Delaware Barber License Requirements

Delaware is one of a handful of states that issues two distinct barber licences — Barber and Master Barber — through the Board of Cosmetology and Barbering. Which one you need depends entirely on whether you intend to use chemicals.

Barber

A 1,250-hour classroom course, or a 3,000-hour apprenticeship to a licensed barber with hours not to exceed 40 per week. The scope covers shaving and trimming beards, cutting or dressing hair, facial and scalp massages, and treating beards or scalps with preparations made for that purpose.

Master Barber

The chemical licence. Three routes lead to it:

• If you are already a licensed barber — an additional 600-hour apprenticeship for chemicals, plus the master barber examination.
• For everyone else — 1,500 classroom hours in a complete master barbering course, plus the examination.
• Or a 3,000-hour master barber apprenticeship, plus the examination.

The Cheapest Path to Master Barber Is Through Barber

Compare the two classroom routes. Going straight to master barber costs 1,500 hours. Qualifying as a barber first (1,250 hours) and then adding the chemicals apprenticeship (600 hours) totals 1,850 hours — longer overall, but it gets you earning under a licence 250 hours sooner, and 600 of the remaining hours are served in a shop rather than paid for at school.

Everything Else You Need

Delaware requires an education equivalent to a tenth grade education, proved by a certified high school transcript or other reliable proof the Board accepts. Instructors need the twelfth grade. Applicants must also be free of disqualifying criminal convictions, pending charges, and pending discipline in any other jurisdiction.

What It Costs

$128 plus the practical exam fee, for either licence — Delaware charges the same $128 for Barber and Master Barber. Applications go through DELPROS, which uses a shopping-cart model allowing you to pay for several applications at once, or to delegate payment to a third party. All processing fees are non-refundable.

Delaware's hour requirements are unusually intricate, because the state runs classroom and apprenticeship routes in parallel and lets you move hours between them.

The Headline Numbers

• Barber — 1,250 classroom hours, or 3,000 apprenticeship hours
• Master barber — 1,500 classroom hours, or 3,000 apprenticeship hours, or (for a licensed barber) a 600-hour chemicals apprenticeship
• Cosmetologist — 1,500 classroom hours

Note the apprenticeship ratio. At 3,000 hours against 1,250 classroom hours, Delaware prices an apprentice barber's time at roughly 2.4 shop hours per classroom hour, and caps the working week at 40 hours.

You Can Move Apprentice Hours Into School

Section 5107(a)(3)f sets out a formal transfer mechanism that few states publish:

Read carefully, that is a complete alternative path: 1,800 apprentice hours convert to 900 transfer hours, leaving 600 hours to complete in a classroom — exactly the stated minimum. The Board must provide documentation of the apprentice hours to the school before transfer.

Two Add-On Certifications Cross the Barber Line

Delaware lets licensees extend their scope without a second full licence, and the two certifications run in opposite directions:

• A cosmetologist may obtain a shaving certification on completing a course in shaving of at least 35 hours of instruction from a licensed barbering instructor. Thirty-five hours is all that separates a Delaware cosmetologist from a straight razor.
• A master barber may obtain a skin and nails certification on completing at least 250 hours of instruction in a licensed cosmetology school, or a 500-hour apprenticeship in skin and nails.

Barbering Instructors

To teach barbering you must hold a licence in the field and complete either a teacher training course of at least 500 hours in a registered school of cosmetology or barbering, or at least two years' experience as an active licensed practising barber supplemented by 250 hours of teacher training. You must also pass an instructor examination designated by the Board.

A cosmetology instructor may add barbering instruction the same way a cosmetologist adds shaving: by completing a 35-hour shaving course from a licensed barbering instructor.

Delaware uses Prometric, working from the National-Interstate Council of State Boards of Cosmetology examinations, and publishes a Candidate Handbook and Information Bulletin.

The Board Designs Its Own Practicals

Section 5106(a)(5) gives the Board power to design and administer practical examinations, subject to the approval of the Division of Professional Regulation, for cosmetology, nail technology, barbering and electrolysis only. That word "only" matters — the practical examination is a Delaware instrument for these four disciplines, not a purchased national product.

The Fee Structure

Every barbering application on the Board's schedule is priced the same way: $128 + practical exam fee. The board notes that once you are made eligible to test, you will be required to pay the practical exam fee, so it is a second payment at a later stage rather than part of the application.

