Tennessee cosmetology license lookup.

Who the Tennessee board licenses

The Cosmetology and Barber Examiners Board was created as a combined board in 2014. The cosmetology act dates from 1986 and the barbering act from 1929. The board page says cosmetologist, aesthetician, manicurist, natural hair stylist and eyelash specialist licences, plus cosmetology shops, cosmetology and specialty schools and instructors, are set out in Tennessee Code Annotated Title 62, Chapter 4. Master barbers, barber technicians, barber shops, barber schools and barber instructors are covered by Title 62, Chapter 3.

Its stated mission also names hair braiders. For a consumer, the practical point is that a salon can hold several different licences at once: a shop licence for the premises and an individual licence for each person who works there. Checking one does not check the other.

What expired and invalid mean in Tennessee

The board states that failing to complete all renewal requirements causes a licence to expire, and that anyone who keeps acting as a licensee afterwards is subject to disciplinary action. Reinstating an expired licence does not permit working in the meantime. Licences expired more than three years become invalid, and the holder must take the reinstatement exams, with no waiver.

Schools follow their own calendar. Cosmetology school licences expire on August 31 each year with a 30-day grace period; barber school licences expire one year from the month first licensed and have a one-year grace period. If a school appears lapsed, the grace periods explain why a record can look stale for a while without meaning the school never held a licence.

A worked example (hypothetical)

A client wants to confirm a stylist before booking a long colour appointment. She opens Verify a License, enters the stylist’s name and finds a record. The status is what matters: if it shows current, the check is done. If it shows expired, she asks the stylist whether renewal is in progress, remembering that the board treats work on an expired licence as a disciplinary matter. If nothing appears, she tries the spelling on the stylist’s card and asks for the licence number. Nothing here describes a real person.

What this page does not cover

The board page we read does not publish a licence-number format, so this guide states none and offers no number checker. It does not show how the search displays individual statuses, so it lists no status glossary. Disciplinary history, if you need it, comes from the board directly. Instructors have separate renewal rules (16 hours of approved continuing education and a $70 fee on the renewal page), which matter if you are checking a school instructor rather than a stylist.

Sources

Read November 1, 2026. Each page was opened and checked against the claim next to it.

• Tennessee Cosmetology and Barber Examiners Board: board history, statute chapters, licence types and the Verify a License link.
• Renewal, Reciprocity, & Other Resources: expiry, three-year invalid rule, school grace periods and instructor renewal.