Home / Minnesota / Hair Extensions

How to Start a Hair Extensions Business in Minnesota: Licenses, Costs & Requirements

Minnesota answers the extensions question in its definitions instead of its license list. A sew-in weave is hair braiding by statute, and hair braiding is exempt from licensing altogether. Styling hair extensions is hairstyling, a defined service with its own lighter exemption. And the installs that fall outside both definitions belong to two practitioner licenses: the 1,550 hour cosmetologist and the 900 hour hair technician Minnesota created in 2023. There is no specialty extensions license. This guide walks through all three positions and the business setup behind the chair.

Minnesota sources last reviewed: November 5, 2026

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

Who regulates hair extensions in Minnesota

One board runs Minnesota beauty licensing: the Board of Cosmetologist Examiners, under Minnesota Statutes chapter 155A and Minnesota Rules chapter 2105. The Board licenses practitioners, salon managers, instructors, salons and schools. Extension work is sorted the way the statute sorts everything else: by matching the service to the definitions in sections 155A.23 and 155A.28.

Minnesota's definitions reach extensions in two opposite directions. The cosmetology definition in section 155A.23, subdivision 3 never names weaving, attaching hair or extensions at all. But the hair braiding definition in section 155A.28 names sewing, weaving and extending with hair extensions expressly, and the hairstyling definition names the use and styling of hair extensions and wigs. The rest of your setup spreads across the Secretary of State, the Department of Revenue and the Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Minnesota hair extensions business requirements at a glance

The license question: Cosmetologist or Hair Technician

Two licenses carry the hair work that needs a license in Minnesota, and the choice between them is about scope. One wrinkle first: neither license statute names extension installation. Section 155A.23 defines each license by the hair care it covers, and an install that falls outside the braiding and hairstyling exemptions below is performed under one of these licenses, in a licensed salon.

The cosmetologist license is the broad route. A cosmetologist performs personal services for the cosmetic care of the hair, nails and the surface of the skin, so it covers the install and everything around it: the cut, the color match, the chemical work. The route runs through Rule 2105.0145: complete 1,550 hours at a Minnesota licensed cosmetology school, and pass three board approved tests, a general theory test, a written practical test, and a test on Minnesota laws and rules. The license costs $195 for the first three years, $155 for the license plus a $40 application fee under section 155A.25, and expires on the last day of your birth month in the year it falls due. Renewal is $115 plus 8 hours of continuing education.

The hair technician license is the newer, narrower route, created in 2023 and first issued July 1, 2024. Section 155A.23, subdivision 21 defines a hair technician as a person who performs personal services for the cosmetic care of the hair on the scalp, including cutting the hair and applying dyes, bleach, reactive chemicals, keratin and other preparations that color or alter the structure of the hair. The training is statutory, in section 155A.2705: 900 hours at a Minnesota licensed cosmetology school, split into 300 hours of foundations, 300 hours of hair cutting and styling, and 300 hours of chemical hair services, with the same family of board approved tests. The initial fee is the same $195 and the term is the same three years. It never covers nails or skin.

Two honest limits belong in your planning. First, the 900 hour hair technician curriculum, read in the statute, contains no extensions or weaving block; its three blocks are foundations, cutting and styling, and chemical services. Second, the Board publishes no list sorting installation methods by name. For an install outside the braiding definition, the cosmetologist license is the route whose scope is never in question.

And the specialty question, answered plainly: Minnesota has no specialty license for weaving or hair extensions. Section 155A.27, subdivision 1 lists the state's individual licenses: cosmetologist, esthetician, hair technician, nail technician, eyelash technician, advanced practice esthetician, manager and instructor. The only license with extensions in its name is the eyelash technician license, and it covers eyelashes only. A private extensions certification from a school or a hair brand may be good training, but it is a certificate, not a state credential.

The braiding boundary: where unlicensed work ends

Minnesota deregulated hair braiding completely, and its definition reaches the core of the extensions trade. Section 155A.28, subdivision 2 defines hair braiding as a natural form of hair manipulation that results in tension on hair strands by beading, braiding, cornrowing, extending, lacing, locking, sewing, twisting, weaving, or wrapping human hair, natural fibers, synthetic fibers, and hair extensions, predominantly by hand and using only simple braiding devices, a list that includes needles, thread, and hair binders including adhesives if necessary and required solely for hair braiding. Subdivision 5 finishes the job in one sentence: the practice of hair braiding is exempt from the requirements of this chapter. A sew-in weave is sewing and weaving in the definition's own words. It needs no license, no registration, no course and no fee. Minnesota once ran a braider registration with a 30 hour course; the legislature repealed it in 2019, and any guide still describing it is out of date. Our Minnesota braiding guide covers the exempt trade in full.

