Florida Cosmetology Training Hours

Florida requires 1,200 hours of training for a cosmetology license, and names four places they can be earned. A student may sit the examination at 1,000 hours if their school director certifies them — but failing at that point costs the concession, and the full 1,200 must be completed before sitting again.

The four routes

The training must include “the equivalent of completion of services directly related to the practice of cosmetology” at one of (s. 477.019(2)(c)):

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

Private cosmetology schools are licensed by the Commission for Independent Education under chapter 1005 — not by the Board of Cosmetology. How that two-regulator split works is set out under Florida cosmetology schools. The Board sets what the hours must contain; a different body licenses the school teaching them.

Sitting at 1,000 hours

The statute directs the Board to “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 rule that does it adds the part the statute leaves out: the applicant must have “been certified by the Director of the school or program in which he or she is currently enrolled to have achieved the minimum competency standards of performance as prescribed in Chapter 61G5-22, F.A.C., for the hours completed” (Rule 61G5-18.001). It is the director’s certification, against a named competency standard.

Why failing early is expensive

These hours are one of the licensing requirements; the others are the age-or-diploma test, the HIV/AIDS course and the two-part examination. These are the hours for the cosmetology license; the three specialty registrations each carry their own, smaller figure — see Florida’s four credentials. Hours do not stop at licensure either — continuing education sets a separate count for every renewal after it.

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