How to Start a Hair Salon in California (2026)

By StartBusinessByState·Publisher: Robert Smith·Research process

Last updated: November 4, 2026

Opening a hair salon in California sits at the intersection of two of the most consequential regulatory shifts of the last five years. SB 803, effective January 1, 2022, cut cosmetology training from 1,600 to 1,000 hours, barbering from 1,500 to 1,000 hours, eliminated the practical exam entirely, and created a new 600-hour Hairstylist license for practitioners who only cut and style (no chemical services). If you’re reading older guides or speaking to stylists trained before 2022, they’ll remember longer hours and a practical exam that no longer exist.

Worker classification is a separate decision from salon licensing. Qualifying licensed beauty professionals can use the professional-services exception and Borello test when all statutory conditions are met. The current DIR guidance includes qualifying manicurists again from January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2028; the earlier 2025 lapse is not a permanent statewide booth-rental ban. Neither a license nor a rental contract automatically establishes contractor status. Current DIR classification guidance.

Use dated employment statistics as context, not a forecast for your salon. The historical May 2023 Bureau of Labor Statistics estimate discussed below excludes self-employed operators. Before choosing a location, compare actual customer demand, competitors, rent and staffing costs; a large statewide workforce does not establish local bookings.

Hair Salon Requirements in California at a Glance

Requirement	Agency	Cost	Timeline
Cosmetologist — 1,000 school hours	Board of Barbering and Cosmetology	$75 application/exam + $50 initial license	School schedule and examination/processing time vary
Hairstylist — 600 school hours, limited scope	Board of Barbering and Cosmetology	Use the current hairstylist application’s fee instructions	Training and processing time vary
Barber — 1,000 school hours	Board of Barbering and Cosmetology	$75 application/exam + $50 initial license	School schedule and examination/processing time vary
License Renewal (all practitioner types)	BBC via BreEZe	$50 biennial (no CE required)	Every 2 years
Salon establishment license	Board of Barbering and Cosmetology	$50 initial; $40 two-year renewal	License before opening; Board inspections are generally unannounced
LLC articles, if choosing an LLC	bizfile Online	$70; paper or online	Processing varies
Statement of Information (LLC-12)	CA Secretary of State	$20	Within 90 days of formation, biennial thereafter
Ordinary LLC annual tax	Franchise Tax Board	Generally $800; exceptions and corporate elections differ	First payment generally due on the 15th day of the fourth month after formation
CDTFA Seller’s Permit (retail product sales)	CDTFA	Free	Before first retail sale
Workers’ compensation	Licensed carrier / State Fund	Quote for actual duties, payroll and claims history	Generally from the first employee
Written IIPP; bloodborne-exposure plan if applicable	Cal/OSHA	Develop programs for the actual workplace	IIPP for employers; bloodborne standard depends on occupational exposure
Local business / premises approvals	Responsible city or county	Current local fees	Check zoning and permits before committing to a location
General / professional liability	Licensed insurer	Quote based on services, limits and exclusions	Arrange any required coverage before serving clients

How to Start a Hair Salon in California (Step by Step)

Step 1: Confirm Your Individual Practitioner Licenses (SB 803 Rewrote the Hour Requirements)

People performing regulated services must hold the appropriate current license or qualifying apprentice authorization. The school-hour routes below reflect SB 803’s changes; apprenticeship, out-of-state and other routes have separate requirements. A salon establishment license does not authorize its owner to perform every practitioner service.

License Type	Pre-SB 803 Hours	Current Hours (SB 803)	What They Can Do
Cosmetologist	1,600	1,000	Full scope: cut, color, chemical, skin care, nail care
Barber	1,500	1,000	Barbering scope includes hair services and shaving, with chemical hair services within the statutory scope
Hairstylist (NEW)	—	600	Cut and style only — no chemical services, no color
Esthetician	600	600	Skin care, facials, waxing
Manicurist	400	400	Nail care (manicure, pedicure, extensions)
Electrologist	600	600	Electrolysis (permanent hair removal)

California eliminated the practical licensing examination; applicants on the examination route take the written exam. Completion of school alone does not authorize paid practice while waiting for a license.

For barbers and cosmetologists, the ordinary application/exam fee is $75 plus $50 initial licensure. Initial fees differ for some other practitioner types. Individual renewal is $50 for two years, with a $25 delinquency fee, and the Board requires no continuing-education credits. A license not renewed for five years is canceled; re-licensing requires the examination route described by the Board.

A hairstylist’s 600-hour school route is shorter than the 1,000-hour cosmetology/barber routes, but calendar duration depends on the school schedule. Match the credential to the menu: the hairstylist license does not cover chemical hair services such as coloring or permanent waving. Verify the practitioner’s full scope before assigning services.

