How to Start a Beauty Business in Missouri
Missouri runs its beauty licensing out of one division in Jefferson City, the Division of Professional Registration, and then splits the work three ways inside it. The Board of Cosmetology and Barber Examiners licenses cosmetologists, barbers, estheticians and manicurists under Chapters 328 and 329 of the state statutes, and it licenses the shops they work in, including a rental station category built for chair renters and suite operators. The Office of Tattooing, Body Piercing and Branding licenses microblading and permanent makeup as tattooing, with its own practitioner license, its own establishment license and an inspection before a new shop opens. The Board of Therapeutic Massage licenses massage therapists at 500 hours, and Missouri licenses the massage business itself, a second layer many states skip. Around the licenses sits one of the cheapest entity stacks in the country: an LLC costs $50 to form online and files no annual report at all, and a trade name costs $7 for five years. Every license the cosmetology board issues expires on the same day, September 30 of each odd numbered year, which makes the renewal calendar simple and the penalty for forgetting it total. This hub walks every Missouri route into the beauty business, with every fee traced to the rule or statute that sets it.
Who regulates beauty businesses in Missouri
The Board of Cosmetology and Barber Examiners licenses the people and the premises for hair, skin and nail work under Chapter 329 of the Revised Statutes, and barbers and barbershops under Chapter 328. Its licenses are classified rather than general: Class CA covers hairdressing and manicuring together, Class CH covers hairdressing, Class MO covers manicuring, and Class E covers esthetics, and the statute writes the scope of each class out in section 329.010. The same board licenses cosmetology establishments, including a rental station form of establishment license, registers hair braiders under section 329.275, and runs its applications and renewals online through the state's MOPRO licensing system. Licensing examinations are administered through Prov, the board's exam vendor, at $90 for a written examination and $60 for a practical.
Two beauty trades answer to different offices in the same division. Microblading and permanent makeup are tattooing in Missouri, because section 324.520 defines a tattoo as an indelible mark made by inserting pigment under the skin, and the Office of Tattooing, Body Piercing and Branding licenses both the practitioner and the establishment under sections 324.520 to 324.526 and the rules at 20 CSR 2267. Massage therapy answers to the Board of Therapeutic Massage under sections 324.240 to 324.275 and 20 CSR 2197, which licenses the therapist at 500 hours of training and also licenses the business location where massage is practiced. Business level rules sit with three more agencies: the Secretary of State for entities and fictitious names, the Department of Revenue for sales tax and withholding, and the Division of Employment Security in the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations for unemployment insurance.
Missouri at a glance
| License or filing | Missouri requirement |
|---|---|
| Cosmetologist, Class CA | 1,500 hours, renewal $60 every two years, expires September 30 of odd numbered years |
| Barber | 1,000 hours, first license $20, renewal $60 every two years |
| Esthetician, Class E | 750 hours, renewal $60 every two years |
| Manicurist, Class MO | 400 hours, renewal $60 every two years |
| Cosmetology establishment | $100 application covering up to three operators, $10 per additional operator, $75 renewal |
| Rental station establishment | $100 application, $75 renewal, the renter's own establishment license |
| Hair braiding | Registration, not a license: $20 certificate plus the board's four to six hour instructional video |
| Tattoo practitioner and establishment | Practitioner $100, establishment $200, renewals expire June 30 of odd numbered years |
| Massage therapist | 500 hours, $125 application, $100 renewal every two years with 12 hours of continuing education |
| Massage business | Board business license, $50 application, $125 renewal |
| LLC formation | Articles of Organization $50 online or $105 on paper, no annual report |
| Fictitious name | Secretary of State registration $7, runs five years |
Missouri traps that catch new owners
Every cosmetology and barber license in Missouri expires on the same day
Under 20 CSR 2085-4.010, all barber and cosmetology licenses and registrations, including school licenses, renew biennially and expire on September 30 of each odd numbered year. A renewal application postmarked after that date is returned, and the licensee has to reinstate instead, at $90 for an operator or $105 for an establishment. A license taken out three months before the deadline still expires on the deadline.
A rented station is its own establishment in Missouri
Missouri's establishment definition reaches any space rented inside a building, and the board's fee schedule prices a Rental Station establishment license at $100 to open and $75 to renew, the same as a full service shop. A suite renter or chair renter who assumes the host salon's license covers her station is working unlicensed space. The suite guide works through the two legal shapes.
Braiding is a registration with a video, not an exemption and not a license
Section 329.275 took braiding out of cosmetology in 2018, but it did not deregulate it. Braiding for compensation requires registering with the board first, paying a fee the statute caps at $20, and watching the board's instructional video, four to six hours on infection control and diseases of the scalp, with an online attestation. The registration stops at the chemical line: dyes and reactive chemicals are outside the braiding definition.
