California Cosmetology License Lookup — DCA

Use the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology’s official License Search link to the Department of Consumer Affairs search. The Board says you can search by the licensee’s name or license number to verify license status and whether a license has been renewed. If you need help confirming renewal, call the Board at (800) 952-5210; its FAQ also lists TDD (800) 326-2297 and (916) 322-1700.

Read the license status using the Board’s definitions. Current means all renewal requirements are complete; Delinquent means they have not been met. Canceled means renewal requirements were not met for five years. The Board separately lists enforcement-related statuses, including Probated/Suspension, Suspension and Revoked. Its FAQ states that a license holder with Probated/Suspension cannot practice because of an enforcement action. Use the status glossary below to distinguish a renewal problem from the Board’s disciplinary status labels.

If another state requires a Certification of Licensure, request it through BreEZe or by mail. The Board’s FAQ gives a $10 fee for each certification and says it sends the certification directly to the indicated state. Online requests generally take two to four weeks to be processed, emailed and received by the other state; mailed requests generally take four to six weeks. The certification includes name, address, date of birth, license number, issue and expiration dates, whether an examination was taken or the license was issued by reciprocity, and the type of examination. The Board does not retain school transcripts of training hours. If the receiving state requires those transcripts, obtain them from the school you attended. Contact the receiving licensing agency about its requirements before choosing which documents to request.

The public search is not the only route for disciplinary history. The Board says actions taken before July 1, 2009 are on its Enforcement page, indexed by individual last name and establishment name; later actions are available through License Search. Those disciplinary actions do not include administrative citations. The Board does not currently publish citation information online. To request those records, send a written public-records request giving the person’s name, license number, the information requested, and your own name, contact number and address to Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, Public Records, PO Box 944226, Sacramento, CA 94244-2260. Follow this separate records process when the information you need is an administrative citation, rather than treating its absence from an online disciplinary result as proof that no citation exists.

California reciprocity is a route to a California license without taking the California written examination. The Board requires a completed application, its required fees, and proof of a current out-of-state license in good standing that is not revoked, suspended or otherwise restricted. Ask the issuing state board to send certification directly to California; certifications sent by the applicant are not accepted. If the current license itself came through reciprocity, also request certification directly from the state where you were originally licensed. The original state’s earlier license need not still be current, but the current license used to qualify must be. The FAQ excludes apprentice licenses, Puerto Rico and Guam licenses, and Florida full, facial and nail specialist credentials from this reciprocity route. California can issue only license types that exist in California; it has no separate waxing or eyelash-extension license. Apply through BreEZe or the paper reciprocity application. If certification is missing, the Board sends a deficiency letter and reevaluates the application after receiving it. After approval, follow the PSI approval packet to have your photograph taken and the California license issued at a PSI location in California.