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

North Dakota splits extension work by how the hair attaches, and it writes both answers into one definitions section. Century Code section 43-11-01(10) names hair extensions using chemical hair joint agents, synthetic tape, keratin bonds and fusion bonds, as part of cosmetology, so bonded installs belong to the 1,500 hour cosmetologist. The same section defines natural hair braiding to include sewing, weaving and extending hair extensions with needle and thread, and excludes braiding from cosmetology entirely, so a sew-in done by hand needs no license at all. This guide walks through both sides of that line.

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Who regulates hair extensions in North Dakota

One board runs North Dakota beauty licensing: the State Board of Cosmetology, seven members appointed by the governor, administering North Dakota Century Code chapter 43-11 from Bismarck. The board licenses the people, the schools that train them, and the premises twice over, once as an establishment and again for each independent licensee working inside it. Extension work is not licensed under its own name anywhere in the chapter. It is sorted by the definitions at section 43-11-01, which place bonded installs inside cosmetology and hand sewn installs inside natural hair braiding.

The timing matters, because the law is new. House Bill 1126, enacted in 2025, rewrote chapter 43-11 effective January 1, 2026: it set the cosmetology course at 1,500 hours, repriced the fee schedule at section 43-11-28, and rewrote the braiding definition itself. Pages quoting the older hours or fees describe repealed law, and the board's own website still hosts a copy of the chapter marked effective through December 31, 2025, so check the current text at the Legislative Council's chapter 43-11 publication rather than any summary, including this one. Barbering sits outside the board, under the Board of Barber Examiners in chapter 43-04. Section 43-11-35 prints the stakes: practicing cosmetology without the required license is a class B misdemeanor.

North Dakota hair extensions business requirements at a glance

The license question: the cosmetologist license, and the routes that stop short

Start with the sentence the whole trade turns on. Section 43-11-01(10)(a)(4) provides that cosmetology includes hair extensions using chemical hair joint agents, such as synthetic tape, keratin bonds, or fusion bonds. Tape-ins are named. Keratin bonds, the K-tip method, are named. Fusion bonds are named. An install attached with any of them is cosmetology, and section 43-11-13 makes practicing it without the proper license unlawful. The statute names the joining chemistry, not the brand, so a method marketed under a trade name still lands on the licensed side whenever tape, keratin or fusion adhesive does the attaching.

The cosmetologist license is earned in a school licensed under section 43-11-16, which sets the cosmetology course minimum at 1,500 hours. On completing training, the applicant files a written application under oath under section 43-11-21, with proof of the board approved training, an examination fee, and the $50 original licensure fee set at section 43-11-28. The board's application checklist names the three examination components required by section 43-11-23: a practical test, the NIC National Theory test, and the North Dakota Laws, Rules and Regulations test. The license renews every December 31 at $50, and the reinstatement ladder at section 43-11-29 punishes a lapse, as the calendar below details.

Two more routes onto the same license deserve a line each. House Bill 1126 authorized registered apprenticeship at section 43-11-16.1: the apprentice registers with the United States Department of Labor office of apprenticeship and trains under a trainer licensed for at least three consecutive years, in a shop that posts a consumer notice and submits to annual board audit. Registration costs $15 for the apprentice and $25 for the trainer. The statute prints no total apprentice hour figure; the board's endorsement checklist measures the cosmetologist apprenticeship at 2,500 hours, so confirm the program terms with the board. A stylist licensed elsewhere uses licensure by endorsement under section 43-11-25: a $105 reciprocity fee, training measured at the same 1,500 or 2,500 hours, and the North Dakota laws examination.

There is no specialty extensions or weaving license in North Dakota, and the proof is the fee schedule itself: section 43-11-28 lists every license the board issues, and no weaving credential appears on it, at any hour count. The narrower licenses stop well short of the install chair: the esthetician's 600 hours buy skin work, and the only extensions named in the esthetics definition are eyelash extensions, the naming trap in this state's law. The advanced esthetician's 1,100 hours buy advanced skin procedures, and the manicurist's 350 hours buy nails. The master cosmetologist license, at section 43-11-26, adds seniority rather than scope: 1,000 hours of practice as a cosmetologist under a master cosmetologist, the same $50 fee, and the same practice at the end of it. One new obligation rides on all of these licenses: beginning with the 2028 renewal cycle, each licensee completes 4 hours of board approved continuing education annually under Administrative Code section 32-05-01-01, with instructors owing 12 hours.

