Start a beauty business. Get the licensing right, state by state.

Start with Texas or Florida

Texas is our launch state because one regulator, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, covers hair, barbering, esthetics, nails and lashes under a single code chapter. One state's research done properly compounds across five business types. Florida is live now too, under its two DBPR boards, with specialist registrations for the shorter trades and no standalone lash license. California is live now too, under its Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, county body art permits and voluntary massage certification. Georgia is live now too, under its combined State Board of Cosmetology and Barbers, with the longest training hours in the researched set and county body art permits for microblading. North Carolina is live now too, under two boards, the Cosmetic Art Examiners and the Barber and Electrolysis Examiners, with posted sanitation grades in every shop and a $200 LLC annual report. Arizona is live now too, under its merged Barbering and Cosmetology Board, with a registered eyelash technician credential and massage licensure at 700 hours. New York is live now too, licensed through the Department of State on four year terms, with the LLC newspaper publication rule and the highest massage requirement in the researched set at 1,000 hours. Pennsylvania is live now too, with cosmetology at 1,250 hours, braiding deregulated in 2024, and a state rule against booth rental that shapes every suite plan. Illinois is live now too, under one regulator, IDFPR, with licensed hair braiders at 300 hours and a Chicago business license layer on top of the state stack. Ohio is live now too, with the longest barber course in the researched set at 1,800 hours, a formal independent contractor license for renters, and workers compensation bought from the state itself. Michigan is live now too, where braiding needs no license at all, nails and esthetics training hours stepped up in 2024, and establishment licenses void on transfer. New Jersey is live now too, with a mini-suite shop license built for suite operators, braiders licensed at 40 to 50 hours, and massage and tattooing taxed while haircuts are not. Virginia is live now too, after cutting cosmetology to 1,000 hours and barbering to 750 in December 2025, with braiding outside the license entirely. Washington is live now too, where every booth renter holds their own location license and services pay a gross receipts tax instead of a sales tax. Tennessee is live now too, with the only dedicated eyelash specialist license in the researched set, per-member LLC pricing, and braiding exempt since 2019. Massachusetts is live now too, with a $500 LLC filing and a $500 annual report, a 100 hour nail course, and no booth licenses at all. Indiana is live now too, with flat $40 licenses on a four year cycle and both braiding and lash extensions exempt by statute. Missouri is live now too, where rental stations carry their own establishment licenses, braiders register for $20 after a safety video, and LLCs file no annual report. Maryland is live now too, with a brand new 100 hour eyelash technician license, a $300 Form 1 filing every April, and braiding exempt by statute. Wisconsin is live now too, with $11 cosmetology licenses, an establishment license for every booth renter, and body art run by the licensing department itself. Colorado is live now too, with 1,500 hour programs counted in credits, massage raised to 650 hours, and no state body art license at all. Minnesota is live now too, with a 14 hour eyelash technician license, a salon manager rule for every salon, and an assumed name that has to run in a newspaper before you open. South Carolina is live now too, with braider registration run by the barber board, a new massage establishment license, and microblading closed off as the practice of medicine. Alabama is live now too, with braiding exempt by law as of October 2026, two shop licenses at two different counters, and an annual business privilege tax instead of an LLC report. Louisiana is live now too, with a 500 hour braiding permit still on the books, assumed names filed at the parish clerk, and a $1,000 body art facility registration. Kentucky is live now too, with a $50 eyelash artistry permit, a licensed booth rent status for barbers, and massage taxed like a retail sale. Oklahoma is live now too, with a 120 hour lash specialist certificate the state cannot test you on, braiding and shampooing both exempt, and brand new training hour tiers under a 2025 law. Oregon is live now too, with no umbrella cosmetology license at all, five separate fields of practice, natural hair care certified without school, and no sales tax. Connecticut is live now too, with no salon license at all, brand new 50 hour eyelash and 100 hour nail licenses, trade names filed at the town clerk, and nail services taxed while haircuts are not. Utah and Iowa are next.

Read the Texas hub   Texas hair salon guide   Florida hub