Cosmetologists
Cosmetology Exam Requirements by State
After the training hours question, this is the one that worries people most. For 31 of the 51 jurisdictions we have read, an arriving licensee is asked nothing about examinations at all. Where something does apply, what matters is whether it is written into a rule or merely printed on a page.
The Problem Is Usually Paperwork, Not Competence
Someone who has cut hair for ten years is rarely worried about passing a test. The thing that actually stops transfers is narrower and stranger. A receiving state asks your old board to confirm you passed a practical examination, and your old board cannot produce that document.
Pennsylvania is the clearest case. It stopped administering a practical examination on November 25, 2014, so a Pennsylvania certification carries no practical examination scores for any era. A state asking Pennsylvania to confirm you passed one is asking for a record that was never created.
That is not a Pennsylvania problem. It is a problem for anyone whose state dropped, converted or delegated its practical, and the receiving state has no column on its form for that answer.
Severity Matters More Than Existence
Knowing a state asks about exams tells you very little. Knowing where the requirement is written tells you whether it can be questioned. We graded all 51 on the same scale.
- Nothing to clear. 29 jurisdictions. The transfer route asks nothing about examinations.
- Removed. 2 jurisdictions carried a requirement and deleted it, so nothing bites today.
- Board guidance only. 6 jurisdictions ask for it on a web page or a form, with no statute or rule behind it. Worth asking about directly, because a requirement with nothing behind it is one a board can be asked to justify.
- Written into a rule. 11 jurisdictions. This is settled and asking will not move it, so price the cure instead.
- Documented board policy. 1 jurisdiction. Maryland states its position in writing and names Pennsylvania by date.
- Left to the board. 2 jurisdictions decide case by case, which is the hardest kind to plan around because the answer is not published anywhere.
27 of the 51 publish a way through. Several accept documented years of practice instead of exam records. Kentucky accepts two years. Colorado substitutes 1,000 hours of recent work for a practical, inside the same sentence that requires one.
A Real Requirement Can Still Have a Cheap Cure
Maine requires an arriving licensee to sit its two part examination by rule, which is about as firm as these get. But Maine administers its practical remotely, and its candidate bulletin carries an out of state registration path. So the answer is not a refusal, it is $268 and an afternoon.
That distinction is invisible unless you read the exam vendor's bulletin rather than the board's own pages, which is why a state can look closed and be open.
Every Jurisdiction
| State | Exams you would sit | Does it demand your old exam record |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | None on the five year route. Under five years you sit Alabama's practical examination. | Yes, guidance only |
| Alaska | None from you. Alaska waives its own examinations for an arriving licensee, and it has no state law or jurisprudence test. What it wants is documentation about the examinations your own state administered. | Yes, guidance only |
| Arizona | None. The universal recognition statute conditions its examination clause on the words if required by the other state, so a licensee from a state that requires no practical examination satisfies it by default. | No |
| Arkansas | The Arkansas law examination, and nothing else if you have held your license one year or more. Passing score 70 under 17 CAR 54-203(g)(2). The department schedules it for you once your application arrives. If you have held your license under one year, add the National Cosmetology Theory Examination through Prov, Inc. No practical examination appears on either branch of the department's form. | Yes, written into a rule |
| California | None. California removed its own practical examination in 2022 and asks arriving licensees for no examination evidence at all. | No |
| Colorado | None on the second alternative. On the equivalence path a written examination is required with no substitute, but the second path bypasses examinations entirely. | No |
| Connecticut | None. Connecticut asks that your license was issued on a program of education and training plus an examination, without specifying which kind. | No |
| Delaware | The statute and rule ask for none. A board webpage requires a passed written and practical examination on both methods. | Yes, guidance only |
| District of Columbia | None on the transfer route. D.C. Code 47-2853.12(b) says a board shall waive the requirements for passage of an examination or other proof of fitness to practice, which is broader than an exam waiver and is drafted as a duty rather than a power. | The board decides |
| Florida | None. Florida asks arriving licensees for no examination evidence of any kind. | No |
