Florida Cosmetology License Requirements

The cosmetology license itself rests on four requirements: being 16 or holding a high school diploma, complete 1,200 hours of board-established training, complete a four-hour board-approved HIV/AIDS course, and pass a two-part written examination. Three come from the statute and one from the Board’s rules, which is why they are not all in the same place.

Age or diploma — an either, not a both

An applicant qualifies who “is at least 16 years of age or has received a high school diploma” (s. 477.019(2)(a)). One or the other satisfies it.

1,200 hours, established by the Board

The statute requires “a minimum of 1,200 hours of training as established by the board” (s. 477.019(2)(c)). The number is statutory; what the hours must contain is set by Board rule. The four places those hours can be earned, and the rule that lets a student sit the exam at 1,000, are covered under where the hours can be earned.

The HIV/AIDS course, and the one extension available

Every applicant “shall complete a board-approved educational course on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)” and submit the certificate of completion with the application. The rule is explicit that “completion of such course shall be a condition of licensure or registration”, and board-approved courses “shall consist of 4 hours combined education” (Rule 61G5-18.011).

There is one way to file without it. An applicant who has completed everything else “may request an additional 6 month period in which to complete this requirement” — but the request must be made at the time of filing the application, by written affidavit showing good cause, and only one such period is granted. Asking later is not provided for.

The examination

Two written parts, both required before licensure, with a passing score of 75. What each part covers is on the examination page.

What is not on this list

No experience requirement, no apprenticeship route, and no citizenship or residency test appears in section 477.019.

What it costs

Fees are set by Board rule rather than by the statute. Licensure by examination carries two: the $40 original licensure fee and the $50 examination fee, of which $49.50 goes to the testing service where one conducts the examination (Rule 61G5-24.002). Licensure by endorsement carries a $50 application fee instead. Renewal is $40 every two years (Rule 61G5-24.008).

The statute sets ceilings above those, not prices — $50 for a cosmetologist’s licensing, renewal and delinquent renewal, and $50 for endorsement, examination and reexamination (s. 477.026(1)). A ceiling is durable; the amount below it is the rule’s, and it moves when the Board amends the rule.

This page is the route by examination. Anyone already holding a current active licence in another state is on a different and much shorter one — see licensure by endorsement.