Exemptions

The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to:

1. Persons authorized by the laws of the Commonwealth to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathy or chiropractic;

2. Registered nurses licensed to practice in the Commonwealth;

3. Persons employed in state or local penal or correctional institutions, rehabilitation centers, sanatoria, or institutions for care and treatment of individuals with mental illness or intellectual disability, or for care and treatment of geriatric patients, as barbers, cosmetologists, wax technicians, nail technicians, estheticians, barber instructors, cosmetology instructors, wax technician instructors, nail technician instructors, or esthetics instructors who practice only on inmates of or patients in such sanatoria or institutions;

4. Persons licensed as funeral directors or embalmers in the Commonwealth;

5. Gratuitous services as a barber, nail technician, cosmetologist, wax technician, tattooer, body-piercer, ear-piercer, or esthetician;

6. Students enrolled in an approved school taking a course in barbering, nail care, cosmetology, waxing, tattooing, body-piercing, ear-piercing, or esthetics;

7. Persons working in a cosmetology salon whose duties are expressly confined to the blow drying, arranging, dressing, curling, or cleansing of human hair;

8. Apprentices serving in a barbershop, nail salon, waxing salon, cosmetology salon, ear-piercing salon, or esthetics spa licensed by the Board in accordance with the Board's regulations;

9. Schools of barbering, nail care, waxing, or cosmetology in public schools; and

10. Persons whose activities are confined solely to applying make-up, including such activities that are ancillary to applying make-up.

1962, c. 639, § 4, § 54-83.5; 1968, c. 622; 1988, c. 765; 2000, c. 726 ; 2002, cc. 797 , 869 ; 2003, c. 600 ; 2005, c. 829 ; 2012, cc. 476 , 507 , 803 , 835 ; 2018, c. 404 ; 2025, cc. 308 , 322 .