Mississippi Barber License Requirements

Start with the change that invalidates most published guidance about Mississippi barbering. House Bill 313 of the 2024 Regular Session abolished the State Board of Barber Examiners and repealed Chapter 5 of Title 73 — the entire barber chapter.

Barbering now lives in the cosmetology chapter, Title 73 Chapter 7, and is regulated by the Mississippi State Board of Cosmetology and Barbering. If you are reading material that cites section 73-5-9, or tells you to contact the State Board of Barber Examiners, it is describing law that no longer exists.

The Requirements, Under the New Section 73-7-13.1

The board shall admit to examination for a barbering licence any person who is at least sixteen years old, has applied in proper form, has paid the required fee, and who:

1. Has completed no less than 1,500 hours at a barbering school approved by the board, or 3,000 hours of board-approved apprenticeship training; and
2. Has a high school education or its equivalent, or has been successfully enrolled in a community college.

Community College Enrolment Substitutes for a Diploma

That second limb is unusual and worth knowing. Most states demand a diploma or a GED. Mississippi accepts successful enrolment in a community college as an alternative, which opens the door to applicants who went straight into further education without completing a conventional high school route.

Age 16 Is Among the Lowest in the Country

Mississippi sets sixteen, alongside Alabama, Florida and Hawaii, and below the seventeen used by California, Michigan, Nebraska and New Mexico or the eighteen used by Indiana, Louisiana and Nevada.

You Can Work on a Temporary Permit — Briefly

The board may, in its discretion, issue a student who has completed the prescribed hours and paid the fee a temporary permit to practise barbering until the next examination is given, but not exceeding six months.

The limit is firm: in no event shall a person be allowed to practise barbering on a temporary permit beyond the date the next examination is given, except because of personal illness. Personal illness is the only exception the statute admits.

The Licence Runs Two Years

Applicants who satisfactorily pass the prescribed examination are issued a barbering licence valid for two years, subject to renewal.

Mississippi sets 1,500 hours at a board-approved barbering school, or 3,000 hours of board-approved apprenticeship training — a clean two-to-one ratio between the routes.

The Apprenticeship Has Two Hard Limits

Section 73-7-13.1 attaches two conditions that shape whether an apprenticeship is even available to you:

• Apprenticeships shall only be monitored and mentored by those with an instructor licence. An ordinary licensed barber, however experienced, cannot take you on — your mentor needs the instructor credential.
• There shall be only one apprentice per mentor.

Together these make apprenticeship places genuinely scarce: the pool of available mentors is limited to licensed instructors, and each can host exactly one apprentice at a time.

The Same Structure Applies to Cosmetology

The parallel provision for cosmetologists in section 73-7-13 sets 1,500 hours over a period of no less than nine months in a licensed school, or 3,000 hours in a board-certified apprenticeship, with cosmetology apprenticeships monitored or mentored by a licensed cosmetology instructor only and only one apprentice per person at the same time.

The barbering and cosmetology tracks were deliberately aligned when HB 313 merged them.

Education: Diploma, Equivalent, or Community College

The statute accepts any of:

• a high school education;
• its equivalent; or
• successful enrolment in a community college.

Under Miss. Code s. 73-7-12 as amended, the board shall conduct examinations for cosmetologists, barbers, estheticians, nail technicians and instructors at such times and locations as determined by the board.

Board Members Are Kept Away From the Exam

Mississippi writes an unusual separation into the statute. The members of the board shall not personally administer or monitor the examinations, but the board shall contract for administrators of the examinations.

And it removes the financial incentive to attend: a member of the board shall not receive any per diem compensation for any day that the member is present at the location where the examinations are being administered. Board members are not paid to be there, and may not run the test.

A Change From the Old Regime

HB 313 also struck the earlier language about the board terminating its student testing contract, effective January 2020. The current position is straightforward: the board sets times and locations, and contracts out administration.

The Temporary Permit Bridges the Wait

Because examinations are held at times the board determines rather than on demand, the six-month temporary permit is the mechanism that lets a graduate work while waiting. It expires at the date the next examination is given, whether or not you sat it — the only statutory exception being personal illness.

Repealed Provisions Worth Knowing About

HB 313 repealed the entire apparatus that used to govern barber examinations, including section 73-5-15 on applications for barber examinations, 73-5-17 on the administration of those examinations, 73-5-19 on issuing certificates of registration as a barber, and 73-5-21 on licensing people who had practised barbering in another state or country or in military service. All of that now runs through Chapter 7 and the Board of Cosmetology and Barbering.

A Mississippi barbering licence is valid for two years and subject to renewal.

Fines Block Renewal

Section 73-7-13.1(3) contains a condition many states leave to policy: no licence issued by the board may be renewed until all monetary fines and penalties assessed by the board to the licensee are paid in full.

An unpaid fine is not merely a debt in Mississippi — it is a bar to renewal, and therefore a bar to practising.

Fees

HB 313 leaves fee amounts to the board rather than fixing them in statute, and the board's website was returning a 503 Service Unavailable error when we checked on 22 August 2026. We have left the application and renewal amounts unstated here rather than repeat figures from an unofficial source — check msbcb.ms.gov or contact the board directly.

Inactive Status

The chapter provides for an inactive licence, with the fee for processing an inactive licence paid biennially in accordance with board rules, and the licence remaining subject to revocation as provided by applicable law.

If You Run a Shop

HB 313 contemplates an establishment being dual licensed as a cosmetology salon and barber shop, provided there is at least one current barber licensee employed at the location. A combined salon and barbershop is expressly permitted rather than a grey area — but it requires a licensed barber on staff.

Barbering in Mississippi is now governed by Title 73, Chapter 7 of the Mississippi Code, administered by the Mississippi State Board of Cosmetology and Barbering.

What HB 313 Swept Away

The 2024 Act repealed the barber chapter comprehensively. Among the sections it struck:

• 73-5-7 — the State Board of Barber Examiners' authority to create and enforce rules and regulations
• 73-5-8 — certificate qualifications for barber instructors
• 73-5-9 — the requirement for barbers to be registered with and licensed by the State Board of Barber Examiners
• 73-5-11 — barbering school eligibility
• 73-5-23 — conspicuous display of registration certificates and the penalty for violations
• 73-5-25 and 73-5-27 — certificate denial, suspension or revocation, and hearing procedures
• 73-5-29 — the barber board's fees
• 73-5-31 — nonresident licence applications

Each of those functions now sits with the merged board under Chapter 7.

The Board Licenses Five Practitioner Types

Section 73-7-12 names them: cosmetologists, barbers, estheticians, nail technicians and instructors. The 2024 amendment also updated the terminology, replacing "manicurists" with "nail technicians".

Dual-Licensed Establishments

The Act expressly contemplates a location dual licensed as a cosmetology salon and barber shop, conditional on at least one current barber licensee being employed there. That condition is the substantive one: the barber-shop half of a dual licence has to be staffed by an actual barber.

Instructors Anchor the Apprenticeship System

Because barbering apprenticeships may only be monitored and mentored by those with an instructor licence, and because only one apprentice per mentor is permitted, the instructor credential is what determines how many people can train outside a school at any one time.

A Note on Reaching the Board

The Mississippi State Board of Cosmetology and Barbering publishes its statute, fees, examination information, renewal pages and newsletters at msbcb.ms.gov. That site was returning HTTP 503 Service Unavailable when checked on 22 August 2026, so allow for the possibility that you will need to telephone rather than rely on the website.