Virginia Beauty and Barber School Requirements: Minimum Hours by License
Minimum curriculum hours for Virginia barber, cosmetology, nail, waxing, esthetics and master esthetics programs, what a licensed school must do, and how to check a school with DPOR.
Who regulates beauty schools in Virginia
Virginia's Board for Barbers and Cosmetology, part of the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR), licenses barbers, cosmetologists, nail technicians, wax technicians and estheticians, and the schools that train them. Each school license covers one discipline. A school that teaches cosmetology and esthetics, for example, holds two licenses, and this site lists every license a location holds.
Minimum program hours
The board's regulations set the minimum clock hours a school's approved curriculum must be based on (18VAC41-20-200 and 18VAC41-70-180):
- Barber: 750 hours
- Master barber: 250 hours
- Dual barber/master barber program: 1,000 hours
- Cosmetology: 1,000 hours
- Nail technician: 150 hours
- Wax technician: 115 hours
- Esthetician: 600 clock or equivalent credit hours
- Master esthetician: 600 clock or equivalent credit hours
These are minimums. Many schools run longer programs, so ask how many hours a program actually is, and what it costs per hour.
Practical performances
Hours are not the only requirement. The curriculum must include a minimum number of supervised practical performances (18VAC41-20-220). The cosmetology curriculum, for instance, requires 365 performances, including 60 haircuts, 60 styling services and 65 coloring and bleaching services across all hair types including textured hair, plus nail, lash and brow, skin care and hair removal work. Nail technician programs require 255 performances, waxing 30, and barbering 332, including 12 straight-razor shaves. Ask a school how it schedules clinic time so students reach these numbers on time.
What a licensed school must do
Under 18VAC41-20-200, a barber, cosmetology, nail or waxing school must:
- hold a school license for every location (suites or classrooms in a different building, or more than 500 feet from the main office, count as a separate location);
- hold a salon or shop license if it charges for services in its student clinic, and post a notice that services are performed by students;
- conduct all training under the direct supervision of a licensed, certified instructor in that discipline; and
- submit its curriculum to the board for approval, and resubmit any change.
Esthetics schools have parallel rules (18VAC41-70-180). Their theory instruction may be offered online with board approval, but practical instruction must take place in a traditional brick-and-mortar classroom.
How Virginia compares with Texas
If you might work in more than one state, compare the hours before you choose a program. Cosmetology needs 1,000 hours in both states. The specialty licenses differ a lot: a Virginia esthetics curriculum is at least 600 hours against 750 in Texas, a Virginia nail technician curriculum is at least 150 hours against 600 for a Texas manicurist license, and Virginia's barber curriculum starts at 750 hours (1,000 with master barber) against 1,000 for a Texas Class A barber. A short program can be the fastest route to work in Virginia, but it may leave you short of the hours another state requires, and moving later can mean going back to school. Each state has its own process for licensing people trained elsewhere, so check with the board in the state you might move to.
Student clinics
Many Virginia schools run a clinic open to the public, where students practice on paying clients under instructor supervision. Because the school charges for those services, it must hold a salon, shop or spa license as well as its school license, and post a notice that services are performed by students. For a student, the clinic is where the required practical performances are completed, so its client numbers matter as much as the classroom.
Becoming licensed
To be eligible for the board-approved examination, a Virginia-trained applicant must complete an approved program at a Virginia-licensed school or a registered apprenticeship (18VAC41-20-20 and 18VAC41-70-20). Applicants must disclose felony convictions within the previous 10 years and any discipline in other jurisdictions. The board may deny a license based on them, at its discretion.
Reading a Virginia listing
For each Virginia school, this site shows:
- Disciplines licensed to teach: one line per DPOR school license held at that address.
- License numbers and expiry dates, from DPOR's current regulant lists. Some public programs carry no expiry date in the file.
- First licensed: the earliest certification date among the location's licenses, a good guide to how long the school has operated.
- Public program: community colleges, public school systems and technical centers. These usually serve their own students and may have different admission rules.
DPOR's files do not include phone numbers. Use the message form on a listing, or the school's own website. Confirm any license on DPOR's license lookup.
Tips for Virginia students
- Ask whether the program meets the hours for the license you want, especially if you might move to another state later. Required hours vary widely between states.
- Ask about the apprenticeship option if you already work in a salon or barbershop.
- For esthetics, ask whether the theory hours can be done online, and where the practical training takes place.
- Ask how the school prepares students for the board-approved examination, and how many of its graduates pass on the first attempt.
- If the school runs a public clinic, ask how much clinic floor time students get, since that is where the performance counts come from.
Read our guide to choosing a beauty school for questions about cost, aid and outcomes. When you have a shortlist, use "+ Compare" on the listings here to see up to three schools' licenses, disciplines and years licensed side by side before you visit them in person.
General information only, current as of the date above. The information on Beauty School Check is not a recommendation or a guarantee of anyone's work. A license record shows registration status on the date shown, not workmanship, insurance coverage at the time of your job, or suitability for your project. Confirm license, insurance and permits directly before you hire. Rules and programs change; check the official sources linked in this guide.