Minnesota lash and brow rules
Do you need a license to do lashes in Minnesota?
Yes. Eyelash extensions need a cosmetologist, esthetician or eyelash technician license; the eyelash technician license is limited to extensions and needs 14 hours of training. Below: lash lifts, tinting and brow lamination (license needed), waxing (license needed) and eyebrow threading (no license needed), each answered from Minnesota's own statutes, rules or board pages, read on October 23, 2026, with the state's own words.
- Lash extensions
- License needed
- Lifts and tints
- License needed
- Waxing
- License needed
- Threading
- No license needed
Licensed by the Minnesota Board of Cosmetologist Examiners.The board's site Hours and fees for each licenseThe state's own words
Lash extensions
Do you need a license to do lash extensions in Minnesota?
Yes. Eyelash extensions need a cosmetologist, esthetician or eyelash technician license; the eyelash technician license is limited to extensions and needs 14 hours of training.
- License needed
- License needed
- Licenses that allow it
- Cosmetologist, Esthetician, Eyelash Technician
- License for this work alone
- Eyelash technician, 14 hours of training, $195
Minnesota is one of 9 states with a license for lash extensions alone.
Lash lifts, tinting and brow lamination
Do you need a license to do lash lifts, tinting or brow lamination in Minnesota?
Yes. Eyelash and eyebrow tinting need a cosmetologist or esthetician license.
- License needed
- License needed
- Licenses that allow it
- Cosmetologist, Esthetician
- License for this work alone
- None
Waxing
Do you need a license to do waxing in Minnesota?
Yes. Waxing needs an esthetician license.
- License needed
- License needed
- Licenses that allow it
- Esthetician
- License for this work alone
- None
Eyebrow threading
Do you need a license to do eyebrow threading in Minnesota?
No license needed. Threading needs no license, but the exemption covers only threading without chemicals or wax.
- License needed
- No license needed
- Exemption
- A person who performs threading is exempt from the licensing provisions, and threading excludes the use of chemicals or any wax.
Good to know
What else Minnesota asks of lash and brow artists
- A cosmetologist with an active license does not need a separate eyelash technician license.
- Eyelash technicians renewing a license must complete four hours of core CE, including one hour of state cosmetology laws and rules and three hours of health, safety and infection control.
- Threading excludes chemicals and wax; a threading service that uses them is outside the threading definition.
Sources
What Minnesota's official pages say
Each answer above, in the words of Minnesota's own statutes, rules or board pages, read on October 23, 2026. Rules change: confirm with the Minnesota Board of Cosmetologist Examiners before you start offering a service.
- Lash extensions
“A "practitioner" is any person licensed as an operator or manager in the practice of cosmetology, esthiology, hair technology services, nail technology services, or eyelash technology services.”
revisor.mn.gov “and includes all services in subparts 2, 3, and 4.”
revisor.mn.gov “Esthetic practice includes eyelash technology services in subpart 4”
revisor.mn.gov “The practice of eyelash technicians is limited to the application, removal, and trimming of threadlike natural or synthetic fibers to an eyelash”
revisor.mn.gov “350 hours for a nail technician; and 14 hours for an eyelash technician.”
revisor.mn.gov “$195 initial practitioner, manager, or instructor license, divided as follows:”
revisor.mn.gov - Lash lifts, tinting and brow lamination
“bleaching, tinting, styling, blow-drying, or waving a person's hair, eyebrows, or eyelashes;”
revisor.mn.gov “application of makeup or airbrush makeup, eyelash and eyebrow tinting, eyebrow shaping and trimming, eyelash and eyebrow enhancements, facials, and body wraps; and”
revisor.mn.gov - Waxing
“removing hair from a person's body using depilatories, waxes, preparations, sugaring, or tweezing;”
revisor.mn.gov “The practice of esthiology is the cosmetic treatment of the stratum corneum of the epidermal layer of the skin surface.”
revisor.mn.gov - Eyebrow threading
“A person who performs threading shall be exempt from the licensing provisions of sections 155A.21 to 155A.36 .”
revisor.mn.gov “Threading does not include the use of chemicals or any type of wax.”
revisor.mn.gov - Also good to know
“A cosmetologist with an active Minnesota license is not required to obtain a separate esthetician, nail technician, or eyelash technician license”
revisor.mn.gov - Also good to know
“An eyelash technician renewing a license must complete a total of four hours of core CE credits consisting of one hour of state cosmetology laws and rules and three hours of health, safety, and infection-control matters”
revisor.mn.gov - Also good to know
“Threading does not include the use of chemicals or any type of wax.”
revisor.mn.gov
Questions
Minnesota lash and brow licenses, answered
Do you need a license to do lash extensions in Minnesota?
Do you need a license to do lash lifts, tinting or brow lamination in Minnesota?
Do you need a license to do waxing in Minnesota?
Do you need a license to do eyebrow threading in Minnesota?
What do you need to open a lash or brow studio in Minnesota?
Plan the rest
Licensed and ready to book clients
- Hours, exams and fees for each Minnesota license
- What Minnesota requires to open a studio of your own
- What Minnesota inspectors check in a salon or studio
- Microblading or permanent makeup in Minnesota: the license it needs
- Can estheticians do microneedling, peels or laser in Minnesota?
- Renting a room or a chair? Start from a booth rental agreement
Lash and brow rules in other states
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