How to Start a Beauty Business in Tennessee
Tennessee runs beauty licensing through one combined Board of Cosmetology and Barber Examiners inside the Department of Commerce and Insurance, and it prices almost everything on that board at the same two numbers: $60 for the person and $100 for the shop. The trades around the edges answer to different agencies entirely. Massage therapists and massage establishments are licensed by the Department of Health, and tattooing, which is where microblading and permanent cosmetics live in Tennessee, is run by the Department of Health through your county health department. This hub walks every Tennessee route into the beauty business, with the fees traced to the rule or statute that sets them, and it flags the two Tennessee signatures that surprise out of state owners: an LLC filing fee priced per member, and a business tax license that comes from the county clerk rather than the state.
Who regulates beauty businesses in Tennessee
The Board of Cosmetology and Barber Examiners, part of the Department of Commerce and Insurance, licenses cosmetologists, master barbers, barber technicians, aestheticians, manicurists, eyelash specialists and natural hair stylists, along with the shops they work in, under the Tennessee Cosmetology Act and the barber statutes. Applications and renewals run through the state's CORE portal, and anyone can check a license at verify.tn.gov. The Board's fee schedule is unusually flat: most individual licenses cost $60 to issue and $60 to renew every two years, most shops cost $100 to license plus a $50 inspection, and a dual shop license covers premises that span more than one field. Every shop also files a designated manager, a licensee in at least one discipline the shop offers, whose name sits on the application and renewal.
Two beauty trades sit outside that board entirely. Massage therapy is licensed by the Board of Massage Licensure in the Department of Health, and Tennessee licenses both the therapist and the establishment, which many states do not. Tattooing is a Department of Health program administered through local health departments under the tattoo statutes, and the Department of Commerce and Insurance's own FAQ sends anyone asking about tattoos or semi-permanent makeup to Health. That is the framework the microblading guide is built on: there is no permanent cosmetics license in Tennessee, only the tattoo artist license and the studio certificate. Business level rules sit with two more agencies: the Secretary of State for entities and assumed names, and the Department of Revenue for the business tax, sales tax and franchise and excise tax.
Tennessee at a glance
| License or filing | Tennessee requirement |
|---|---|
| Cosmetologist | 1,500 hours, license $60, renewal $60 every two years |
| Master barber | 1,500 hours, certificate $60, renewal $60 every two years |
| Aesthetician | 750 hours, license $60, renewal $60 every two years |
| Manicurist | 600 hours, license $60, renewal $60 every two years |
| Eyelash specialist | 300 hours, license $60, renewal $60 every two years |
| Natural hair stylist | 300 hours, license $60, renewal $60 every two years |
| Barber technician | 340 hours, certificate $60, renewal $60 every two years |
| Hair braider (exempt route) | 16 hours of health and hygiene training, $30 registration every two years, no license |
| Massage therapist | 500 hours, $280 total application, $185 renewal every two years |
| Tattoo artist (covers microblading) | $140 a year, license expires December 31 |
| Shop license | $100 new plus $50 inspection, $75 renewal every two years |
| Dual shop license | $150 new, $100 renewal every two years |
| Massage establishment | $225 total application, $135 renewal every two years |
| Tattoo studio certificate | $280 a year from the county health department, expires December 31 |
| LLC formation | Articles of Organization $50 per member, $300 minimum, $3,000 maximum |
| County business license | $15 registration fee, minimal activity or standard license by gross receipts |
Tennessee traps that catch new owners
The LLC is priced by the head, twice
Tennessee charges $50 per member for Articles of Organization, with a $300 minimum and a $3,000 maximum, and then charges the annual report on the same per member structure with the same $300 floor. In most states an LLC is a flat filing fee plus a flat annual report. Here a solo owner pays $300 to form and $300 a year to stay formed, before a single license fee.
The business tax license has two doors
Tennessee business tax is collected by the state, but the license itself comes from your county clerk, and from your city clerk too if your city levies the tax. A $15 registration fee buys the license at each level, a location under $100,000 in gross receipts holds a minimal activity license, and at $100,000 you need the standard license. The Department of Revenue will not let you operate before the license is posted.