Step 2: Choose Your Structure and Budget for LLC Obligations

File Articles of Organization (Form LLC-1) online at bizfile Online for $70. File your initial Statement of Information (Form LLC-12) within 90 days for $20; biennial thereafter.

An ordinary California LLC generally owes the $800 annual tax from its first year; narrow exceptions and corporate tax elections differ. The broad first-year exemption covered qualifying 2021–2023 tax years. A separate LLC fee begins at $250,000 of California total income, not simply profit: $900 in the first band, rising through the statutory bands. Use FTB’s measure and your actual projection.

Obtain an EIN through IRS.gov when required for your entity or employment activities; IRS issuance is free, while route and eligibility affect timing. Keep business finances and records separate and confirm the bank’s documentation requirements.

Step 3: Apply for a BBC Salon Establishment License

Every fixed salon location needs its own Establishment License from the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology before opening.

• Initial establishment application/license: $50. Timely renewal: $40 for two years.
• Renewal: the Board offers BreEZe, mail and in-person payment routes; associate the establishment with the correct account and follow the current renewal instructions. Establishment renewal is not limited to mail.
• Board inspections are generally unannounced and cannot be scheduled by the owner. Use the Board’s self-inspection checklist and obtain all required licenses and local premises approvals before opening.
• Separate licenses for separate locations: If you open a second location, it needs its own establishment license — not a branch of the first.

Use the Board’s current ownership application instructions for a sole proprietor, partnership, corporation or LLC, and keep the entity’s required registration current. Upcoming legislation can change these rules; see the California salon licensing bills we track and confirm the relevant effective date before treating a newly signed bill as already operative.

What inspectors look for:

• Closed containers for soiled linens; clean linens in a separate, closed area
• Suitable labeled disinfectant containers with enough properly mixed product to immerse applicable tools; follow the manufacturer’s directions and Board cleaning/disinfection rules
• Clean linens and protective coverings as required, including a sanitary neck strip or towel preventing a cape from contacting the client’s neck
• Required hot/cold running-water and handwashing facilities; confirm the applicable premises standards
• Fixtures and equipment appropriate to the licensed services and approved plumbing layout
• Hazard controls and ventilation appropriate to chemicals and services; assess Cal/OSHA duties for the actual work
• Sharps disposal for razors and electrolysis needles
• All licenses posted visibly (establishment + each practitioner’s individual license)

Step 4: Decide Your Labor Structure — Employee, Booth Renter, or Mixed

This is the single most consequential business-model decision for a California salon, and it has been rewritten twice by legislation in the last six years.

Hairdressers: AB 5 Professional Services Carve-Out (Borello Test)

Qualifying licensed beauty professionals may use the statutory professional-services exception to ABC, after satisfying its general conditions and the occupation-specific conditions. Borello then determines status; the conditions are not themselves the entire Borello test. Important requirements include:

• Sets their own rates
• Processes their own payments and is paid directly by clients (not through the salon’s POS)
• Sets their own hours and has sole discretion over which clients to take
• Maintains their own book of business and schedules their own appointments
• Holds their own business license for the services offered
• If working at the salon’s premises, issues a Form 1099 to the salon owner for the booth rent they pay

Meeting a license or booth-rental condition alone is insufficient. Assess the complete exception and the applicable classification test. If workers are employees, wage, break, payroll-tax and insurance obligations follow; changing a contract label does not remove them.

Manicurists: Check the Reinstated 2026–2028 Exception

The manicurist exception lapsed for 2025, but DIR’s current general classification guidance includes qualifying manicurists again from January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2028. They must meet the applicable professional-services conditions before Borello replaces ABC. Older guidance describing the 2025 change is not sufficient to determine a 2026 arrangement.

For manicurists and other workers who are employees, employment duties include:

• Pay at least minimum wage (state $16.90/hr or higher local rate)
• Track hours and pay overtime after 8 hours/day and 40 hours/week
• Provide meal and rest breaks per Wage Order 2
• Withhold state and federal taxes; remit UI, ETT, SDI
• Carry workers’ compensation covering the nail techs

Resolve classification using actual duties, control and business arrangements before setting compensation. Keep records supporting the treatment and review it when the arrangement changes.

Support Staff: Default ABC Test

Receptionists and other support workers do not qualify for the beauty-professional exception merely because they work in a salon. Apply the relevant classification rules to their duties and relationship. Also check service scope: an unlicensed support worker cannot perform regulated services merely under an owner’s supervision.

Step 5: Register with EDD and Buy Workers’ Compensation

When quarterly wages exceed $100, register with the Employment Development Department within 15 days. Do not assume nail services alone settle worker classification. For covered employees, 2026 state payroll rates include:

• UI (employer-paid): 3.4% new employer rate on the first $7,000 of wages per employee.
• ETT (employer-paid): 0.1% on first $7,000.
• SDI: the 2026 employee-withholding rate is 1.3%, with no wage cap. The cap was removed in 2024; the 1.3% rate is specific to 2026.

