Haircut Law That Never Existed
If you've spent any time browsing "weird laws" lists online, you've probably encountered this gem: Louisiana supposedly passed a bill capping haircuts for bald men at 25 cents. It sounds absurd enough to be true, right? The kind of legislative overreach that makes you wonder what our lawmakers were thinking.
There's just one problem: this law never existed.
The Dumb Laws Industrial Complex
The internet is littered with lists of bizarre state laws—everything from "It's illegal to whistle underwater in Vermont" to "You can't tie a giraffe to a telephone pole in Atlanta." These collections get shared endlessly on social media, featured in trivia books, and cited as evidence of government stupidity.
But here's the thing: most of them are completely made up.
Researchers who've actually dug into state legislative archives have found that the vast majority of these "dumb laws" have no basis in reality. No bill numbers. No statute references. Not even a historical mention in legislative records. They're pure fiction that gets copy-pasted from one clickbait list to another.
Why This One's Especially Fishy
The Louisiana bald man haircut law checks all the boxes of a fake law. It's oddly specific (25 cents!), it makes no practical sense (how would you even enforce this?), and most tellingly: nobody can produce the actual bill.
If this law existed, we'd expect to find:
- A Louisiana House bill number from the session when it was introduced
- References in state barber licensing regulations
- News coverage from when it passed (because this would've been hilarious)
- Records of enforcement or legal challenges
None of these exist. What does exist is the claim appearing verbatim on dozens of "strange laws" websites, all citing each other in a circular reference loop that goes nowhere.
The Real Story: Where Fake Laws Come From
So how do these myths start? Sometimes they're misinterpretations of real laws—an old statute gets twisted through retellings until it becomes unrecognizable. Other times they're proposed bills that never passed, or even satirical jokes that people mistook for reality.
And sometimes? People just make them up because weird laws get clicks.
Louisiana does have its share of actual quirky regulations, mostly outdated laws still on the books from earlier eras. But the 25-cent bald haircut ceiling isn't one of them. It's a reminder that just because something appears on multiple websites doesn't make it true—especially when not one of those sites can point to an actual source.
Next time you see a "dumb law" list, ask yourself: where's the bill number? If there isn't one, you're probably reading fiction.