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Beyond Beauty: Exploring the Fascinating World of Cosmetologists

How U.S. cosmetologists train, pass state exams, keep licenses, and earn a living, plus new rules on hair chemicals and textured-hair training.

By Written Facts StaffJune 3, 2023Updated October 13, 20266 min read

You sit down in the salon chair, describe the color you want, and someone you may have met five minutes earlier starts mixing chemicals that will sit on your scalp. What qualifies them? In the United States, a cosmetologist is a state-licensed professional who has logged at least 1,000 hours of training in states such as California, Texas, and New York, passed a state exam, and works under federal chemical-safety and tax rules. Nearly half run their own business. Here is what that path looks like, what it pays, and what is changing.

It Starts With Hours, Not Months

Cosmetology training is measured in clock hours, and each state sets its own minimum. Several large states have cut their requirements in recent years:

California: Senate Bill 803 lowered the requirement from 1,600 hours to 1,000 hours, effective January 1, 2022. Barbering also dropped to 1,000 hours.
Texas: House Bill 2847 lowered pre-licensing instruction for a Cosmetology Operator license from 1,500 hours to 1,000 hours at a state-licensed school.
New York: Students complete a 1,000-hour approved curriculum and must also submit a physical health certification signed by a physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner.
Florida: Candidates need at least 1,200 hours at a licensed cosmetology school before they can take the exam.

The person doing your color in Miami therefore trained longer, on paper, than the person doing it in Los Angeles. The hours are also only the first step. A student still has to pass an exam.

The Exam Depends on the State

The National-Interstate Council of State Boards of Cosmetology (NIC) writes candidate bulletins and standardized tests in three formats: written, practical, and combined written-practical. Each state decides which ones to adopt and administers them itself.

That produces real differences. Texas students can take the written exam after 900 hours. They can take the PSI-administered practical exam, where they demonstrate skills by hand, only after finishing all 1,000 hours and passing the written portion. California has dropped the practical exam altogether. Since SB 803 took effect in 2022, a California license is granted on the written state board exam alone.

Moving to Another State Is Getting Easier, Slowly

Because hours and exams vary so much, a license has traditionally stayed inside the state that issued it. The Cosmetology Licensure Compact, developed with The Council of State Governments, is meant to change that. It reached its activation threshold of seven states in 2024. As of July 2026, 13 states had enacted it: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.

The compact is not usable yet. Cosmetologists cannot apply for multistate practice privileges until the compact's commission finishes its interstate data system and administrative rules. For now, a stylist who moves still has to deal with the new state's board directly.

Keeping the License: Continuing Education Is Not Universal

Once licensed, a cosmetologist renews on a schedule. Many people assume renewal requires ongoing classes, but in several big states it does not:

California renews licenses every two years with no continuing education requirement.
New York renews every four years, also with no continuing education requirement.
Pennsylvania renews every two years through its online licensing system (PALS) with a fee and no classroom continuing education hours for individual practitioners.

Florida is the exception among these states. Its cosmetologists must complete 16 hours of board-approved continuing education every two-year cycle. Since July 1, 2024, practitioners who have held an active license for at least 10 consecutive years with no disciplinary history are exempt.

Any skill a stylist adds after licensing, such as a new cutting technique, is often a personal choice rather than a legal requirement. That makes the content of the original training more important.

What Schools Must Teach Is Changing

New York has changed what new cosmetologists learn. Under Senate Bill S6528A, effective September 1, 2026, every approved cosmetology program in the state must teach textured hair types and curl patterns and test students on them. This happens within the existing 1,000 hours.

The change addresses a common frustration among clients with curly, coily, or tightly textured hair: a licensed stylist who was never trained to work on their hair. In New York, that training is now part of the license.

The Chemistry Is Regulated, Too

Training covers more than technique, because some salon products are hazardous. Hair-smoothing treatments are the best-known example. The FDA has warned that smoothing products made with formaldehyde, formalin, or methylene glycol release harmful fumes into the air during application and blow-drying. The agency has proposed a federal rule to ban formaldehyde in hair-straightening and smoothing products.

OSHA has issued hazard alerts about the same products, which release formaldehyde gas when heated with flat irons. In salons, OSHA enforces its Formaldehyde Standard (29 CFR 1910.1048) and its Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200), which covers how workers are informed about chemical hazards.

The products themselves also face closer oversight. The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA) gave the FDA new authority over cosmetics:

mandatory facility registration
ingredient listings
reporting of serious adverse events
the power to order mandatory recalls

The Business Side: Pay, Self-Employment, and Taxes

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for barbers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists was $35,880 in 2025, or $17.25 an hour. For hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists specifically, the median was $17.21 an hour.

About 48% of workers in the field are self-employed, so many stylists are also running a small business. A common arrangement is booth rental, where a stylist rents space inside someone else's salon and works for themselves. The IRS treats booth renters differently from salon employees for tax purposes and explains the distinction in Publication 4902. Tips are also significant enough that the IRS runs a program for them, the Tip Reporting Alternative Commitment (TRAC), which covers how cosmetology shops track customer tips.

Where the Field Is Heading

The BLS counted 670,800 jobs for barbers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists in 2025. It projects employment to grow 7% between 2025 and 2035, adding 48,400 jobs, with about 80,300 openings expected each year as people enter, leave, and change jobs.

Those new workers will enter a profession with lower training-hour requirements in several large states, licenses that may soon work across state lines, more emphasis on textured hair, and closer federal attention to the chemicals they use. The person at your salon chair has met a state standard. How demanding that standard is depends on where you are sitting.

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