The boundary is written into the same definition, as a list of what hair braiding does not involve: penetrating chemical hair treatments, chemical hair coloring agents, chemical hair straightening agents, chemical hair joining agents, permanent wave styles, or chemical hair bleaching agents applied to growing human hair. An install held by a chemical joining agent, the bond in a fusion install or the adhesive system in a tape-in, is outside the braiding definition. Cutting, coloring and chemical services are outside it too.

A second exempt lane runs beside braiding. Section 155A.23, subdivision 19 defines hairstyling as cleaning, drying, arranging or styling hair, and states that it includes the use and styling of hair extensions and wigs, while excluding cutting and the application of dyes, bleach, reactive chemicals, keratin or other preparations that color or alter the structure of hair. Under section 155A.27, subdivision 9(c), a person who performs only hairstyling and makeup services is exempt from licensing if they complete a four hour course in health, safety and infection control and state law from a board approved provider and carry proof of completion while working.

Plan your menu against these definitions before you open, because the common Minnesota mistake is drift. The statute never sorts methods by brand name, so for methods the definitions do not name outright, apply the two tests the law gives you: does the method attach hair by the tension techniques the braiding definition lists, and does it involve a chemical joining agent, a cut, or a chemical service? A yes to the first keeps you in the exemption; a yes to anything in the second takes you out of it. On a close call, get the Board's reading in writing.

Your space: the cosmetology salon license

Licensed extension work happens inside a licensed salon. Section 155A.29, subdivision 1 provides that cosmetology services for compensation may be offered only by a licensee in a licensed salon. An extensions business offering licensed services takes the cosmetology salon license: $350 for the initial three year license, a $250 license fee plus a $100 application fee, with renewal at $225, expiring on the last day of the month of initial licensure. Before the Board issues it, section 155A.29, subdivision 2 requires compliance with local and state laws on infection control, health and safety, appointment of a manager, evidence of compliance with the workers compensation law where it applies, and evidence of continued professional liability insurance of at least $25,000 for each claim and $50,000 total for each policy year for each practitioner. The full breakdown is in our Minnesota hair salon guide.

The manager appointment is the Designated Licensed Salon Manager. The owner appoints one DLSM per salon and registers them with the Board; the DLSM holds a salon manager license at the cosmetologist level and shares responsibility with the owner for the salon's compliance at all times, even when not present. If the DLSM leaves, you notify the Board in writing within 10 business days and have 60 days to register a replacement. A solo licensed installer solves the structure the way solo salon owners do: hold the cosmetologist license, add the salon manager license, and register yourself. A lockable suite run as its own shop, though, is its own salon, with its own license and manager.

The exempt end of the trade needs no salon license at all. A braiding only studio sells no cosmetology services, so the salon license requirement in chapter 155A never reaches it, and section 155A.29, subdivision 7 separately exempts a facility where everyone provides only exempt hairstyling and makeup services. Add bonded installs or color to a braiding menu and the salon license, the designated manager and the insurance floor all attach. Where a licensed salon can sit is also regulated: not in a room used for residential purposes, and a home salon must be completely partitioned off from the living quarters, under section 155A.29, subdivision 3a.

Forming your LLC with the Minnesota Secretary of State

Most first-time extensions business owners form a limited liability company to keep business debts with the business. In Minnesota you form an LLC under chapter 322C by filing Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State, and Minnesota prices the filing by channel in a way that surprises people: $135 filed by mail, or $155 filed online or in person. Your Articles name the LLC, its registered office and agent, and the organizer, and the name must carry a designator such as LLC.

The recurring duty is the one owners miss. Every Minnesota LLC files an Annual Renewal with the Secretary of State each calendar year, due by December 31, and the renewal itself is free. Free is not optional: an LLC that skips the renewal is administratively terminated, and reinstatement costs $25 by mail or $45 online. Put the renewal on your December calendar and it never becomes a reinstatement. The full formation walkthrough is in our Minnesota hair salon LLC guide.

Registering your business name with an assumed name certificate

If your studio will operate under a name different from your legal entity name, Minnesota calls that an assumed name and you register it with a Certificate of Assumed Name under chapter 333, filed with the Secretary of State, not at a county office. Under section 333.01, no one may carry on a commercial business under a name that does not set forth the true name of every person interested in the business unless a certificate is on file, so a sole proprietor trading as a studio brand and an LLC whose storefront name differs from its legal name both file. The certificate costs $30 by mail or $50 online.

