Gov. Mark Sanford added another twist Monday to a legal tangle over hair braiding he hopes to soon resolve.

The governor vetoed a bill that would require 60 hours of training to acquire braiding certification. He said the bill would be intrusive, the training excessive and the effect detrimental to small businesses, particularly in resort communities like Hilton Head Island.

By nixing the bill, Sanford allowed a recent decision by the state cosmetology board to stand, at least for now. The decision requires hair braiders to complete far more training -- 1,500 hours -- before gaining certification. But Sanford said he exercised his veto with the understanding that Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, would introduce new legislation when the General Assembly convenes in January. It would eliminate any state-mandated hair-braiding curriculum.

"If you can be trained for carrying a concealed weapon in eight hours, you shouldn't need 60 hours for a hair-braiding license," Will Folks, the governor's spokesman, said Monday evening. "We happen to believe the correct number is zero."

The governor said in a statement he thinks the bill was created by cosmetologists to hurt hair-braiding competitors, not to ensure safe and sanitary practices. The statement describes the bill using adjectives including absurd and ridiculous and the phrase "over-regulatory nonsense."

Sanford also criticized the cosmetology group for having the bill "bobtailed" to another intended to allow consumers to more easily transfer prescriptions. Rep. Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach, said he would refile the pharmacy bill, which Sanford supports.

The governor, with Cobb-Hunter and Clemmons standing by him, opened his Myrtle Beach news conference with a clip from "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart, Comedy Central's Emmy-winning mock newscast. In May the show visited Hilton Head and filmed a "newscast" about the situation.

"We're going to explore the dangers of outlaw hair braiding," Samantha Bee, one of the show's "correspondents," said at the time, "really focusing on renegade hair braiders terrorizing this quiet beach community."

The broadcast included an interview (involving a strategically placed wig) with islander Eileen Harrell, owner of Funky Beach Surf and Streetware. Harrell's shop is one of several Hilton Head businesses that offer hair-braiding services.

She said she actually wished the governor had signed the bill -- and then immediately worked to overturn it.

The bill would have given hair braiders a year before having to acquire a new license, allowing her to remain open through the spring and summer. Now, she said, she'll have to hope the General Assembly passes a new bill before March, when visitors begin asking for hair braiding.