1.1 Michigan Licensing Requirements & LARA Board Oversight

Michigan Licensing Requirements & LARA Board Oversight

Quick Summary: Esthetics is a licensed occupation in Michigan under Article 12 of the Occupational Code, 1980 PA 299 (MCL 339.1201 to 339.1218). The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), acting through its Bureau of Professional Licensing (BPL), issues the licenses; the Board of Cosmetology advises on rules and sits on discipline. To qualify you must be 17 or older, be of good moral character, hold a ninth-grade-equivalent education, and complete 400 hours of training — or 750 hours if you began training on or after July 1, 2024 — in a licensed school or through a 6-month minimum apprenticeship. You then pass a theory and a practical examination delivered by PSI Services LLC.

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1. Who Regulates Esthetics in Michigan

Two bodies share the work, and the exam expects you to know which does what.

LARA and the Bureau of Professional Licensing

LARA is the executive department; the Bureau of Professional Licensing inside it does the operational work — receiving applications through the MiPLUS portal, determining eligibility to test, arranging inspections, investigating complaints, and issuing licenses. MCL 339.1203(1) tells the department, in consultation with the board, to promulgate sanitation rules and to "arrange for any inspections that the department considers necessary to safeguard the public health."

The Board of Cosmetology

MCL 339.1202 creates the board and fixes its makeup precisely. This is a favourite factual item, and the numbers are easy to scramble:

Exam Note: The split is 5 / 1 / 3, not 6 / 1 / 2. The single school seat requires both three years of teaching and an ownership interest in a school.

The board's own rule-making authority comes from MCL 339.308; the department's comes from MCL 339.205, 339.1203, 339.1205, 339.1207, 339.1208, 339.1209 and 339.1210. That joint authority is what produced the Cosmetology – General Rules, Mich. Admin. Code R 338.2101 et seq.

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2. The Four Statutory Requirements — MCL 339.1210(1)

The department shall issue an esthetician license to an individual who meets all four:

1. Age — not less than 17 years of age.
2. Good moral character — evaluated under 1974 PA 381 (MCL 338.41 to 338.47). LARA's own application language frames it as the ability and will to "serve the public in a fair, honest, and open manner"; a past conviction is not an automatic bar where the applicant is rehabilitated or the offence is not reasonably related to the occupation.
3. Education — an education equivalent to completion of the ninth grade. R 338.2101(1)(h) defines "equivalent" as passing a standard examination at or above that grade level, or a school administrator's statement that the person has achieved it.
4. Training — the hours rule in the next part of this section.

A Social Security number must be supplied at application, or an SSN affidavit uploaded if the applicant is exempt or has none.

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3. The 400-Hour / 750-Hour Training Rule

Public Act 160 of 2024 (Senate Bill 702, effective April 2, 2025) rewrote MCL 339.1210(1)(d). The current statutory text reads that the applicant:

"Has completed not less than 400 hours of training or, for an individual who begins training on or after July 1, 2024, not less than 750 hours of training, either in a licensed school of cosmetology or as an apprentice for not less than 6 months in a licensed cosmetology establishment where skin care services are rendered."

Three points the exam can test, and that candidates routinely get wrong:

• The trigger is the date the individual begins training, not the date of application, licensure or graduation. Someone who started before July 1, 2024 remains on the 400-hour standard.
• The hour requirement attaches to the training itself, and the statute offers two settings for it: a licensed school, or an apprenticeship that must run at least six months. The six-month floor is a duration minimum layered on top of the hours, not a shortcut around them.
• The training "must include a minimum number of practical applications as prescribed in rules promulgated by the department."

What the curriculum rule still says

MCL 339.1210(6) gives the department 18 months from the effective date of PA 160 to write new rules, and that work was still outstanding as this guide was updated. The operative curriculum rule is therefore R 338.2169a(3), Table 13:

PSI states the reconciliation plainly in the Michigan candidate bulletin: test takers who start training on or after July 1, 2024 "must satisfy the new 750-hour requirement in the updated law statute while completing the curriculum requirements outlined in the current administrative rules for cosmetology."

Exam Note: Do not memorise an invented 750-hour subject breakdown. The statute sets the total; Table 13 sets the subjects and the 50 practical applications.