Then comes the step Minnesota owners miss: publication. The certificate must be published after filing, in a qualified newspaper in the county of your principal or registered office, for two successive issues, and sections 333.01 and 333.02 require the filing and the publication before you commence business under the name. The certificate stays in effect only while an annual renewal is filed each calendar year after the filing year; the renewal is free, and an expired certificate can be reinstated at $25 by mail or $45 online. Keep the names consistent across your filings, the salon license and your signage.

Getting your federal Employer Identification Number

Your EIN is your business's federal tax ID, issued by the IRS. You need one to hire employees, open most business bank accounts, and file business taxes. It is free; apply directly through the IRS and ignore any website that offers to obtain one for a fee. Minnesota keys its registrations to the same identity: the Department of Revenue issues your Minnesota tax ID when you register for sales tax and withholding, and your unemployment insurance account with the Department of Employment and Economic Development runs on it.

Open the business bank account as soon as the entity and the EIN exist, and run every fee, product order, rent payment and tax deposit through it. A clean, separate account is the cheapest compliance tool in this guide.

Minnesota sales tax: services are not taxed, retail hair is

Here is the Minnesota rule that matters most at your register. Salon services are not taxable. The Department of Revenue's Personal Services guidance lists barber shop and salon services as not taxable, and its list expressly includes extending and restoring hair, alongside cutting, coloring, highlighting, perming, trimming and styling hair, hair removal and waxing, shaving, and shampooing and conditioning treatments. The install appointment, the move-up, the removal and refit: no sales tax on the service ticket.

Retail product sales are the opposite, and extensions businesses sit close to this line because the hair itself is a product. Hair and wefts you sell as products, wigs and hair pieces, and take-home care products are retail sales, taxable at the 6.875 percent state rate plus the local taxes at your address. Buy that inventory without paying tax by giving your supplier a completed Form ST3, Certificate of Exemption, claiming the resale exemption, and owe the tax only when you sell. The supplies you consume while providing services, and your tools and equipment, are taxable purchases, because they are not resold. Itemize services and products separately from day one, and register for a Minnesota tax ID before your first taxable sale.

Hiring stylists: employees, booth renters and classification

When you hire employees, you register with the Department of Revenue for wage withholding and with the unemployment insurance program administered by the Department of Employment and Economic Development. New employers are assigned a tax rate based on the average for their industry; for 2026 the published new employer rates run from 1 percent up to the 8.9 percent maximum, paid quarterly on each employee's wages up to the 2026 taxable wage base of $44,000. Workers compensation belongs on the same checklist: section 155A.29 asks a licensed salon for evidence of compliance with the workers compensation law where it applies.

Minnesota sets its own wage floor and allows no tip credit against it. From January 1, 2026, the state minimum wage is $11.41 an hour for every employer, and tipped stylists are owed the full rate before tips. A training wage of $9.31 an hour may be paid to employees under 20 for their first 90 days. Cities layer on top where they have set their own rates: Minneapolis requires $16.37 an hour in 2026, and St. Paul phases by employer size, with small employers reaching $16.37 on July 1, 2026.

Extensions studios lean heavily on booth rent, and the model works in Minnesota inside the salon license structure described above: the renter holds their own practitioner license for licensed services, and the salon keeps the work time records of each licensed practitioner on the premises. A true booth renter sets their own prices and hours, collects their own money and files their own taxes. If you set a stylist's schedule, prices and product lineup, the state is likely to see an employee no matter what your paperwork calls them. Put the rental agreement in writing.

City zoning, occupancy and local permits

State licenses and exemptions do not guarantee your location is legal. Your city controls zoning, and an extensions studio has to be a permitted use at the address you choose; most cities also expect occupancy approvals and local permits tied to the build out, plumbing and signage. One local power is switched off in this trade: Rule 2105.0010 lists hair braiding among the Board's unregulated services and preempts local ordinances that prohibit braiding or regulate the licensing, testing or training of braiders, so a city cannot rebuild a braider license under another name.

Check zoning before the lease, not after. The salon license belongs to the location and the owner named on the application, so a change of address or ownership means a new application rather than an edit. Home based work follows the same split: an exempt braiding studio at home answers to your city's home occupation rules, while a licensed home salon must be completely partitioned off from the living quarters.

