Title 5
Businesses and Professions

Chapter 10
Barbers, Hairdressers, Cosmeticians, Manicurists and Estheticians

R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-10-9

§ 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 one thousand (1,000) hours of continuous study and practice.

(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:

(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.

History of Section.
P.L. 1926, ch. 765, § 2; P.L. 1936, ch. 2362, § 2; P.L. 1938, ch. 2585, § 2; G.L. 1938, ch. 263, §§ 2, 3; P.L. 1942, ch. 1229, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 5-10-9; P.L. 1974, ch. 246, § 1; P.L. 1985, ch. 181, art. 53, § 1; P.L. 1986, ch. 378, § 1; P.L. 1988, ch. 314, § 1; P.L. 1993, ch. 289, § 1; P.L. 1999, ch. 43, § 1; P.L. 2001, ch. 165, § 1; P.L. 2015, ch. 141, art. 20, § 2; P.L. 2016, ch. 489, § 1; P.L. 2016, ch. 491, § 1; P.L. 2017, ch. 117, § 1; P.L. 2017, ch. 142, § 1; P.L. 2023, ch. 261, § 1, effective June 22, 2023; P.L. 2023, ch. 265, § 1, effective June 22, 2023.