How to Get a Salon License in Texas: Application and Inspection

To get a salon license in Texas, you apply to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) for an establishment license, pay a fee of $70 or $78 depending on the license type, and pass an on-site inspection before opening your doors to paying clients.¹ Every business where barbering or cosmetology services are performed for pay needs one. Operating without it is a Class C violation carrying fines of $2,000 to $5,000 per violation.²

Pick the Right Establishment License

After House Bill 1560 consolidated the barbering and cosmetology programs, TDLR simplified the old categories into four establishment license types.³ Choosing the wrong one can leave you unable to legally offer services you were counting on, so read carefully:

A Full-Service Establishment covers barbering, cosmetology, or both under one license. This single category replaces the old beauty salon, barber shop, and dual shop licenses.
A Specialty Establishment fits a narrower scope of work such as manicures only, esthetics, hair weaving, or eyelash extensions. A manicurist specialty establishment cannot legally offer haircutting or coloring.⁴
A Mini-Establishment is for an individual leasing a room or suite inside a gallery-style building where multiple practitioners each rent their own enclosed space.
A Mobile Establishment covers services delivered from a vehicle or other movable facility rather than a fixed address.

Full-service and specialty applications cost $78. The mini-establishment application is $70.¹

The Establishment License Does Not Cover Your Staff

The establishment license authorizes the location. It does not authorize anyone to actually perform services. Every stylist, barber, nail technician, or esthetician working in your salon needs their own individual practitioner license from TDLR, whether they are employees or independent contractors leasing space.⁴

You can own and run a salon without holding a practitioner license yourself, as long as you do not personally perform services. If you lease space to independent contractors, you must keep a list of every renter with their name and license number and produce it for TDLR inspectors on request.⁵

What the Application Asks For

The current forms are BAC-LIC-012-E for full-service and specialty establishments and BAC-LIC-022 for mini-establishments, both on the TDLR forms page.⁶ Gather this information before you start:

The legal name of your business and any “Doing Business As” name you have registered with your county clerk or the Texas Secretary of State.
The physical address where you will operate. TDLR ties each license to a specific street address, so a P.O. box will not work.
Your name and contact information as the owner, plus the name of whoever will manage daily operations if that is someone different. If they are the same person, the same information appears in both spots.
Your Social Security number, or your business’s federal Employer Identification Number (EIN).
For an LLC, corporation, or partnership, the additional entity details the form asks for.

An LLC, corporation, partnership, or other formal entity needs a federal EIN from the IRS. So does any business with employees, whatever the structure. You can apply online and get the number immediately at no cost.⁷

Submitting and Paying

You can submit through the TDLR online licensing portal or mail the completed PDF form to the department’s Austin office. Online is generally faster because your information goes straight into the system. Online applicants pay by credit card or electronic check at checkout. Mailed applications need a personal check, cashier’s check, or money order made out to TDLR.¹

The fee is nonrefundable even if the application is denied. Expect a confirmation receipt or email after submitting. Processing times swing with department workload, so plan on a few weeks before you hear back.

Passing the Inspection

Every new establishment has to be inspected before it can legally serve clients. TDLR conducts these inspections under 16 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 83, which sets the health and safety standards your facility must meet.⁸ An inspector will contact you to schedule a visit or arrive during business hours.

The inspector is checking whether the facility is ready to operate safely. Have these in place before they arrive:

A sanitation setup with a container large enough to fully immerse tools in liquid disinfectant, plus hand-washing facilities with hot and cold running water for employees.
Separate, dry, debris-free storage for clean and disinfected tools, kept apart from soiled ones. Drawers, cases, and tool belts all work.
Clean towels for each client, washed with hot water and chlorine bleach. Capes need a fresh neck strip or towel underneath to prevent direct skin contact.
Floors cleaned thoroughly each day, hair clippings removed promptly, and trash containers emptied daily.
Shampoo bowls, manicure tables, and electrical equipment disinfected before each client’s use. Single-use items go in the trash after one client.

These come from the TDLR Barbering and Cosmetology Health and Safety Rules, and they are not one-time hurdles for the initial inspection. Your salon must maintain the standards every day it operates.⁹ You are also required to keep a current copy of the Texas barbering and cosmetology law and rules book on the premises for inspectors and staff to reference.⁵

Chemical Safety Documentation

Salons use products with hazardous chemicals, and federal OSHA rules require specific documentation. Under the Hazard Communication Standard, you must keep a Safety Data Sheet (SDS) on hand for every product in your salon containing a hazardous chemical at 1% or more, or at 0.1% or more for cancer-causing chemicals. Each sheet lists the hazardous ingredients, exposure risks, and safe handling steps.¹⁰

Each SDS has to be accessible to workers near the area where the product is used. You also need to train all employees on the hazards of the products they handle and how to use them safely. TDLR inspectors look at chemical storage and ventilation during their walkthrough, so getting the SDS binder organized before your initial inspection saves trouble later.

Other Permits Before You Open

The TDLR license is the centerpiece, but a few other approvals gate your opening day.

Sales Tax Permit

Texas imposes a 6.25% state sales and use tax on taxable services, and most cosmetology services fall into that category. You need a sales tax permit from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts before charging clients. There is no fee to apply.¹¹ Your city or county may add local sales tax on top of the state rate.

Employer Taxes and Posters

If you will have employees, you owe the employer’s share of Social Security tax (6.2% on wages up to $184,500 in 2026), Medicare tax (1.45% on all wages with no cap), and federal unemployment (FUTA) tax at 6.0% on the first $7,000 of each employee’s annual wages. Federal tax deposits must be made electronically.¹² Employees who receive tips must report them to you by the 10th of each month for the prior month, with tips under $20 in a calendar month from a single employer exempt. Mandatory service charges you add to a bill, such as for bridal parties, are wages rather than tips, even if you pass them to the worker who performed the service.¹³ Federal law also requires you to display specific workplace posters; the Department of Labor’s elaws Poster Advisor tool identifies which ones apply.¹⁴

Local Permits

Depending on your city and county, you may need a local business permit, a certificate of occupancy, or a fire inspection before you open. Check with your local permitting office early in the buildout, because some of these take longer to obtain than the TDLR license itself.

1
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Apply for a Barbering or Cosmetology Establishment License
2
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Penalties and Sanctions for Practitioners and Establishments
3
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Attention: Barber Shops, Beauty Salons, Dual Shops, All Mini-Barbershops/Salons, All Mobile Shops/Salons
4
State of Texas. Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1603 – Regulation of Barbering and Cosmetology
5
Legal Information Institute (LII). 16 Texas Admin Code 83.71 – Responsibilities of Establishments
6
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Forms and Publications for Barbering-Cosmetology Establishments
7
Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number
8
Legal Information Institute (LII). 16 Texas Admin Code 83.50 – Inspections-General
9
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Barbering and Cosmetology Health and Safety Rules
10
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Health Hazards in Nail Salons – Chemical Hazards
11
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Sales and Use Tax
12
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer’s Tax Guide
13
Internal Revenue Service. Tip Recordkeeping and Reporting
14
U.S. Department of Labor. Workplace Posters