The braiding boundary: where unlicensed work ends

North Dakota deregulated natural hair braiding in 2019, and House Bill 1126 rewrote the definition when it took effect on January 1, 2026. Section 43-11-01(20) now defines natural hair braiding as 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, by hand or by using simple hair braiding devices, and it goes on to include making wigs from hair extensions and maintaining braids. The exemption works by exclusion rather than by permit: section 43-11-01(10)(b) states that cosmetology does not include natural hair braiding or threading, so a braider needs no license, no registration, no course and no fee, and a braiding only studio needs no establishment license. Our North Dakota braiding guide covers that unlicensed trade in full.

The boundary has two edges, and both are chemical or menu shaped rather than technique shaped. The first is the joining agent: the braiding definition excludes the use of chemical hair joining agents outright, and the cosmetology definition claims extensions attached with them, so the moment tape, keratin or a fusion bond attaches the hair, the service is licensed work no matter how much braiding sits underneath it. The second edge is everything around the install. Cutting and trimming are listed in cosmetology's hair care definition, and the braiding definition excludes penetrating chemical treatments, chemical coloring, chemical straightening, permanent waves and chemical bleaching, so a color match or a standalone cut is licensed work even when the install itself was exempt.

One quiet change in the 2026 rewrite deserves a caution of its own. The braiding definition North Dakota carried before January 1, 2026 expressly included minor trimming of natural hair or hair extensions incidental to the braiding work. The current definition does not carry that clause, and cutting and trimming sit in the cosmetology definition's hair care list instead, so until the board publishes guidance, trimming is not something an unlicensed braider should sell. Plan your menu against the table above before you open, because the common North Dakota mistake is drift: a braiding studio opens legally on sew-ins, and the menu grows across the line one service at a time. If your menu includes any bonded method or any cut, color or chemical service, staff it with a licensed cosmetologist from day one.

Your space: the establishment and independent licensee licenses

Separate from every personal license, the premises hold an establishment license. Section 43-11-15 allows an establishment to be owned by any person authorized to do business in the state, licensed or not, and the schedule at section 43-11-28 prices it at $150 for the original license and $100 a year to renew, expiring December 31. The application is form SFN 11795, notarized and submitted two weeks before the opening date, and the business name on it must already be registered with the Secretary of State, which is why the name filing below comes first in practice. Section 43-11-37 requires each new establishment to be inspected, with routine inspections afterward and additional ones after a violation, ownership change, late renewal or probation, at a reinspection fee capped at $75.

The establishment holder carries the whole premises. The board's application states the allocation in plain terms: the holder is responsible for the safety and sanitation of the entire premises, and if a renter does not have a valid, current independent licensee license, that suite or chair falls under your establishment license and its sanitation responsibility. The independent licensee is North Dakota's answer to booth rent, made a statutory category by House Bill 1126: a licensed individual practicing within, but separate from, your establishment, bound by the same chapter provisions as an establishment. It costs $150 originally and $100 on renewal, held alongside her personal cosmetologist license. Collect a copy of every renter's independent licensee license at signing and at each December renewal, because her paperwork is your liability.

Two management points round out the premises. First, the master license pipeline runs through your shop: Administrative Code section 32-03-01-07 requires every establishment, on request, to provide documented hours for master license applications, keeping the records for at least two years after a separation of employment. Second, check the current rule text before relying on any staffing summary of North Dakota law, including older ones on this site: the rule that once required every salon to be supervised by a master licensee present during business hours was removed in the rule amendments that took effect January 1, 2026. Changes are licensing events, not just lease events: a change of ownership, location or address requires a new establishment license application under Administrative Code section 32-03-01-01, and a business name change must be reported to the board immediately, with the fee schedule pricing a name change at $20.

Forming your LLC with the North Dakota Secretary of State

Most first-time extensions business owners form a limited liability company so business debts and legal problems stay with the business instead of following them home. In North Dakota you form an LLC under Century Code chapter 10-32.1 by filing Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State through the FirstStop portal, for a filing fee of $135. The articles name the company and its registered agent and office in the state.

The annual obligation runs on a fixed statewide date rather than your formation anniversary. The LLC annual report costs $50 and is due November 15 each year, with the first report due in the year following the year the LLC was registered, and a report filed after November 15 draws a $50 late fee. Our North Dakota hair salon LLC guide walks through formation, and it applies to an extensions business unchanged.

