2023 -- H 5162

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LC000556

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2023

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- BARBERS, HAIRDRESSERS,

COSMETICIANS, MANICURISTS AND ESTHETICIANS

     Introduced By: Representative Julie A. Casimiro

     Date Introduced: January 19, 2023

     Referred To: House Corporations

     (by request)

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Sections 5-10-1, 5-10-8 and 5-10-9 of the General Laws in Chapter 5-10

entitled "Barbers, Hairdressers, Cosmeticians, Manicurists and Estheticians" are hereby amended

to read as follows:

     5-10-1. Definitions.

     The following words and phrases, when used in this chapter, are construed as follows:

     (1) “Apprentice barber” means an employee whose principal occupation is service with a

barber who has held a current license as a barber for at least three (3) years with a view to learning

the art of barbering, as defined in subsection (14).

     (2) “Barber” means any person who shaves or trims the beard; waves, dresses, singes,

shampoos, or dyes the hair; or applies hair tonics, cosmetic preparations, antiseptics, powders, oil

clays, or lotions to the scalp, face, or neck of any person; or cuts the hair of any person; gives facial

and scalp massages; or treatments with oils, creams, lotions, or other preparations.

     (3) “Board” means the state board of barbering and hairdressing as provided for in this

chapter.

     (4) “Department” means the Rhode Island department of health.

     (5) “Division” means the division of professional regulation within the department of

health.

     (6) “Esthetician” means a person who engages in the practice of esthetics, and is licensed

as an esthetician.

     (7) “Esthetician shop” means a shop licensed under this chapter to do esthetics of any

person.

     (8) “Esthetics” means the practice of cleansing, stimulating, manipulating, and beautifying

skin, including, but not limited to, the treatment of such skin problems as dehydration, temporary

capillary dilation, excessive oiliness, and clogged pores.

     (9) “Hair design shop” means a shop licensed under this chapter to do barbering or

hairdressing/cosmetology, or both, to any person.

     (10)(i) “Hairdresser and cosmetician” means any person who arranges, dresses, curls, cuts,

waves, singes, bleaches, or colors the hair or treats the scalp, or manicures the nails of any person,

either with or without compensation, or who, by the use of the hands or appliances, or of cosmetic

preparations, antiseptics, tonics, lotions, creams, powders, oils or clays, engages, with or without

compensation, in massaging, cleansing, stimulating, manipulating, exercising, or beautifying, or in

doing similar work upon the neck, face, or arms, or who removes superfluous hair from the body

of any person.

     (ii) "Apprentice hairdresser" means an employee whose principal occupation is service

with a hairdresser who has held a current license as a hairdresser for at least three (3) years with a

view to learning the art of hairdressing as defined in subsection (15) of this section.

     (11) “Instructor” means any person licensed as an instructor under the provisions of this

chapter.

     (12) “Manicuring shop” means a shop licensed under this chapter to do manicuring only

on the nails of any person.

     (13) “Manicurist” means any person who engages in manicuring for compensation and is

duly licensed as a manicurist.

     (14) “Practice of barbering” means the engaging by any licensed barber in all, or any

combination of, the following practices: shaving or trimming the beard or cutting the hair; giving

facial and scalp massages or treatments with oils, creams, lotions, or other preparations, either by

hand or mechanical appliances; singeing, shampooing, arranging, dressing, curling, waving,

chemical waving, hair relaxing, or dyeing the hair or applying hair tonics; or applying cosmetic

preparations, antiseptics, powders, oils, clays, or lotions to the scalp, face, or neck.

     (15) “Practice of hairdressing and cosmetic therapy” means the engaging by any licensed

hairdresser and cosmetician in any one or more of the following practices: the application of the

hands or of mechanical or electrical apparatus, with or without cosmetic preparations, tonics,

lotions, creams, antiseptics, or clays, to massage, cleanse, stimulate, manipulate, exercise, or

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otherwise to improve or to beautify the scalp, face, neck, shoulders, arms, bust, or upper part of the

body; or the manicuring of the nails of any person; or the removing of superfluous hair from the

body of any person; or the arranging, dressing, curling, waving, weaving, cleansing, cutting,

singeing, bleaching, coloring, or similarly treating the hair of any person. Provided, however, that

the practice of hairdressing and cosmetic therapy shall not include natural hair braiding.

     (16) “Practice of manicuring” means the cutting, trimming, polishing, tinting, coloring, or

cleansing the nails of any person.

     (17) “School” means a school approved under chapter 40 of title 16, as amended, devoted

to the instruction in, and study of, the theory and practice of barbering, hairdressing, and cosmetic

therapy, esthetics, and/or manicuring.

     5-10-8. Issuance of licenses — Qualifications of applicants.