Workers’ compensation is generally required from the first employee. Obtain coverage through a licensed insurer or State Compensation Insurance Fund and quote your actual payroll, services and loss history. Uninsured operation can bring criminal penalties, separate civil assessments, stop-work orders and liability for injuries; a $100,000 criminal fine is not the standard rule stated in Labor Code §3700.5.

Report every new hire to the EDD New Employee Registry within 20 days.

Step 6: Register with CDTFA for Retail Product Sales

Personal services — haircuts, styling, color, blowouts, treatments — are not subject to California sales tax. But if you sell retail product (shampoo, conditioner, styling tools, salon-branded merchandise, extensions sold as a product rather than a service), those sales ARE taxable.

• Get a free Seller’s Permit at cdtfa.ca.gov.
• Apply the current combined rate for the taxable sale’s location and transaction type; the statewide base is 7.25%, and 10.25% is not a reliable statewide maximum
• File returns on the schedule CDTFA assigns based on your volume (monthly, quarterly, or annual).
• Track product sales separately from service revenue in your POS so tax calculation is clean.

Compare retail margins using actual wholesale costs, discounts, waste, staffing and expected sales. CDTFA also distinguishes products consumed while providing services from products sold to customers; keep those purchases and sales properly recorded. CDTFA’s beauty-shop tax guide.

Step 7: Write Your Cal/OSHA IIPP and Bloodborne Pathogens Plan

California employers generally need an effective written IIPP under 8 CCR 3203, with specific small-employer documentation provisions. The bloodborne-pathogens standard applies when workers have occupational exposure as defined in 8 CCR 5193. Assess actual duties and reasonably anticipated blood or other potentially infectious-material contact; a service name alone is not the complete test.

Required IIPP elements:

• Named person responsible for the program
• System to ensure compliance with safe work practices
• Regular inspections for hazards
• Accident and near-miss investigation procedure
• Written hazard correction procedure
• Employee training
• Keep the written program available and provide employee access as required; document applicable inspections, correction and training

Bloodborne pathogens requirements (if applicable):

• Written Exposure Control Plan reviewed annually
• Offer hepatitis B vaccination at no cost to covered employees, subject to the standard’s prior-vaccination, immunity and medical exceptions
• PPE (gloves, protective eyewear) provided
• Sharps containers at point of use
• Post-exposure evaluation protocol
• Initial and annual training on bloodborne pathogen standard
• Retention differs: covered medical records generally last employment plus 30 years; training records three years; sharps injury logs five years

Maintain the required programs in practice: identify hazards, correct problems and train employees. The written document alone does not demonstrate compliance.

Step 8: Get Your City License and Register for CalSavers

Check local business-tax and premises approvals for the salon’s actual location. The following offices are starting points; verify the current requirements for your address and activities:

• Los Angeles — Office of Finance Business Tax Registration Certificate
• San Francisco — SF Business Registration Certificate via sftreasurer.org
• San Diego — Business Tax Certificate through the City Treasurer
• San Jose — Business Tax Certificate via Office of the Treasurer
• Oakland — Business Tax Certificate through the Business Tax Office
• Sacramento — Business Operations Tax through the Office of Finance

For an unincorporated location, check the county’s actual rules rather than assuming a uniform license. CalGold is a starting point, but its permit listings can be incomplete; confirm with the issuing agencies.

CalSavers eligibility is reviewed from prior-year EDD filings. Employers without a qualifying retirement plan must register when required; owner-only businesses and specified others are exempt. The one-to-four-employee deadline was December 31, 2025. Follow CalSavers instructions and the assigned deadline. The $250 and additional $500 per-employee penalties use notice-based 90/180-day rules, not simply time since first hire.

Step 9: Build Space and Equipment to BBC + Local Code

Before opening, confirm the requirements for your actual premises and services, including:

• BBC sanitation infrastructure (above)
• Local zoning and home-occupation rules. The Board permits qualifying home salons; local approval still needs review, so do not assume a statewide home-salon prohibition.
• Building Department sign-off on any tenant improvements (plumbing for shampoo bowls, ventilation for chemical services, ADA-compliant restrooms)
• Fire marshal approval on occupancy, extinguishers, and emergency exits
• Health department approval if offering services that cross into health-adjacent scope (microblading, permanent makeup, and similar services often require separate body art permits at the county level)

California Salon Market Context

Use the dated employment figures below as context. They do not establish local demand, current salon counts, service prices or the profitability of a particular location.