Microblading belongs to the tattoo office, not the cosmetology board
A cosmetology or esthetician license does not authorize microblading in Missouri. Pigment inserted under the skin is a tattoo under section 324.520, so the artist needs a practitioner license from the Office of Tattooing, Body Piercing and Branding, built on bloodborne pathogen training, first aid and CPR, and 300 documented hours of supervised training, and the studio needs an establishment license that issues only after an inspection.
Massage locations are licensed, not just massage therapists
Missouri licenses the massage business as well as the therapist: a business license costs $50 and renews at $125 under the Board of Therapeutic Massage fee rule, and the board's practice rule, 20 CSR 2197-5.020, bars a therapist from practicing at a site that is not duly licensed. A studio that licenses its therapists and skips the business license is only half filed.
The LLC files no annual report, but the fictitious name runs on a clock
Missouri LLCs file Articles of Organization once, $50 online, and owe the Secretary of State nothing yearly; the annual registration report belongs to corporations, at $20 online. The filing that does recur is the fictitious name: $7 buys five years, and the renewal has to land within the six months before it expires. Owners who import an annual report habit from another state watch the wrong deadline and miss the right one.
Missouri guides by business type
Hair salon
The flagship route: the 1,500 hour Class CA cosmetologist license, written and practical exams through Prov, the $100 establishment license covering three operators, and the September 30 renewal cliff under everything.
Barbershop
The 1,000 hour barber certificate under Chapter 328, a $20 first license, the barber establishment license at $100, the crossover license for cosmetologists, and a penalty date that falls on October 30.
Nail salon
The shortest course on the cosmetology board: the 400 hour Class MO manicurist license, 50 hours of classroom work before touching the public, and the same establishment license as a full salon.
Lash studio
Missouri has no lash license. The statute names lash tinting inside the Class CH and Class E scopes and says nothing about extension application, so this guide works the licensed route and flags the gap honestly.
Esthetics
The 750 hour Class E esthetician license, a written scope that reaches from facials to hair removal and lash tinting, and the establishment and rental station rules for a solo practice.
Salon suite
Missouri prices the rental station as its own establishment license: $100 to open, $75 to renew, on top of your practitioner license. How the suite model is built here, and how it differs from renting a chair inside a licensed salon.
Braiding
A $20 registration and a four to six hour board video stand between a braider and legal paid work in Missouri, with no cosmetology license and no establishment license for braiding itself. Where the registration stops, and the filings that still apply.
Microblading
Permanent makeup is tattooing under Missouri law: a practitioner license built on 300 documented training hours, a $200 establishment license with a pre-opening inspection, and June 30 renewals in odd numbered years.
Massage
The 500 hour massage license at $125, a board approved examination, 12 hours of continuing education a cycle, and a separate business license for the location that most owners do not expect.
What this Missouri cluster covers
Each guide above follows the same structure used across this site: the licensing regulator, the practitioner license step by step, the establishment license, entity formation with the real Missouri fees including the split between LLCs, which file no annual report, and corporations, which file an annual registration report, the fictitious name registration with the Secretary of State, the EIN, the Department of Revenue tax treatment stated precisely for that trade, booth rent classification, hiring, the local layer, insurance, a renewal calendar, and official sources for every figure. The shared business stack appears in every guide because most Missouri beauty businesses are opened by the license holder, and the numbers differ by trade: a manicurist is licensed in 400 hours while a cosmetologist needs 1,500 and a barber 1,000, a braider registers for $20 after a board video, a massage therapist carries continuing education and a separately licensed business location, and a microblading artist's licenses come from the tattoo office rather than from any cosmetology board.
Missouri is the eighteenth state cluster on this site. The national hubs compare the same business type across every researched state, and the remaining states are in production in population order. One naming note for readers comparing sources: Missouri's massage board is the Board of Therapeutic Massage, and its rules sit at 20 CSR 2197; older summaries that call it a board of massage therapy are describing the same office loosely.
Official Missouri resources
- Board of Cosmetology and Barber Examiners: board home, applications, renewals and license lookup through MOPRO
- 20 CSR 2085-3.010: the board's fee rule for cosmetology, barber, crossover and establishment licenses
- Section 329.010, RSMo: the classified occupations of cosmetology and their scopes
- Hair braiding registration: certificate of registration, instructional video and attestation
- 20 CSR 2267, Chapter 2: tattooing, body piercing and branding licenses, training and fees
- Section 324.265, RSMo: massage therapist qualifications, 500 hours, renewal and continuing education
- Secretary of State, Corporations Division: schedule of fees and charges, LLC, corporation and fictitious name filings
- Department of Revenue: business tax registration, retail sales licenses and withholding
- Division of Employment Security: unemployment tax rates, new employer rate and taxable wage base
- Department of Labor and Industrial Relations: Missouri minimum wage, $15.00 for 2026 and the tipped wage
Missouri sources last reviewed: November 3, 2026