| Georgia | None, if your home state gave you both a written and a practical examination and can document them. Georgia asks for the documents, not for a new test. | Yes, written into a rule |
| Hawaii | The PSI Cosmetologist Theory Examination, at 75 points, unless waived by a passing NIC or PSI score already earned in another jurisdiction. | No |
| Idaho | None on either endorsement branch. Idaho Code 54-5816 issues the license without examination. Exams appear only on the hours makeup tier, where the applicant sits the NIC written and practical through Prov. | Yes, written into a rule |
| Illinois | None. The certification Illinois requests asks only for your name, license number, original issue date and expiration date, with no field for examinations at all. | No |
| Indiana | Indiana does not examine you. It asks whether your home state required at least 70 percent passing on both a written and a practical examination. | Yes, written into a rule |
| Iowa | None. The statute issues without an examination, and its examination condition is qualified by the words if applicable. | No |
| Kansas | None on the militia title door. On the cosmetology route it is a twenty question open book test if your hours clear, or both Kansas examinations if they do not. | No |
| Kentucky | A certified theory and practical examination score, or two years of practice instead. | Yes, written into a rule |
| Louisiana | A state theory examination, a national theory examination, and a hands on practical. | No |
| Maine | A written examination and a practical examination, both required of endorsement applicants by 02-041 chapter 21 section 1(3). No state law or jurisprudence examination, discontinued effective July 1, 2012 and replaced by an attestation on the application. | Yes, written into a rule |
| Maryland | A written and a practical examination given by the board, unless it waives them. | Yes, documented policy |
| Massachusetts | Proof that you passed a license examination somewhere. Massachusetts never asks specifically for a practical. | No |
| Michigan | Michigan does not re-examine you. It examines the state that licensed you, and asks whether that state required both a theory and a practical examination. | Yes, guidance only |
| Minnesota | Minnesota waives its theory and written practical examinations only if a certification of licensure attests that you passed such a test. | Yes, written into a rule |
| Mississippi | On the universal door, one Mississippi Law and Sanitation Examination, taken after the board issues your temporary work permit and within a year. No national theory examination and no practical. On the reciprocity door, Mississippi's written theory examination, unless you passed a nationally developed theory examination and your state is on the board's grid. | No |
| Missouri | None. The statute grants the license without examination in its own words, and neither door asks a single question about your examination history. | Yes, written into a rule |
| Montana | Nothing if your state is on the equivalency list. If it is not, the NIC theory and practical exams at 75 percent each under ARM 24.121.611, booked through the board exam contractor Prov after staff approve you to register. Montana runs no separate law or jurisprudence exam. | No |
| Nebraska | None, if your license was issued on the basis of an examination and you can document it. If your jurisdiction required no examination, you take the NIC written examination through PSI and need a scaled 75. | No |
| Nevada | A 25 question law test at 75 percent. | No |
| New Hampshire | None. No written exam, no practical exam and no jurisprudence exam on the endorsement route. Plc 313.18(b) asks whether the state that licensed you requires a competency examination, and Plc 313.05 never asks you to produce a result. Plc 313.10(e) defines a New Hampshire jurisprudence exam and five other sections of the same rule chapter impose one, being funeral directors, optometry, physical therapists, professional engineers and veterinary medicine. The cosmetology section does not. | No |
| New Jersey | None. The cosmetology route issues without examination in its own words. | No |
| New Mexico | None at entry. New Mexico's three segment practical and written examination becomes a prerequisite to your first renewal under 16.34.6.12(B) NMAC. The board's FAQ also asks out of state applicants for a jurisprudence exam, which is an open book, take home, twenty question form with no published passing score and no rule requiring it. | No |
| New York | None on the transfer routes. New York asks for a certification of current licensure and never for exam evidence. | No |
| North Carolina | None. The board answers the question directly, that a person holding a current license in another state will not have to take an exam. | No |
