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Starting a Beauty Business in Georgia

Georgia runs most beauty licensing through one board under the Secretary of State, then sends you to your county courthouse for your business name and to your city or county for your operating license. Hair, barbering, nails, skin care, and lashes sit with the State Board of Cosmetology and Barbers. Massage has its own board. Microblading belongs to the Department of Public Health and your county health department. And braiding, done on its own, is exempt from licensing altogether. This hub maps who regulates what, and links the full guide for each business type.

Researched from Georgia state sources. Our guides are free. We may earn a commission when you use a partner service, at no additional cost to you.

Who licenses beauty businesses in Georgia

The Georgia State Board of Cosmetology and Barbers, administered by the Professional Licensing Boards Division of the Secretary of State, licenses master cosmetologists, hair designers, estheticians, nail technicians, master barbers, and barbers II, and it licenses the premises they work in under a single establishment license called the Salon/Shop license. If your business cuts, colors, or chemically treats hair, or works on skin or nails, this board is your regulator for both the people and the space. Applications and renewals run through the Secretary of State's GOALS online licensing system.

Three trades sit outside that board. Massage therapy is licensed by the Georgia Board of Massage Therapy, also under the Secretary of State, but Georgia issues no state license for a massage business itself: state law leaves massage businesses to local ordinances. Microblading is body art, regulated by the Georgia Department of Public Health under Chapter 511-3-8 of its rules, with studio permits and artist exams handled by county boards of health. Hair braiding needs no license at all while the work stays inside the statutory definition of braiding, because O.C.G.A. Section 43-10-1 takes a person who only braids out of the cosmetology chapter entirely.

Georgia beauty licensing at a glance

Training hours are from O.C.G.A. Section 43-10-9 for the cosmetology and barber licenses and Section 43-24A-8 for massage. A premises where board licensees work also needs the board's Salon/Shop license, $75 to apply and $75 to renew by June 30 of odd years, per the board's published fee schedule.

What every Georgia beauty business needs, whatever the type

Georgia traps that catch new owners

Your business name is filed at the courthouse, with a newspaper notice attached. Georgia has no state DBA registry. A trade name is registered with the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where the business is chiefly carried on, under O.C.G.A. Section 10-1-490, and the filing is not complete until notice runs once a week for two weeks in the paper that carries the sheriff's legal advertisements. Owners who file with the Secretary of State only, or skip publication, have an incomplete filing.

Georgia renewal dates are staggered, and two of them fool everyone. Master cosmetologists renew by March 31 of even years and barbers by December 31 of even years, but estheticians and nail technicians renew by August 31 of odd years, and the Salon/Shop license renews by June 30 of odd years. A salon owner can hold three different deadlines in three different years. The Georgia hair salon guide lays the full calendar out.

The LLC fee quotes online are stale. The Corporations Division schedule effective September 6, 2025 raised the service charge, so Articles of Organization cost $110 in total and the annual registration costs $60 in total, online or on paper. Pages still quoting $100 or $105 are working from the old schedule.

Atlanta is a stack, not a single license. Inside Atlanta you deal with the City of Atlanta business license on top of county processes, and the metro area splits across Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, and Gwinnett counties, each with its own filings and its own combined sales tax rate. In Fulton County the Department of Revenue's chart puts the combined rate at 8.9 percent for Atlanta addresses. The county of your actual street address, not your mailing address, controls.

Exempt does not mean unregulated, and licensed does not mean the business is. A braider who only braids needs no state license, but the moment the menu adds a haircut or color service, board licensing attaches to the person and the premises. Massage runs the other way: the therapist holds a state license, but the massage business itself is licensed, if at all, by the city or county under O.C.G.A. Sections 43-24A-30 and 43-24A-31. The Georgia massage guide explains that split.

Georgia guides by business type

Official Georgia resources