Registering your business name as a trade name

North Dakota registers trading names at the state level as trade names under Century Code chapter 47-25, and for a licensed studio the filing is a licensing step rather than a branding preference. The establishment application will not proceed on an unregistered name: the business name must be registered as a trade name, LLC, LLP or corporation with the Secretary of State before the board licenses the premises under it.

The filing is cheap and long lived. Registration costs $25 through the FirstStop portal, the registration expires every five years, and renewal costs another $25, with cancellation priced at $10. A trade name registration is not a license; it puts the public on notice of the name you trade under.

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.

North Dakota sales tax: retail hair yes, services no

North Dakota's sales tax is a tax on retail sales, and the distinction runs in a service business's favor. The Office of State Tax Commissioner imposes sales tax on retail sales at a 5 percent state rate for most sales, plus city and county taxes where they apply. The services North Dakota taxes are enumerated categories such as lodging and communication services. Hair services are not on that list, so the install, the move-up and the removal carry no sales tax, for a licensed cosmetologist and an unlicensed braider alike.

The retail shelf is the other half of the rule, and extensions businesses sit closer to it than most salons, because the hair itself is a product. Hair and wefts you sell to a client as products, and the take-home care products at the front desk, are taxable retail sales at the combined rate for your location, while hair bundled into a service price is part of the service. Set your point of sale system to itemize services and products separately, and hold a sales and use tax permit before your first retail sale, registering and filing through ND TAP, the Tax Commissioner's Taxpayer Access Point.

Hiring stylists: employees, booth renters and workers' comp

When you hire employees, the state layer starts with wages. The North Dakota minimum wage is $7.25 an hour under section 34-06-22, equal to the federal rate, with a tipped cash wage of $4.86 an hour, and overtime at one and one half times the regular rate after 40 hours in a workweek. The payroll number that surprises out of state owners is the unemployment insurance wage base: Job Service North Dakota sets it at 70 percent of the statewide average wage, which produces $46,600 per employee for 2026, among the highest bases in the country. The rate on that base starts at 1.00 percent for a new non-construction employer, before experience rating moves it within a published 0.07 to 9.67 percent range, and reports run quarterly.

Booth rent has its own license in North Dakota, covered in the establishment section above, and the license doubles as the classification marker. A stylist the studio calls independent should be holding the independent licensee license and filing her own taxes as a business; a stylist working your hours at your prices without one reads as an employee the studio forgot to put on payroll. Whether a chair arrangement is genuinely a rental still turns on the working facts, so put rental agreements in writing. One employment habit North Dakota forbids outright is the noncompete: section 9-08-06 voids a contract that restrains anyone from exercising a lawful profession, trade or business, outside narrow sale of business exceptions.

Workers' compensation is mandatory in substance and unusual in form. North Dakota is a monopolistic state fund state: Workforce Safety and Insurance is the only lawful seller of workers compensation coverage, and the employer account must be opened before employees start. WSI coverage does not include employer liability protection, so the standard completion is a stop gap endorsement on your general liability policy. A licensed renter can also seek a WSI determination of independent contractor status through its verification application, which runs one year at a time.

City zoning, premises and the local layer

State licenses 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: Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks and Minot each run their own version of this layer, with city business licensing, building and signage permits and occupancy inspections on the local calendar rather than the board's. The local sales tax add-on on your retail sales is also set locally, so the combined rate in the register is a fact about your address. Check zoning before you sign the lease.

The premises definitions carry state consequences as well. A salon is an establishment in a fixed location not used as sleeping or living quarters under section 43-11-01, so a home based studio is an establishment like any other for licensing purposes, and the local zoning answer for a residence based business is the gate most home studios actually fail. The answer differs by trade: a braiding only business needs no board license for the person or the premises, so home based braiding answers to zoning and the ordinary filings, while the moment a bonded install, a cut or a color joins the menu, the home studio needs the establishment license and a licensed cosmetologist. Off premises work rests on section 43-11-11, which allows practice outside a licensed establishment under board rules.

Insurance and the costs that keep coming back

Nothing in chapter 43-11 conditions the studio licenses on carrying liability insurance, so general and professional liability coverage is a business judgment rather than a licensing step; the workers compensation account above is the exception, and it is not optional. Beyond that core, studio owners typically shop for general liability, professional liability matched to each license's services, and property coverage for the build out and retail inventory. 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 North Dakota hair salon insurance guide.