• Roughly 20,450 hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists are employed statewide per BLS (May 2023). That count covers salaried workers only and excludes self-employed booth renters, who are a large share of this trade — so the working population is bigger than the wage-and-salary figure suggests. On the same measure Texas (25,540), Florida (21,820) and New York (21,000) all rank ahead of California.
• Growth rate of 5% projected nationally for barbers, hairstylists and cosmetologists from 2024 to 2034, faster than the 3% average across all occupations.
• Location research: compare licensed competitors, customer access, proposed services, occupancy costs and actual appointment demand in your chosen neighborhood. No verified metro ranking of salon counts or service prices is asserted here.
• Pricing: collect current comparable menus and calculate your own time, supplies and overhead per appointment. Neighborhood names alone do not establish an average price or a profitable rent-to-revenue ratio.
• Customer fit: research the languages, hair-care needs and services your local customers seek. Choose training and marketing from that evidence rather than assuming demand from statewide ethnic population figures.

Illustrative Salon Startup Budget — Replace Assumptions With Quotes

Hypothetical cost input, not a price survey	Five-chair scenario	Eight-to-twelve-chair scenario
Ordinary LLC articles, initial statement and annual tax; exceptions differ	$890 ($70 + $20 + $800)	$890
BBC establishment license	$50	$50
Owner cosmetologist/barber application and initial license, if needed	$125	$125
Buildout / tenant improvements	$10,000 – $30,000	$40,000 – $120,000
Stations, chairs, shampoo bowls, mirrors	$7,500 – $15,000	$20,000 – $45,000
Initial inventory (color, product, tools)	$3,000 – $6,000	$8,000 – $18,000
POS, booking software, retail display	$1,500 – $4,000	$3,000 – $8,000
Insurance (GL + PL + WC) – annualized	$1,500 – $3,000	$3,000 – $6,500
First 2 months rent + deposits	$8,000 – $18,000	$20,000 – $60,000
Marketing / branding / signage	$2,000 – $5,000	$5,000 – $15,000
City business license + misc permits	$200 – $800	$500 – $1,500
Total of the listed hypothetical inputs	$34,765–$82,865	$100,565–$275,065

A lawful booth-rental arrangement and an employment model allocate costs and control differently. Compare the actual rents, payroll, benefits, insurance and operating duties for your proposed setup. The labels do not establish classification, and neither structure guarantees higher revenue or profit.

Related California Business Guides

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many hours of cosmetology school do I need in California?

Under SB 803 (effective January 1, 2022), a California cosmetology license now requires 1,000 hours of training — reduced from the previous 1,600. Barbering is also 1,000 hours (reduced from 1,500). A new 600-hour Hairstylist license was created for cut-and-style-only practitioners who won’t perform chemical services. Esthetician is 600 hours; manicurist is 400 hours; electrologist is 600 hours. SB 803 also eliminated the practical exam across all license types — only the written exam remains.

Can I run a booth-rental salon in California?

Potentially, where the complete statutory exception and Borello test support the arrangement. DIR’s current guidance includes qualifying barbers, cosmetologists, estheticians and electrologists, and qualifying manicurists from January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2028. A license, independent payment system or booth-rental contract alone is not enough. Check all general and occupation-specific conditions and the actual working relationship.

Do I need to charge sales tax at my California salon?

Ordinary salon services such as haircuts and styling are generally not subject to sales tax, while retail product sales generally are. Products consumed in providing a service have their own purchase/use-tax treatment. Register through cdtfa.ca.gov where required, separate retail from service records, use the current applicable rate and file as CDTFA instructs. Do not treat 10.25% as a statewide maximum.

What does a BBC establishment license cost and how often do I renew?

The establishment application/initial license is $50 and timely renewal is $40 for two years. The Board provides BreEZe, mail and in-person payment routes; establishment renewal is not mail-only. Each separately licensed location needs its own application. Board inspections are generally unannounced, rather than owner-scheduled pre-opening appointments.

How much is workers’ compensation for a California salon?

There is no verified statewide salon premium. Workers’ compensation is generally required from the first employee; price depends on payroll, classification, claims and the insurer. Obtain a quote for your actual services and staffing. Uninsured operation can trigger multiple forms of penalties and responsibility for injuries, so a generic premium-per-$100,000 estimate is not a substitute for arranging coverage.

Do I need a Cal/OSHA IIPP for my salon?

Employers generally need an effective written IIPP under §3203. A bloodborne-exposure program is also required when the occupational-exposure conditions in §5193 apply. Its duties include an exposure-control plan, appropriate controls/PPE, vaccination offers subject to exceptions, post-exposure procedures and training. Covered medical records generally last employment plus 30 years; training records three years and sharps logs five years.

Comparing states? See our hair salon guides for all 50 states.