Both barber licences cost the same to apply for:

• Barber — $128 + practical exam fee
• Master Barber — $128 + practical exam fee

The Master Barber Examination Is Separate

Every route to master barber ends with passing the master barber's examination — including the route for an already-licensed barber completing the 600-hour chemicals apprenticeship. Holding the barber licence and completing the extra hours makes you eligible to sit; it does not exempt you from testing.

A Grandfather Clause Worth Knowing

Section 5107(a)(3)d provides that any barber issued a barber's licence by the Division prior to 28 April 2008 shall be deemed a master barber. Delaware created the two-tier structure on that date and promoted everyone already licensed. If you were licensed before then, you hold the chemical scope without having taken the master barber examination.

Delaware licences renew biennially under Section 5111(b), through DELPROS.

The Renewal Fee Is Not Published in Advance

Unusually, Delaware does not post a renewal figure. The Board's fee schedule states plainly: you are notified of the amount of the renewal fee at the time of renewal. We have deliberately left the amount unstated here rather than repeat a number from an unofficial source — check DELPROS when your notice arrives.

The Late Fee Is a Percentage, Not a Flat Sum

What Delaware does publish is the penalty structure: submitting a renewal after the expiration date requires a late fee in addition to the renewal fee, and the late fee is 50% of the renewal fee. Because it is proportional, it moves with whatever the renewal amount turns out to be.

Continuing Education Is Set by Board Rule

Section 5106(a)(15) empowers the Board to require continuing education of licensees as established by Board rules and regulations, and Section 5111(b) makes renewal conditional on proof that the licensee has met any continuing education requirements established by the Board. The statute delegates the number rather than fixing it, so confirm the current requirement with the Board rather than assuming it is zero.

The Five-Year Cliff

Delaware treats a lapsed licence very differently depending on how long it has lapsed:

• Lapsed less than 5 years — renew on payment of a late fee and proof of any continuing education.
• Lapsed longer than 5 years — you must reinstate by taking and passing the practical examination for your profession again.

Five years is the point at which Delaware stops treating you as a lapsed licensee and starts treating you as someone who must prove they can still do the work.

If You Own the Shop

Establishment and school licensing are billed separately:

• Cosmetology/Barbering Establishment or Shop — $142
• Cosmetology/Barbering School — $133

Shops renew biennially and must comply fully with the Board's rules. The chapter expressly permits operating a licensed shop in your own home, provided there is full compliance with all applicable health regulations.

Delaware writes the barber and master barber scopes as two separate statutory definitions, and reading them side by side shows exactly what the second licence buys.

Barber — s. 5102(3)

Any person licensed under the chapter who, for a monetary consideration, shaves or trims beards, cuts or dresses hair, gives facial or scalp massages, or treats beards or scalps with preparations made for this purpose.

Master Barber — s. 5102(12)

Any person licensed under the chapter who, for a monetary consideration, shaves or trims beards, gives facial or scalp massages, treats beards or scalps with preparations, or embellishes, cleans or beautifies human hair, which includes arranging, dressing, curling, permanent waving, cutting, singeing, pressing, chemically bleaching or colouring, chemically straightening, or similar work.

The Difference Is Chemicals

Permanent waving, chemical bleaching, chemical colouring and chemical straightening appear only in the master barber definition. A Delaware barber may cut, shave, dress hair and massage; a master barber may additionally do everything chemical. This is why the extra credential is earned through a 600-hour apprenticeship "for chemicals" — the statute names the reason for the hours.

Where a Licence Is Required

Section 5105 makes it unlawful to practise barbering, or to hold yourself out as qualified to practise, or to use any title or description conveying that impression, without a licence. The same prohibition applies once a licence has expired or been suspended or revoked.

Four Named Exemptions

The chapter excludes:

• Practitioners licensed in another state, district or foreign country who enter Delaware to consult with a Delaware barber — limited to fewer than 30 days in any calendar year.
• Students of an accredited barbering school receiving practical training under the personal supervision of a licensed instructor.
• Barbers commissioned by any of the armed forces of the United States or by the United States Public Health Service.

Barbers Have a Seat on the Board

The Board of Cosmetology and Barbering has 13 members appointed by the Governor, and Section 5104(a)(3) reserves one seat for a barber. Public members are barred from being, or being immediately related to, or employed by, or financially interested in the business of a cosmetologist, barber, electrologist, nail technician or aesthetician.

Inspection

The Board may authorise agents of the Division to inspect any shop or school where barbering services are offered, rendered or taught, or any other place where such services are offered — language broad enough to reach beyond licensed premises.