Franchise and excise tax catches quiet LLCs
An LLC with no profit still files Form FAE 170 and still pays the franchise tax: 0.25 percent of Tennessee net worth with a $100 minimum, next to a 6.5 percent excise tax on taxable income. Sole proprietors and general partnerships skip that return entirely, which changes the entity math for a one chair business.
Every shop answers to a designated manager
State law makes it unlawful to operate a shop without a valid license displayed, and every shop files the name of a designated manager, licensed in at least one discipline the shop offers, who is responsible for the shop while on duty. A Tennessee shop is never just a lease and a set of keys: someone licensed is always on the hook for what happens inside it.
Microblading answers to Health, not the beauty board
Tattoos and semi-permanent makeup sit with the Department of Health, not the Department of Commerce and Insurance. A studio certificate comes from your county health department for $280, expires every December 31, and the studio is inspected at least four times a year. Cosmetology school does not shorten that route by one day.
Braiding is a $30 registration, not a license
Since July 1, 2019 a Tennessee braider works on a registration: 16 hours of health and hygiene training, a $30 biennial registration through the state portal, sanitized or disposable instruments, and a posted notice that the braider is not licensed. Calling yourself a licensed natural hair stylist without the 300 hour license is exactly what the statute forbids, and a braiding only shop needs no shop license until it hires a licensee.
Tennessee guides by business type
Hair salon
The flagship route: the 1,500 hour cosmetologist license at $60, a cosmetology shop license at $100 plus a $50 inspection, and the designated manager filing every Tennessee shop lives under.
Barbershop
The master barber route at 1,500 hours, the 340 hour barber technician license, a shop certificate that needs an inspection before the doors open, and the safety razor line that separates barbers from cosmetologists.
Nail salon
The manicurist license at 600 hours, the manicure shop and combined manicure and skin care shop licenses, and the same $60 and $100 fee pattern that runs through the whole board.
Lash studio
Tennessee is one of the states with a real lash license: the 300 hour eyelash specialist, an eyelash services shop category of its own, and tinting that stays with aestheticians and cosmetologists.
Esthetics
The aesthetician license at 750 hours, the skin care shop license, a scope that includes lashes and waxing, and the hard wall rule that keeps massage and tattooing out of a skin care shop.
Salon suite
No suite license exists in Tennessee, so a suite building is a stack of individual shop licenses, designated managers and dual shop licenses, one premises at a time.
Braiding
Two doors into braiding: the $30 registration with 16 hours of training and a posted notice, or the 300 hour natural hair stylist license. Which door you take decides whether your shop needs a license too.
Microblading
Permanent cosmetics runs through the tattoo statute: a $140 artist license, an apprenticeship year in a certified shop, and a $280 studio certificate from the county health department that expires every December 31.
Massage
The 500 hour licensed massage therapist route and the part owners miss: Tennessee licenses the establishment too, at $225 to open and $135 every two years, with 24 hours of continuing education per cycle.
What this Tennessee 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 Tennessee fees, assumed name registration split the way Tennessee splits it, the EIN, the Department of Revenue tax treatment stated precisely for that trade, booth rent classification, hiring, the county and city layer, insurance, a renewal calendar, and official sources for every figure. The shared business stack appears in every guide because most Tennessee beauty businesses are opened by the license holder, and the numbers differ by trade: an eyelash specialist is licensed in 300 hours while a cosmetologist needs 1,500, a braider can register without any license at all, and a microblading artist needs a credential that comes from the tattoo statute rather than the cosmetology one.
Tennessee is the fifteenth 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.
Official Tennessee resources
- Board of Cosmetology and Barber Examiners: licenses, shops, rules and the CORE portal
- CORE: the state licensing portal for applications and renewals
- Verify a Tennessee professional license
- Board of Massage Licensure: therapist and establishment licensing
- Department of Health Environmental Health: tattoo program and local health departments
- Secretary of State: business services, entity filings and assumed names
- Department of Revenue: business tax, sales tax and franchise and excise tax
- Department of Labor and Workforce Development: employer unemployment insurance
Tennessee sources last reviewed: November 3, 2026