Your recurring state costs are small and land on two dates: license renewals every December 31, at $50 per practitioner and $100 each for the establishment and independent licensee licenses, and the $50 LLC annual report each November 15. Premiums vary widely with your city, service menu and team size, so this guide does not quote benchmark prices. The expensive mistakes in a North Dakota extensions launch are almost never state fees: they are the lease signed before zoning was checked, and the braider booked for bonded installs across the braiding line.

Dates to put on your calendar

• December 31, every year: every license in the building expires. Renew practitioners at $50, the establishment and each independent licensee at $100, and remember the late ladder: $50 within one year for an individual license, $150 plus the laws examination between one and five years, no reinstatement after five.
• November 15, every year: LLC annual report to the Secretary of State, $50, with a $50 late fee after the date.
• Every five years: trade name renewal with the Secretary of State, $25.
• Beginning with the 2028 renewal cycle: 4 hours of board approved continuing education annually for each licensee, 12 hours for instructors.
• Quarterly: unemployment insurance reports to Job Service North Dakota, on the $46,600 per employee wage base for 2026.
• On the Tax Commissioner's schedule: sales tax returns through ND TAP for retail hair and product sales, at your assigned filing frequency.
• Two weeks before opening: the notarized establishment application, form SFN 11795, is due to the board, with the business name already registered.
• Before you add a service: recheck the braiding boundary at section 43-11-01 whenever your menu changes, especially before adding tape-ins, bonded rows, cutting or chemical services.

This guide is general information researched from official North Dakota state sources, not legal or tax advice. Requirements, fees and forms change; verify the current rules with the State Board of Cosmetology 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 North Dakota?

It depends on how the hair attaches. Hair extensions using chemical hair joint agents, such as synthetic tape, keratin bonds or fusion bonds, are written into the cosmetology definition at Century Code section 43-11-01(10), so those installs require the cosmetologist license. An install done by sewing, weaving or extending with needle and thread falls inside the natural hair braiding definition at section 43-11-01(20), which is not cosmetology and needs no license at all.

Is there a specialty hair extensions or weaving license in North Dakota?

No. The fee schedule at section 43-11-28 lists every license the State Board of Cosmetology issues: cosmetologist, master cosmetologist, esthetician, master esthetician, advanced esthetician, manicurist, master manicurist, instructor, establishment, independent licensee and school. None of them is a weaving or extensions credential. Bonded extension work sits inside the cosmetologist license, and the master cosmetologist is a senior tier of that same license, earned with 1,000 hours of practice, not a separate scope.

Can I do sew-in weaves without a license in North Dakota?

Yes. The natural hair braiding definition at section 43-11-01(20) covers hair manipulation by sewing, weaving and extending human hair, fibers and hair extensions, by hand or with simple hair braiding devices, and needles and thread are listed devices. Section 43-11-01(10)(b) states that cosmetology does not include natural hair braiding, so a sew-in done that way needs no license, no registration and no course. The exemption ends at chemical hair joining agents, and at cutting, coloring and chemical services.

What license does a tape-in or K-tip specialist need in North Dakota?

The cosmetologist license. Section 43-11-01(10) names hair extensions using chemical hair joint agents, such as synthetic tape, keratin bonds or fusion bonds, as part of cosmetology, and K-tip is a keratin bond method. The license takes 1,500 hours of training at a board licensed school, the board examinations, and a $50 original license fee, and it renews every December 31 for $50. There is no shorter extensions only route.

What license does my extensions studio need in North Dakota?

An establishment license from the State Board of Cosmetology: $150 for the original license and $100 a year to renew, expiring December 31. The application, form SFN 11795, must be notarized and submitted two weeks before the opening date, and the business name must already be registered with the Secretary of State. A stylist who rents a chair or suite instead of joining your payroll holds her own independent licensee license at $150, renewing at $100. A studio that does only natural hair braiding needs no establishment license, because braiding is not cosmetology.

Are hair extension services subject to sales tax in North Dakota?

No. North Dakota taxes retail sales of tangible personal property at the 5 percent state rate plus applicable local tax, and the taxable services in the statute are enumerated categories such as lodging and communication services. Extension installs and other personal services are not on that list. Hair, wefts and products you sell to a client are taxable retail sales, so an extensions business with retail sales holds a sales and use tax permit and files through ND TAP.