2022 -- H 8304

========

LC006023

========

     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022

____________

A N   A C T

RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- BARBERS, HAIRDRESSERS,

COSMETICIANS, MANICURISTS AND ESTHETICIANS

     

     Introduced By: Representative Anastasia P. Williams

     Date Introduced: June 01, 2022

     Referred To: House Health & Human Services

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

1

     SECTION 1. Sections 5-10-1 and 5-10-8 of the General Laws in Chapter 5-10 entitled

2

"Barbers, Hairdressers, Cosmeticians, Manicurists and Estheticians" are hereby amended to read

3

as follows:

4

     5-10-1. Definitions.

5

     The following words and phrases, when used in this chapter, are construed as follows:

6

     (1) "Apprentice barber" means an employee whose principal occupation is service with a

7

barber who has held a current license as a barber for at least three (3) years with a view to learning

8

the art of barbering, as defined in subsection (14).

9

     (2) "Barber" means any person who shaves or trims the beard; waves, dresses, singes,

10

shampoos, or dyes the hair; or applies hair tonics, cosmetic preparations, antiseptics, powders, oil

11

clays, or lotions to the scalp, face, or neck of any person; or cuts the hair of any person; gives facial

12

and scalp massages; or treatments with oils, creams, lotions, or other preparations.

13

     (3) "Board" means the state board of barbering and hairdressing as provided for in this

14

chapter.

15

     (4) "Department" means the Rhode Island department of health.

16

     (5) "Division" means the division of professional regulation within the department of

17

health.

18

     (6) "Esthetician" means a person who engages in the practice of esthetics, and is licensed

 

1

as an esthetician.

2

     (7) "Esthetician shop" means a shop licensed under this chapter to do esthetics of any

3

person.

4

     (8) "Esthetics" means the practice of cleansing, stimulating, manipulating, and beautifying

5

skin, including, but not limited to, the treatment of such skin problems as dehydration, temporary

6

capillary dilation, excessive oiliness, and clogged pores.

7

     (9) "Hair design shop" means a shop licensed under this chapter to do barbering or

8

hairdressing/cosmetology, or both, to any person.

9

     (10) "Hairdresser and cosmetician" means any person who arranges, dresses, curls, cuts,

10

waves, singes, bleaches, or colors the hair or treats the scalp, or manicures the nails of any person,

11

either with or without compensation, or who, by the use of the hands or appliances, or of cosmetic

12

preparations, antiseptics, tonics, lotions, creams, powders, oils or clays, engages, with or without

13

compensation, in massaging, cleansing, stimulating, manipulating, exercising, or beautifying, or in

14

doing similar work upon the neck, face, or arms, or who removes superfluous hair from the body

15

of any person.

16

     (11) "Instructor" means any person licensed as an instructor under the provisions of this

17

chapter.

18

     (12) "Manicuring shop" means a shop licensed under this chapter to do manicuring only

19

on the nails of any person.

20

     (13) "Manicurist" means any person who engages in manicuring for compensation and is

21

duly licensed as a manicurist.

22

     (14) "Practice of barbering" means the engaging by any licensed barber in all, or any

23

combination of, the following practices: shaving or trimming the beard or cutting the hair; giving

24

facial and scalp massages or treatments with oils, creams, lotions, or other preparations, either by

25

hand or mechanical appliances; singeing, shampooing, arranging, dressing, curling, waving,

26

chemical waving, hair relaxing, or dyeing the hair or applying hair tonics; or applying cosmetic

27

preparations, antiseptics, powders, oils, clays, or lotions to the scalp, face, or neck.

28

     (15) "Practice of hairdressing and cosmetic therapy" means the engaging by any licensed

29

hairdresser and cosmetician in any one or more of the following practices: the application of the

30

hands or of mechanical or electrical apparatus, with or without cosmetic preparations, tonics,

31

lotions, creams, antiseptics, or clays, to massage, cleanse, stimulate, manipulate, exercise, or

32

otherwise to improve or to beautify the scalp, face, neck, shoulders, arms, bust, or upper part of the

33

body; or the manicuring of the nails of any person; or the removing of superfluous hair from the

34

body of any person; or the arranging, dressing, curling, waving, weaving, cleansing, cutting,

 

LC006023 - Page 2 of 5

1

singeing, bleaching, coloring, or similarly treating the hair of any person, or the application or

2

removal of eyelash extensions, fibers or false eyelashes to an eyelid or eyelids and any use or

3

application of any chemical, adhesive, glue, tonic, oil, dye, serum or lotion to the area of the eyelid,

4

eyelash or the eyebrow. Provided, however, that the practice of hairdressing and cosmetic therapy

5

shall not include natural hair braiding.

6

     (16) "Practice of manicuring" means the cutting, trimming, polishing, tinting, coloring, or

7

cleansing the nails of any person.

8

     (17) "School" means a school approved under chapter 40 of title 16, as amended, devoted

9

to the instruction in, and study of, the theory and practice of barbering, hairdressing, and cosmetic

10

therapy, esthetics, and/or manicuring.

11

     5-10-8. Issuance of licenses -- Qualifications of applicants.

12

     (a) The division shall issue licenses to persons engaged in, or desiring to engage in, the

13

practice of barbering, hairdressing and cosmetic therapy and/or manicuring or esthetics and for

14

instructing in any approved school of barbering or hairdressing and cosmetic therapy and

15

manicuring or esthetics; provided, that no license shall be issued to any person under this chapter

16

unless the applicant for the license:

17

     (1) Is at least eighteen (18) years of age;

18

     (2) Is a citizen of the United States of America or has legal entry into the country;

19

     (3) Is of good moral character;

20

     (4) Is a high school graduate or holds the equivalent or has twenty-five (25) or more years

21

of prior experience in the practice for which the license is sought;

22

     (5) Has satisfactorily completed the course of instruction in an approved school of

23

barbering, hairdressing, and cosmetic therapy and/or manicuring or esthetics, which shall include

24

a separate course and certificate for application or removal of eyelash extensions, fibers or false

25

eyelashes issued by the division;

26

     (6) Has satisfactorily passed a written and a practical examination approved by the division

27

to determine the fitness of the applicant to receive a license; and

28

     (7) Has complied with ยง 5-10-10 and any other qualifications that the division prescribes

29

by regulation.

30

     (b) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (a)(4), on and after July 1, 1997, an

31

applicant seeking licensure as a barber must be a high school graduate or hold the equivalent

32

combination of education and experience.

33

     (c) The division may license, on a case-by-case basis, with or without examination, any

34

individual who has been licensed as an esthetician, barber, cosmetologist, electrologist, or

 

LC006023 - Page 3 of 5

1

manicurist under the laws of another state, which, in the opinion of the division, maintains a

2

standard substantially equivalent to that of the state of Rhode Island.

3

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

========

LC006023

========

 

LC006023 - Page 4 of 5

EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- BARBERS, HAIRDRESSERS,

COSMETICIANS, MANICURISTS AND ESTHETICIANS

***

1

     This act would add the application or removal of eyelash extensions and the use of

2

chemicals in the area of the eyelids to the definition of the "practice of hairdressing and cosmetic

3

therapy".

4

     This act would take effect upon passage.

========

LC006023

========

 

LC006023 - Page 5 of 5