Barber Schools and License Requirements in South Carolina

Written by Barber-License.com Editorial Staff, Last Updated: November 13, 2026

The South Carolina Board of Barber Examiners licenses barbers, master hair care specialists, barber instructors, barber assistants, barbershops, and barber schools. It sits inside the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (LLR) in Columbia. The law is Title 40, Chapter 7 of the South Carolina Code, and the board’s rules are Chapter 17 of the state’s regulations, with its fees in Regulation 10-6.

South Carolina gives you a choice most states don’t: barber school or training in a working shop under a licensed instructor. Either way, passing your exams gets you an apprentice license first, not a full one. If you’re still deciding where to train, start with our guide to barber schools by state. Here’s the South Carolina path as of November 2026, with what each step costs.

To become a barber in South Carolina, follow these steps:

1. Complete 1,500 School Hours or 1,920 Shop Training Hours
2. Apply to the Board for Your Exams
3. Pass the NIC Theory and Practical Exams
4. Work at Least a Year as an Apprentice Barber
5. Start Working and Keep Your License Current

Step 1. Complete 1,500 School Hours or 1,920 Shop Training Hours

Before you log a single hour, you need a student permit from the board. It costs $35, and you need at least a ninth grade education or its equivalent. The board counts you as enrolled only from the day it issues your permit (Regulation 17-9), so hours you put in before that don’t count.

The board’s licensure page lists three training routes for a registered barber or master hair care specialist:

• Barber college or school: 1,500 hours at a board-approved school.
• High school program: 1,540 hours in a board-approved high school program.
• On-the-job training (OJT): 1,920 hours in a licensed barbershop under a licensed barber instructor.

How Long Barber School Takes in South Carolina

Under Regulation 17-8, full-time students at a barber school train 7.5 hours a day, five days a week, for at least 40 weeks. That’s about nine months. Part-time students train 20 hours a week for at least 75 weeks. The board’s approved school list is posted on its pre-licensure education page.

Regulation 17-14 requires every school to teach a full course that covers haircutting, shaving, shampooing, hygiene, sanitation and sterilization, anatomy, elementary chemistry, scalp treatments and massage, the history of barbering and professional ethics, and the board’s laws and rules. Students training to become master hair care specialists also learn chemical services: waving, relaxing, straightening, and bleaching hair.

Training in a Shop Instead of a School

The OJT route takes longer. Full time is 40 hours a week for 48 weeks, and part time is 20 hours a week for at least 96 weeks (Regulation 17-8). Here’s what the board requires:

• Your trainer: A licensed barber instructor in a licensed barbershop. State law requires a barber who trains students in a shop to have three years’ experience as a registered barber and to pass the board’s instructor exam (S.C. Code 40-7-290).
• Before you start: You and your instructor meet with a board representative before the board issues your permit.
• Two students at most: An instructor can train only two students at a time, and each needs a chair at all times.
• Study time: You use the same textbooks a barber school uses and get at least one hour of study a day.
• Master hair care: If you want the master hair care specialist license, your instructor must hold a current master hair care specialist license.

According to the board’s FAQ, your training hours don’t expire, and your school or instructor decides how many hours transfer if you switch between school and shop training. South Carolina doesn’t accept OJT or apprentice hours earned in another state.

Step 2. Apply to the Board for Your Exams

When your hours are done, you apply to the board for permission to test. Your school or instructor sends a training affidavit (your transcript) to the board. The board’s application for licensure by examination (revised September 2025) asks for:

• Fee: $45 by check or money order payable to the SC Board of Barber Examiners. Don’t mail cash.
• Identity: A copy of your Social Security card and a valid driver’s license, state ID, passport, or military ID.
• Education: Proof of a ninth grade education.
• Lawful presence: A signed, notarized verification of lawful presence form.
• Photo: A 2-by-2-inch passport-style photo taken within the last six months.
• TB test: Results showing a negative tuberculosis test or a normal chest x-ray. Regulation 17-30 requires this from every registered barber and master hair care specialist applicant.

State law sets a minimum age of 16 for the apprentice registration and 17 for the full registered barber license (S.C. Code 40-7-230). Have a criminal record? The board may ask for a background report and court records showing how each charge ended. For South Carolina charges, the report comes from the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED).

Testing Early

You don’t have to wait until your last hour to test. Since February 2025, the board lets students test early once they’ve completed 90% of their program: 1,350 hours in barber school, 1,386 hours in a high school program, or 1,728 hours of OJT. Your instructor submits the training affidavit. You still have to finish every required hour, and your instructor or school files an affidavit of completion, before the board issues your license.

High school students need to be careful here. The board says a high school student who may not finish the program hours before graduation shouldn’t test early. If you aren’t licensed by graduation, your high school hours become void and you finish the remaining hours at a barber college or in OJT. And if you tested before finishing your high school hours, you have to take the exams again after you complete the extra hours.

Step 3. Pass the NIC Theory and Practical Exams

South Carolina uses the national exams written by the National-Interstate Council of State Boards of Cosmetology (NIC). According to the board’s examination page, you must pass both the NIC theory exam and the NIC practical exam, and the passing score is 70%.