| North Dakota | None for most arrivals. NDAC 32-05-01-01.2 is the only rule imposing examinations on an endorsement applicant, and it imposes them only if you have held your license less than one year, or your original jurisdiction did not require the NIC practical and theory examinations and you have held that license less than three years. The North Dakota law exam that the previous statute required of every transfer was deleted effective January 1, 2026 and no rule restored it. | Yes, written into a rule |
| Ohio | None. The statute asks whether your home state required education, training, experience or an examination, and the word is or, so training alone satisfies it. | No, requirement removed |
| Oklahoma | A 34 question open book test on the rules, taken at the board office. | No |
| Oregon | The Oregon Laws and Rules examination, plus a written examination for each field of practice you seek. | No |
| Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania stopped administering a practical examination on November 25, 2014, and has not required one since. | No |
| Rhode Island | A passed written and practical examination. The written is the NIC examination delivered by PSI, passing score 70 percent. The practical is required by statute and rule at the same passing score. | Yes, written into a rule |
| South Carolina | None on the two year endorsement branch. On the other branch, a nationally recognized exam already passed, which the board reads as the NIC theory and practical. | Yes, guidance only |
| South Dakota | The South Dakota Cosmetology Laws and Rules examination, which every reciprocity applicant takes and which arrives as an emailed link. The NIC written theory examination on top of that, unless your home board certifies that you passed a state administered or authorized theory examination, in which case ARSD 20:42:03:14 waives it. | No |
| Tennessee | A written and practical examination is required, and the board decides case by case whether to waive it for an arriving licensee. | The board decides |
| Texas | None, if your jurisdiction and your years of licensure clear the table. Texas asks the jurisdiction about examinations rather than asking you, so no exam score of yours is requested. | No |
| Utah | None named in the endorsement statute. | No |
| Vermont | None. 26 V.S.A. 285 begins "Without requiring an examination," and the Fast Track route names no examination either. There is no Vermont law or jurisprudence test, and no exam appears at first renewal. | No |
| Virginia | None on the universal recognition door. The endorsement door requires a written and a practical examination, which is the structure that traps licensees from single exam states. | Yes, written into a rule |
| Washington | This is the unresolved question in Washington, and four official texts disagree. | Yes, guidance only |
| West Virginia | None. The general act asks whether an examination was required by the other state, so a licensee from a state that requires none satisfies it by default. | No |
| Wisconsin | None, and the reason is structural rather than generous. | No |
| Wyoming | None for endorsement. W.S. 33-12-132 grants the license without examination, and the rule adds no exam condition. The only exam question Wyoming asks is about your home state, being whether it requires a board examination at all. | No, requirement removed |
Common Questions
Do I have to retake the cosmetology exam when I move states?
In 31 of the 51 jurisdictions we have read, no. The transfer route asks nothing about examinations. In the remaining 20 something does apply, though it ranges from a line of board guidance you can ask about up to a written rule, and 27 of all of them publish a way through it.
What if my old state cannot send my exam scores?
This is the trap, and it is more common than people expect. Pennsylvania certifications carry no practical examination scores for any era, because Pennsylvania stopped administering a practical in November 2014. So a state asking for proof you passed one is asking for a document that does not exist, and the problem is the paperwork rather than your competence.
Can I be refused for something my own state never did?
Yes, and it has happened. Maryland documents the position in writing and names Pennsylvania by date. Indiana and Tennessee have recorded denials. That is why the severity of the requirement matters as much as whether one exists, since a line of guidance can be questioned and a written rule usually cannot.
Is a practical exam always a hands-on exam?
No. Kansas converted its practical to a 125 question multiple choice written test in 2021, so a state asking whether you passed a practical can get a yes that means something quite different from what it assumes. Several states have dropped theirs entirely.
Your State
Each state page gives the exact provision, what it asks for, the cure if one exists, and what we could not verify.
See all 51 jurisdictions or read the training hours guide, which answers the question people ask first.
Exam requirements were graded from statutes, administrative rules and board guidance for 51 jurisdictions. Each state page carries its own citation and verification date.