Indiana · Professional Licensing Agency
Indiana cosmetology license lookup.
Indiana calls these credentials beauty culture licences and issues them through the Professional Licensing Agency for the State Board of Cosmetology and Barber Examiners.
Short answer: The PLA licensing page links a Verify a license search at mylicense.in.gov, and a separate route for an official verification of an Indiana licence. They answer different questions. This page does not look anyone up.
How to check, step by step
- Open the PLA Cosmetology & Barber Licensing Information page and find the Verify a license link.
- Use that search to see whether a beauty culture licence is on record and what its status is.
- If a licensee or an employer needs formal proof for another state or purpose, that is the Obtain an Official Verification of my IN License route, not the search.
- For an instructor, remember there are two licences to check: the instructor licence and the primary beauty culture licence it depends on.
Official pages
The licences Indiana calls beauty culture
The PLA page uses the term beauty culture and names five primary licences: cosmetologist, electrologist, manicurist, barber and esthetician. All are issued by the Indiana State Board of Cosmetology and Barber Examiners. Facilities have their own application, so a salon is licensed separately from the people who work in it.
An instructor must hold one of those primary licences and must keep it for as long as they hold the instructor licence. That dependency is useful when checking a school: an instructor record is only as good as the primary licence beneath it.
Search versus official verification
The PLA page links two different things. The Verify a license link is the public search. The Obtain an Official Verification of my IN License link is for the licensee who needs a certified record, for example to apply in another state. Those are not interchangeable: a screenshot of a search result is not an official verification, and the PLA route is for the holder to order, not for a third party to run.
The page also lists a Beauty Culture Provisional Verification form and a Monthly Verified Report. We list them because they exist on the page, not because a consumer needs them for a normal check.
Public record and what it means for you
The PLA tells applicants that the information they provide becomes public record under Ind. Code 4-1-6, while examination scores and transcripts stay confidential except where law requires release. In practice, that is why a licence record can show details beyond a name. An application not completed within one year is treated as abandoned, so a missing licence for a recent applicant can simply mean the file lapsed.
A worked example (hypothetical)
A school owner is hiring an esthetics instructor. She searches the person on the Verify a license page and finds the instructor record. She then looks for the primary esthetician licence, since the instructor licence depends on it. If the primary licence is missing or not current, she asks the candidate to explain before hiring. If the candidate is licensed in another state and wants to transfer, they order the official verification from their home state, not from Indiana. No real person is described.
What this page does not cover
We did not open the search tool itself, only the PLA page that links to it, so this guide describes its fields and statuses no further. It publishes no licence-number format and offers no number check.
Sources
Read November 1, 2026. Each page was opened and checked against the claim next to it.
- PLA: Cosmetology & Barber Licensing Information: licence types, instructor rule, public-record notice, abandoned-application rule and the verification links.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Indiana cosmetology license lookup?
The PLA Cosmetology & Barber Licensing Information page links to a Verify a license search at mylicense.in.gov.
Which Indiana licences are called beauty culture licences?
The PLA page names cosmetologist, electrologist, manicurist, barber and esthetician as the primary licences, with instructors and facilities licensed on top.
Is the search the same as an official verification?
No. The PLA offers a separate Obtain an Official Verification of my IN License route for formal proof.
What must an Indiana beauty culture instructor hold?
A primary beauty culture licence from the Indiana State Board of Cosmetology and Barber Examiners, kept for as long as the instructor licence is held.
Why might a recent applicant not appear?
The PLA says an application not completed within one year is abandoned. A new application is then treated as a new one.
Is this page an official verification?
No. It links to the official tools and cannot confirm a licence by itself.
Guide only — not an official verification
TNAADO is not affiliated with any licensing authority named here and does not check anyone’s licence. Registers and rules change, so confirm on the official site and with the regulator for anything that matters. This is general information, not legal or financial advice, and this page collects no personal data.