2.1 Who Licenses Arkansas Manicurists

2.1 Who Licenses Arkansas Manicurists

Quick Answer: An Arkansas manicurist license is issued by the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) Cosmetology Section. The Cosmetology Technical Advisory Committee (CTAC) advises; it is not a standalone licensing board. Remaining 2026 CTAC meetings are September 28, 2026 and November 16, 2026, at the Freeway Medical Building, 5800 West 10th Street, Room 906, Little Rock.

Arkansas does not run a free-standing “state board of cosmetology” as a separate agency that prints your wall card. After you pass the written theory exam, the Arkansas State Law written exam, and the school-administered practical, the credential you receive is a Department of Health license administered by the Cosmetology Section. Independent OpenExamPrep teaching in this chapter uses that identity because Arkansas State Law items often list a “board,” a committee, a testing company, and the Department in the same question. Only the Department, through the Cosmetology Section, is the licensing authority.

ADH Cosmetology Section versus CTAC

Keep two jobs separate.

The Cosmetology Section is the working licensing office. It registers students, receives applications, coordinates with the written-exam vendor, mails licenses after passing scores arrive, inspects establishments, requires consumer-complaint posting, and answers day-to-day questions. When ADH Cosmetology FAQs say the Section will mail a license within 10–14 days of receiving passing scores, that is Cosmetology Section operational work—not a committee vote.

CTAC is an advisory committee. It holds public meetings, hears agenda items, and advises the Department. Candidates and licensees may ask to make a public comment, but the Cosmetology FAQs require the subject to be submitted in writing to the Section in advance of the meeting. If the Section approves the request, the speaker is added to the agenda with a two-minute limit. That process is not a walk-up open-mic at the licensing counter, and sitting in a CTAC meeting is not how you pick up a manicurist license.

Do not treat CTAC as the agency that “licenses you.” Committee advice and Department licensing are related. They are not the same function. On a law item that asks who issues the license, the Cosmetology Section of the Department of Health is the correct office. On an item that asks where remaining 2026 committee meetings are held, the Freeway Medical Building room is the correct place.

Two Little Rock addresses you must not mix up

Arkansas publishes two addresses that both say “Little Rock” and both involve cosmetology. Mixing them is a classic wrong answer.

Cosmetology Section office (licensing correspondence and staff hours):

• 4815 West Markham Street, Slot #8
• Little Rock, AR 72205
• Phone: 501-682-2168
• Fax: 501-682-5640
• Email: Cosmo@arkansas.gov
• Hours published on the Cosmetology & Body Art hub: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, closed on published state holidays

CTAC meeting location:

• Freeway Medical Building
• 5800 West 10th Street, Room 906
• Little Rock, AR 72205

Mailing a duplicate-license request, a State Law retake form, or a salon application to Room 906 at the Freeway Medical Building is the wrong building. Arriving at Slot 8 on Markham expecting a quarterly committee hearing is also the wrong building. The Cosmetology hub and the CTAC page list remaining 2026 meeting dates as September 28, 2026 and November 16, 2026. July 27, 2026 already occurred before this section’s last-updated date of September 19, 2026, so it is not a remaining 2026 date.

Practitioner license types the Section issues

ADH Cosmetology and Body Art Rules define a practitioner as any person licensed by the Department as a cosmetologist, electrologist, manicurist, instructor, or aesthetician. Those five titles are the practitioner family you must memorize for identity questions. “Nail technician” is common marketplace language; Arkansas’s occupational title on the license is manicurist.

A manager-operator is a licensed cosmetologist authorized to practice independent of personal supervision in a duly licensed establishment or mobile salon. That is a cosmetologist status, not a sixth class inside the practitioner definition.

A registered hairstylist is a separate registration for limited hair services (washing, cleansing, drying, blow drying, combing, brushing, or styling) and is not listed in the practitioner definition. Do not call a registered hairstylist a manicurist, and do not assume a manicurist license covers hair.

Body Art is a different ADH program. Published contact blocks put Body Art in the same Markham building and on the same fax line, but Body Art uses phone 501-661-2606 and a distinct email. Microblading belongs with Body Art, not with a manicurist or aesthetician license. “Same Department” is not “same license.”

How you actually reach the Section

Day-to-day licensing work uses Cosmetology Section channels, not a testing company’s license printer and not a committee agenda.

1. Call 501-682-2168 for Cosmetology Section questions.
2. Fax 501-682-5640.
3. Email Cosmo@arkansas.gov (the address published on the Cosmetology hub).
4. Mail or visit 4815 West Markham Street, Slot #8, Little Rock, AR 72205.
5. Use CLIPS through Cosmetology Online Services for online renewal programs.
6. Use hub links for license verification, forms, reciprocity, military pathways, complaints, the fee schedule, and testing information.

Prov, Inc. is the current written-exam vendor named in the January 5, 2026 Candidate Information Bulletin and in ADH FAQs. Prov schedules and delivers written tests. Prov does not issue the Arkansas manicurist license. After passing scores reach the Section, the Section mails the license.

The Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing State Board of Barber Examiners is a different agency. The Cosmetology hub’s hair-relaxer public notice even lists a separate barber phone. Barber licensing is not your manicurist credential.

Why identity questions appear on the law exam

Arkansas State Law items test whether you can name the correct office when a client, inspector, or employer asks who to call. If a salon posts a complaint number, it must be the Cosmetology Section consumer-complaint channel, not a made-up “board hotline.” If you need a duplicate license, you use a Section form and fee, not a CTAC agenda request. If you want to speak at a committee meeting, you use the written-advance comment process with a two-minute cap after approval.

Remember the chain: Department of Health → Cosmetology Section (licenses and inspects), advised by CTAC. Your wallet card is a Department license. CLIPS is an online renewal doorway, not a second licensing agency. Prov is a testing vendor, not the issuer of the card. Independent OpenExamPrep material here is teaching that chain so you can answer who does what without inventing a board that Arkansas does not use as a standalone agency.