2023 -- H 6369

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LC002461

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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 Arthur J. Corvese

     Date Introduced: May 05, 2023

     Referred To: House Corporations

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Sections 5-10-1 and 5-10-8 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) “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.

     (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

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,

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singeing, bleaching, coloring, or similarly treating the hair of any person, or the application or

removal of eyelash extensions, fibers or false eyelashes to an eyelid or eyelids and any use or

application of any chemical, adhesive, glue, tonic, oil, dye, serum or lotion to the area of the eyelid,

eyelash or the eyebrow. 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, which shall include

a separate course and certificate for application or removal of eyelash extensions, fibers or false

eyelashes issued by the division;

     (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

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

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

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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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 add the application or removal of eyelash extensions and the use of

chemicals in the area of the eyelids to the definition of the "practice of hairdressing and cosmetic

therapy".

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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