An esthetician license from TDLR authorizes skin care services: facials, chemical peels, microdermabrasion, hair removal (waxing, threading, sugaring), and makeup application. It is a specialty license under the unified Barbering and Cosmetology program — narrower in scope than the 1,000-hour cosmetology operator license, and built for professionals who work exclusively in skin care.
The license requires 750 hours of training at a TDLR-licensed school plus the written and practical licensing exams. Renewal follows the same pattern as every practitioner license in the program:
- $50 renewal fee every 2 years, on the anniversary of issuance
- 4 hours of TDLR-approved CE per cycle — 1 hour of sanitation, 1 hour of human trafficking prevention, and 2 elective hours
- You may only need 2 hours if you have held your license 15 or more years
All cosmetology subtypes — operators, barbers, estheticians, manicurists, eyelash extension specialists, and hair weaving specialists — take the same 4-hour CE course; there is no esthetician-only course. If you also hold a manicurist license, TDLR offers a combined esthetician/manicurist license that collapses both into a single renewal.
What it means for your renewal
Estheticians renew on the same biennial schedule and $50 fee as every other practitioner type — what matters is finishing your CE before you submit the renewal, and keeping the certificate for at least 2 years as your own record of the hours.
The esthetician CE course from OnlineTexasCE — TDLR-Approved Provider #2273 — is $22.95 with no final exam, reported to TDLR within 24 hours.
Authority: Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1603