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4. Apprenticeship as an Alternative Setting

R 338.2101(1)(a) defines an apprenticeship program as "a licensed cosmetology establishment that is teaching cosmetology to an apprentice without charging a fee." The establishment must be one "where skin care services are rendered" — an esthetics apprenticeship cannot be logged in a salon that does not perform skin care. R 338.2136 requires schools and apprenticeship programs to keep records of hours and practical applications, and R 338.2138 governs programme requirements.

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5. Applying: MiPLUS, Fees, and Who Decides Eligibility

Everything starts at www.michigan.gov/miplus. LARA's Michigan Esthetician Licensing Guide (revision date January 26, 2026) sets out the money and the sequence:

The order of operations matters and is tested:

1. Apply for licensure in MiPLUS. "Only the State of Michigan may determine your eligibility to test."
2. LARA transmits an electronic eligibility file to PSI.
3. Submit the PSI Examination Registration Form (email to Mi.ApplicationProcessor@psionline.com), pay the PSI test fee, and schedule. Allow up to 10 business days for PSI to process an initial registration.
4. Pass both examinations, then LARA issues the licence.

Exam Note: A passing score is valid for 1 year from the date it was earned, and the theory and practical passes must be obtained within 1 year of each other. Your MiPLUS application and fee are likewise valid for one year.

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6. Licensure by Endorsement (Reciprocity)

MCL 339.1211(1) is unusually generous, and its wording is the trap. The department "shall without examination issue a license" to an individual licensed in another state if it determines that the applicant is at least 17, is of good moral character, held requirements "substantially equal to the requirements then in effect in this state," and has had no sanctions imposed by a similar board elsewhere.

R 338.2121b(4) defines "substantially equal" for a specialty licence such as esthetician: the other state must have required (a) theory and practical examinations substantially equal to Michigan's, and (b) not less than 400 hours of student training or not less than 6 months of apprentice training in those services.

MCL 339.1211(2) supplies the bridge for a short-hours applicant: experience may be substituted for training at a ratio of 100 hours of training credited for each 6 months of experience, attested on a departmental form.

If the applicant is not actively licensed elsewhere, or the other state's requirements are not substantially equal, LARA requires the practical and/or theory examination after all.

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Real-World Scenario: An Ohio Esthetician Moves to Ann Arbor

Scenario: Elena finished a 600-hour Ohio esthetics programme in 2022, passed Ohio's theory and practical examinations, and has worked full time under an active, unrestricted Ohio licence for 18 months. She moves to Ann Arbor and applies through MiPLUS.

Analysis:

1. Which standard applies? Elena is applying by endorsement, so the comparison is R 338.2121b(4): did Ohio require examinations substantially equal to Michigan's, and at least 400 hours? Ohio required more than 400 and tested both theory and practical, so the requirements are substantially equal. The 750-hour figure is the Michigan student standard and is not the endorsement yardstick.
2. Does she retest? No. MCL 339.1211(1) directs the department to issue the licence without examination once substantial equivalence and good standing are established.
3. Paperwork. Ohio must send licence verification directly to BPL (bpldata@michigan.gov or PO Box 30670, Lansing, MI 48909), covering every state in which she has ever held a licence, with any discipline disclosed. She pays the $63.00 application-plus-licence fee and provides proof of any name change.
4. If she had fallen short. Had Ohio required only 300 hours, MCL 339.1211(2) would credit her 18 months of experience as 300 hours (18 ÷ 6 × 100), closing the gap.

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Key Takeaways

• Statutory home: Article 12 of 1980 PA 299; licences issued by LARA/BPL, rules and discipline shared with the Board of Cosmetology.
• Board seats: 9 total — 5 cosmetologists with 3+ years in practice, 1 teacher-owner, 3 public members.
• Eligibility: 17 years old, good moral character, ninth-grade equivalent education, and the training hours.
• Hours: 400, or 750 if training began on or after July 1, 2024; school or a 6-month-minimum apprenticeship in an establishment that renders skin care services.
• Curriculum rule: R 338.2169a(3) Table 13 — 100 hours health and safety, 300 hours esthetic services, 50 practical applications.
• Endorsement: issued without examination when the other state's requirements were substantially equal; 6 months of experience = 100 hours of training.