2023 -- H 6369
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LC002461
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S T A T E O F R H O D E I S L A N D
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2023
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A N A C T
RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- BARBERS, HAIRDRESSERS,
COSMETICIANS, MANICURISTS AND ESTHETICIANS
Introduced By: Representative Arthur J. Corvese
Date Introduced: May 05, 2023
Referred To: House Corporations
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Sections 5-10-1 and 5-10-8 of the General Laws in Chapter 5-10 entitled 1
"Barbers, Hairdressers, Cosmeticians, Manicurists and Estheticians" are hereby amended to read 2
as follows: 3
5-10-1. Definitions. 4
The following words and phrases, when used in this chapter, are construed as follows: 5
(1) “Apprentice barber” means an employee whose principal occupation is service with a 6
barber who has held a current license as a barber for at least three (3) years with a view to learning 7
the art of barbering, as defined in subsection (14). 8
(2) “Barber” means any person who shaves or trims the beard; waves, dresses, singes, 9
shampoos, or dyes the hair; or applies hair tonics, cosmetic preparations, antiseptics, powders, oil 10
clays, or lotions to the scalp, face, or neck of any person; or cuts the hair of any person; gives facial 11
and scalp massages; or treatments with oils, creams, lotions, or other preparations. 12
(3) “Board” means the state board of barbering and hairdressing as provided for in this 13
chapter. 14
(4) “Department” means the Rhode Island department of health. 15
(5) “Division” means the division of professional regulation within the department of 16
health. 17
(6) “Esthetician” means a person who engages in the practice of esthetics, and is licensed 18
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as an esthetician. 1
(7) “Esthetician shop” means a shop licensed under this chapter to do esthetics of any 2
person. 3
(8) “Esthetics” means the practice of cleansing, stimulating, manipulating, and beautifying 4
skin, including, but not limited to, the treatment of such skin problems as dehydration, temporary 5
capillary dilation, excessive oiliness, and clogged pores. 6
(9) “Hair design shop” means a shop licensed under this chapter to do barbering or 7
hairdressing/cosmetology, or both, to any person. 8
(10) “Hairdresser and cosmetician” means any person who arranges, dresses, curls, cuts, 9
waves, singes, bleaches, or colors the hair or treats the scalp, or manicures the nails of any person, 10
either with or without compensation, or who, by the use of the hands or appliances, or of cosmetic 11
preparations, antiseptics, tonics, lotions, creams, powders, oils or clays, engages, with or without 12
compensation, in massaging, cleansing, stimulating, manipulating, exercising, or beautifying, or in 13
doing similar work upon the neck, face, or arms, or who removes superfluous hair from the body 14
of any person. 15
(11) “Instructor” means any person licensed as an instructor under the provisions of this 16
chapter. 17
(12) “Manicuring shop” means a shop licensed under this chapter to do manicuring only 18
on the nails of any person. 19
(13) “Manicurist” means any person who engages in manicuring for compensation and is 20
duly licensed as a manicurist. 21
(14) “Practice of barbering” means the engaging by any licensed barber in all, or any 22
combination of, the following practices: shaving or trimming the beard or cutting the hair; giving 23
facial and scalp massages or treatments with oils, creams, lotions, or other preparations, either by 24
hand or mechanical appliances; singeing, shampooing, arranging, dressing, curling, waving, 25
chemical waving, hair relaxing, or dyeing the hair or applying hair tonics; or applying cosmetic 26
preparations, antiseptics, powders, oils, clays, or lotions to the scalp, face, or neck. 27
(15) “Practice of hairdressing and cosmetic therapy” means the engaging by any licensed 28
hairdresser and cosmetician in any one or more of the following practices: the application of the 29
hands or of mechanical or electrical apparatus, with or without cosmetic preparations, tonics, 30
lotions, creams, antiseptics, or clays, to massage, cleanse, stimulate, manipulate, exercise, or 31
otherwise to improve or to beautify the scalp, face, neck, shoulders, arms, bust, or upper part of the 32
body; or the manicuring of the nails of any person; or the removing of superfluous hair from the 33
body of any person; or the arranging, dressing, curling, waving, weaving, cleansing, cutting, 34
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singeing, bleaching, coloring, or similarly treating the hair of any person, or the application or 1
removal of eyelash extensions, fibers or false eyelashes to an eyelid or eyelids and any use or 2
application of any chemical, adhesive, glue, tonic, oil, dye, serum or lotion to the area of the eyelid, 3
eyelash or the eyebrow. Provided, however, that the practice of hairdressing and cosmetic therapy 4
shall not include natural hair braiding. 5
(16) “Practice of manicuring” means the cutting, trimming, polishing, tinting, coloring, or 6
cleansing the nails of any person. 7
(17) “School” means a school approved under chapter 40 of title 16, as amended, devoted 8
to the instruction in, and study of, the theory and practice of barbering, hairdressing, and cosmetic 9
therapy, esthetics, and/or manicuring. 10
5-10-8. Issuance of licenses — Qualifications of applicants. 11
(a) The division shall issue licenses to persons engaged in, or desiring to engage in, the 12
practice of barbering, hairdressing and cosmetic therapy and/or manicuring or esthetics and for 13
instructing in any approved school of barbering or hairdressing and cosmetic therapy and 14
manicuring or esthetics; provided, that no license shall be issued to any person under this chapter 15
unless the applicant for the license: 16
(1) Is at least eighteen (18) years of age; 17
(2) Is a citizen of the United States of America or has legal entry into the country; 18
(3) Is of good moral character; 19
(4) Is a high school graduate or holds the equivalent or has twenty-five (25) or more years 20
of prior experience in the practice for which the license is sought; 21
(5) Has satisfactorily completed the course of instruction in an approved school of 22
barbering, hairdressing, and cosmetic therapy and/or manicuring or esthetics, which shall include 23
a separate course and certificate for application or removal of eyelash extensions, fibers or false 24
eyelashes issued by the division; 25
(6) Has satisfactorily passed a written and a practical examination approved by the division 26
to determine the fitness of the applicant to receive a license; and 27
(7) Has complied with § 5-10-10 and any other qualifications that the division prescribes 28
by regulation. 29
(b) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (a)(4), on and after July 1, 1997, an 30
applicant seeking licensure as a barber must be a high school graduate or hold the equivalent 31
combination of education and experience. 32
(c) The division may license, on a case-by-case basis, with or without examination, any 33
individual who has been licensed as an esthetician, barber, cosmetologist, electrologist, or 34
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manicurist under the laws of another state, which, in the opinion of the division, maintains a 1
standard substantially equivalent to that of the state of Rhode Island. 2
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. 3
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EXPLANATION
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
OF
A N A C T
RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- BARBERS, HAIRDRESSERS,
COSMETICIANS, MANICURISTS AND ESTHETICIANS
***
This act would add the application or removal of eyelash extensions and the use of 1
chemicals in the area of the eyelids to the definition of the "practice of hairdressing and cosmetic 2
therapy". 3
This act would take effect upon passage. 4
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