Insurance: the floor written into the salon license

Minnesota is one of the few states in this series that writes an insurance floor into the salon license itself. Section 155A.29 makes evidence of continued professional liability insurance a condition of the salon license: at least $25,000 for each claim and $50,000 total coverage for each policy year, for each practitioner. The floor is written per practitioner, so the salon's policy and its roster need to match on paper. An exempt braiding only studio holds no salon license and so has no Board floor, but the lease and the risk argue for the same stack anyway.

Treat the statutory floor as a floor, not a target. Most landlords name higher limits in the lease than the statute names. General liability for the premises and property coverage for equipment and retail stock complete the standard stack, and extensions businesses carry one inventory exposure most salons do not: the hair itself is expensive stock, held for specific clients and often prepaid, so ask how your property policy treats client hair stored on the premises. The deeper walkthrough is in our Minnesota hair salon insurance guide.

Dates to put on your calendar

• Every three years: renew practitioner licenses by the last day of your birth month, $115 plus 8 hours of continuing education, and renew the salon license on its own licensure month cycle at $225; the salon manager renewal is $145.
• December 31, every year: the free LLC annual renewal and the free assumed name annual renewal, both with the Secretary of State. Missing either starts a termination or expiration you then pay to undo.
• Quarterly: unemployment wage detail reports to the Department of Employment and Economic Development, due whether or not any tax is owed.
• On the Department of Revenue's schedule: sales tax returns and remittance for retail hair, wigs and product sales, at your assigned filing frequency.
• Within 10 business days, and again within 60 days: notify the Board when your Designated Licensed Salon Manager leaves, and register the replacement.
• Before you add a service: recheck the definitions in sections 155A.23 and 155A.28 whenever your menu changes, especially before adding adhesive installs, cutting or chemical services to an exempt business.

This guide is general information researched from official Minnesota state sources, not legal or tax advice. Requirements, fees and forms change; verify the current rules with the Board of Cosmetologist Examiners and the other agencies linked above before you file, sign or spend.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a license to install hair extensions in Minnesota?

It depends on the method, because Minnesota sorts extension work by definition rather than by license category. Installs done by braiding techniques, including sew-in weaves, are hair braiding under section 155A.28 and are exempt from licensing entirely. Styling hair extensions is hairstyling, which carries its own exemption. Installs that sit outside those definitions, and any cutting, coloring or chemical service around an install, are licensed work for a cosmetologist or a hair technician in a licensed salon.

Does Minnesota have a specialty license for weaving or hair extensions?

No. Section 155A.27, subdivision 1 lists Minnesota's individual licenses: cosmetologist, esthetician, hair technician, nail technician, eyelash technician, advanced practice esthetician, manager and instructor. None of them is a weaving or extensions specialty. The only license with extensions in its name is the eyelash technician license, and it covers eyelashes only.

Can I sew in a weave without a license in Minnesota?

Yes. The hair braiding definition in section 155A.28, subdivision 2 covers tension on hair strands by sewing, weaving and extending human hair, natural fibers, synthetic fibers and hair extensions, and subdivision 5 states that the practice of hair braiding is exempt from the requirements of the chapter. There is no braider license, no registration and no required course; the registration system Minnesota once had was repealed in 2019.

Can a hair technician do extension work in Minnesota?

Partly, and the statute is narrower than the marketing. A hair technician holds a practitioner license for hair only: personal services for the cosmetic care of the hair on the scalp, including cutting and chemical services, after 900 hours of training. Installs done by braiding techniques are exempt hair braiding and need no license from anyone. For installs outside the braiding definition, Minnesota law names extension installation in neither practitioner license, and the 900 hour hair technician curriculum contains no extensions block. The cosmetologist license is the broad route; a hair technician whose menu centers on bonded installs should get the Board's reading in writing first.

Are hair extension services subject to sales tax in Minnesota?

No. The Department of Revenue's Personal Services guidance lists barber shop and salon services as not taxable, and its list expressly includes extending and restoring hair. Retail sales are taxable: hair, wefts, wigs, hair pieces and take-home products you sell are charged sales tax at the 6.875 percent state rate plus local taxes. Itemize services and products separately, and buy resale inventory tax free with a Form ST3 exemption certificate.

Does an extensions studio need a salon license in Minnesota?

Only if it offers licensed services. A studio selling only exempt hair braiding needs no salon license, because braiding is exempt from the cosmetology chapter, and a facility where everyone provides only exempt hairstyling and makeup services is exempt from the salon license under section 155A.29, subdivision 7. The moment the menu adds licensed work, the premises need a cosmetology salon license, $350 for the initial three year license, a Designated Licensed Salon Manager, and the professional liability insurance floor in section 155A.29.