     (a) The division shall issue licenses to persons engaged in, or desiring to engage in, the

practice of barbering, hairdressing and cosmetic therapy and/or manicuring or esthetics and for

instructing in any approved school of barbering or hairdressing and cosmetic therapy and

manicuring or esthetics; provided, that no license shall be issued to any person under this chapter

unless the applicant for the license:

     (1) Is at least eighteen (18) years of age;

     (2) Is a citizen of the United States of America or has legal entry into the country;

     (3) Is of good moral character;

     (4) Is a high school graduate or holds the equivalent or has twenty-five (25) or more years

of prior experience in the practice for which the license is sought;

     (5) Has satisfactorily completed the course of instruction in an approved school of

barbering, hairdressing, and cosmetic therapy and/or manicuring or esthetics or completed a two

(2) year apprenticeship with a licensed hairdresser as defined in § 5-10-1;

     (6) Has satisfactorily passed a written and a practical examination approved by the division

to determine the fitness of the applicant to receive a license; and

     (7) Has complied with § 5-10-10 and any other qualifications that the division prescribes

by regulation.

     (b) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (a)(4), on and after July 1, 1997, an

applicant seeking licensure as a barber must be a high school graduate or hold the equivalent

combination of education and experience.

     (c) The division may license, on a case-by-case basis, with or without examination, any

individual who has been licensed as an esthetician, barber, cosmetologist, electrologist, or

manicurist under the laws of another state, which, in the opinion of the division, maintains a

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standard substantially equivalent to that of the state of Rhode Island.

     5-10-9. Classes of licenses.

     Licenses shall be divided into the following classes and shall be issued by the division to

applicants for the licenses who have qualified for each class of license:

     (1) A “hairdresser’s and cosmetician’s license” shall be issued by the division to every

applicant for the license who meets the requirements of § 5-10-8 and has completed a course of

instruction in hairdressing and cosmetology consisting of not less than twelve hundred (1,200)

hours of continuous study and practice.

     (i) Effective January 1, 2024, to obtain a hairdresser's license, a person must have

possessed, for at least two (2) years prior to the filing of the application, a certificate of registration

in full force and effect from the department of health of the state specifying that person as a

registered, apprentice hairdresser. The application of that applicant shall be accompanied by an

affidavit, or affidavits, from his or her employer, or former employers, or other reasonably

satisfactory evidence showing that the applicant has been actually engaged in hairdressing as an

apprentice hairdresser in the state during those two (2) years.

     (2) An “instructor’s license” shall be granted by the division to any applicant for the license

who has held a hairdresser’s and cosmetician’s license, a barber’s license, a manicurist’s license,

or an esthetician’s license, issued under the laws of this state or another state, for at least the three

(3) years preceding the date of application for an instructor’s license and:

     (i) Meets the requirements of § 5-10-8;

     (ii) Has satisfactorily completed three hundred (300) hours of instruction in hairdressing

and cosmetology, barber, manicurist, or esthetician teacher training approved by the division as

prescribed by regulation;

     (iii) Has satisfactorily passed a written and a practical examination approved by the

division to determine the fitness of the applicant to receive an instructor’s license;

     (iv) Has complied with § 5-10-10; and

     (v) Has complied with any other qualifications that the division prescribes by regulation.

     (3) A “manicurist license” shall be granted to any applicant for the license who meets the

following qualifications:

     (i) Meets the requirements of § 5-10-8; and

     (ii) Has completed a course of instruction, consisting of not less than three hundred (300)

hours of professional training in manicuring, in an approved school.

     (4) An “esthetician license” shall be granted to any applicant for the license who meets the

following qualifications:

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     (i) Meets the requirements of § 5-10-8;

     (ii) Has completed a course of instruction in esthetics, consisting of not less than six

hundred (600) hours of continuous study and practice over a period of not less than four (4) months,

in an approved school of hairdressing and cosmetology; and

     (iii) Any applicant who holds a diploma or certificate from a skin-care school, that is

recognized as a skin-care school by the state or nation in which it is located, and meets the

requirements of subsection (4)(i) of this section, shall be granted a license to practice esthetics;

provided, that the skin-care school has a requirement that, in order to graduate from the school, a

student must have completed a number of hours of instruction in the practice of skin care, which

number is at least equal to the number of hours of instruction required by the division.

     (5) A “barber” license shall be issued by the division to every applicant for the license who

meets the requirements of § 5-10-8 and:

     (i) Has completed a course of instruction in barbering consisting of not less than one

thousand five hundred (1,500) hours of continuous study and practice in an approved school;

     (ii) Has possessed, for at least two (2) years prior to the filing of the application, a certificate

of registration in full force and effect from the department of health of the state specifying that

person as a registered, apprentice barber, and the application of that applicant is accompanied by

an affidavit, or affidavits, from his or her employer, or former employers, or other reasonably

satisfactory evidence showing that the applicant has been actually engaged in barbering as an

apprentice barber in the state during those two (2) years; or

     (iii) A combination of barber school training and apprenticeship training as determined by

the rules and regulations prescribed by the division.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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LC000556

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- BARBERS, HAIRDRESSERS,

COSMETICIANS, MANICURISTS AND ESTHETICIANS

***

     This act would allow hairdressers to have apprentices. After a two (2) year apprenticeship,

the apprentice would be eligible to apply for a hairdresser license pursuant to § 5-10-8.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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