Florida Cosmetology License

To be licensed as a cosmetologist in Florida you must be at least 16 or hold a high school diploma, complete 1,200 hours of board-established training, and pass the licensure examination. The hours can be earned at a licensed school, a public-school program, a government-operated program, or the Cosmetology Division of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind.

Who issues the license, and who sets the rules

The statute separates the two. An applicant “shall apply to the department for licensure” (s. 477.019(1)), while the training requirement is “1,200 hours of training as established by the board” (s. 477.019(2)(c)). So the department handles the application and the board decides what the hours must contain — which is why some answers live in the statute and others only in the board’s rules.

The two eligibility tests

The age test is an alternative, not a pair: an applicant qualifies if they are “at least 16 years of age or has received a high school diploma” (s. 477.019(2)(a)). Meeting either one satisfies it.

The fee test is worth reading closely, because the two fees behave differently. The application fee “is not refundable”. The examination fee “is refundable if the applicant is determined to not be eligible for licensure for any reason other than failure to successfully complete the licensure examination” (s. 477.019(2)(b)). In other words: fail the exam and the examination fee is not coming back; be found ineligible for some other reason and it is.

Where the 1,200 hours can be earned

The statute names four routes, and the training must include “the equivalent of completion of services directly related to the practice of cosmetology” at one of them:

• a school of cosmetology licensed under chapter 1005
• a cosmetology program within the public school system
• the Cosmetology Division of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, provided it meets the chapter’s standards
• a government-operated cosmetology program in this state

Sitting the exam at 1,000 hours, and the catch

A school or program may certify a student to take the examination early. The board “shall establish by rule procedures whereby the school or program may certify that a person is qualified to take the required examination after the completion of a minimum of 1,000 actual school hours.”

The catch is in the next sentence. Pass, and the hours requirement is satisfied at 1,000. Fail, and the applicant “may not be qualified to take the examination again until the completion of the full requirements provided by this section” — the full 1,200 (s. 477.019(2)(c)). Sitting early is a bet on passing first time.

Some work needs no license at all

Braiding, wrapping, nail polish and makeup application are each exempt by statute, within limits that are narrower than they look. That is set out separately, on which work needs no license at all.

Where to go next

The full list of what Florida requires is on the licensing requirements, and the four credentials the state issues — one license and three specialty registrations — are set out under license types. The two-part examination and its 75-point pass mark have their own page, as do renewal and continuing education and transferring a license from another state. A salon is licensed separately from the people in it — see licensing a salon — and if the question is where to train, Florida cosmetology schools covers how schools are approved. To check whether a particular person holds a credential, see checking a license, and for the money question there is what Florida cosmetologists earn.

What this page does not tell you

It does not state what the fees cost. Fees are set by Board rule rather than by the statute quoted above, and this site does not publish a figure it has not read from the current fee rule.