• Scheduling: Once the board approves your application, the board sends you an eligibility notice with instructions for registering and paying for your exams.
• Testing company: The board’s FAQ names ProV as its testing provider, reachable at 801-733-4455. Some older board forms still name PSI, so follow the vendor named in your eligibility notice.
• Exam fees: You pay the exam fees directly to the testing company when you register, on top of the board’s $45 application fee.
• Study materials: The board posts NIC practice exams and a study material list on its exam page.

Retaking an Exam

Fail either part and you can test again, but you file a new application each time (Regulation 17-12). The board’s reexamination notice says an application is good for one testing attempt. So expect to pay the $45 application fee again, plus the testing company’s fee for the part you retake.

Step 4. Work at Least a Year as an Apprentice Barber

Passing the NIC exams doesn’t get you a full license right away. Once you pass and you’re otherwise eligible, the board issues a barber apprentice license, and you work under a licensed barber’s supervision for at least a year. The board’s FAQ says you then receive your unrestricted barber license. State law also describes a registered barber exam before the full license, and the board’s published pages don’t say whether it gives a separate exam today. Confirm the final exam and upgrade steps with the board before your apprenticeship ends.

• Who supervises you: An actively licensed registered barber or master hair care specialist. A licensed cosmetologist can’t supervise a barber apprentice.
• Where: An actively licensed barbershop or an actively licensed salon. Hours under an unlicensed barber or in an unlicensed shop don’t count.
• How long: At least 12 months, including at least 1,920 hours (S.C. Code 40-7-230). The board’s apprentice application describes it as one year (1,920 hours).
• How to apply: File the barber apprentice application with the name and license number of your shop or salon and of the barber supervising you.
• Upgrade fee: $80 to move from apprentice to registered barber, or $100 to move from master hair care apprentice to master hair care specialist (Regulation 10-6).

S.C. Code 40-7-230 still describes a registered barber exam at the end of the apprenticeship, and 40-7-250 says an apprentice who has submitted proof of the apprenticeship must take the exam before the next July 1. The board’s current pages describe the upgrade only as an application and fee. Call the board at (803) 896-4588 to confirm what it needs from you. An apprentice also can’t manage a barbershop or run a mobile shop.

Registered Barber or Master Hair Care Specialist?

Both licenses take the same hours and the same NIC exams. The difference is chemical work. Only a licensed master hair care specialist may use chemicals to wave, relax, straighten, or bleach hair in a barbershop (S.C. Code 40-7-260). The master license costs more to keep: $150 to renew, compared with $125 for a registered barber.

Licensed South Carolina cosmetologists can also become master hair care specialists. With two or more years of experience, you pass the board’s practical exam. With fewer than two years, you first complete 375 hours of board-approved barber school training (Regulation 17-51).

Licensed in Another State?

South Carolina licenses barbers from other states by reciprocity for a $140 fee (Regulation 10-6). According to the board’s licensure page and FAQ, here’s what it requires:

• Equal training: Your state’s requirements must be the same as or higher than South Carolina’s.
• NIC exams: You must have passed the NIC theory and practical exams. If you didn’t, you test in South Carolina before the board issues a license.
• Recent work: You must have been licensed and actively barbering for the preceding calendar year.
• Verification: Your current state sends the board a license verification showing the exam you passed, your license status and number, and any discipline.
• No apprentice licenses: South Carolina doesn’t accept apprentice licenses from other states.

Thinking about training just over the state line? Check North Carolina’s barber license requirements before you enroll. North Carolina sets its own hours and exams, and South Carolina only accepts a license earned under requirements equal to its own.

Step 5. Start Working and Keep Your License Current

South Carolina law defines barbering broadly. It covers shaving and trimming beards, cutting and styling hair, facial and scalp massages and treatments, shampooing, dyeing, and servicing hairpieces and wigs (S.C. Code 40-7-20). Most new barbers start in an established shop on commission or hourly pay. Others rent a chair in someone else’s shop.

Opening Your Own Barbershop

Every barbershop needs its own board license, and the license doesn’t transfer to a new owner or location. Here’s what the board asks for:

• Application and fee: A completed shop application and the $250 fee.
• Tax ID: Documented proof of your federal tax identification number (EIN).
• Manager: A licensed registered barber, master hair care specialist, or barber instructor named as manager. An apprentice can’t manage a shop.
• Inspection: A board inspector checks the shop before you open, and the license issues after a satisfactory inspection.
• Renewal: $125 for a regular renewal. Shops are moving to a new schedule: in an August 2026 notice, the board moved barbershop and barber school renewals to June 30 of even years. Shops renew for one year only in 2027, and the new two-year cycle starts in 2028. Check the board’s current renewal instructions for your shop’s fee and expiration date.

File early. The board’s FAQ says to submit the shop application 10 days before you plan to open, while Regulation 17-20 says 15 days. Contact the board, and leave time for the inspection before your opening date. The board also issues permits for mobile barbershops (Regulation 17-21) and portable barber operations that serve clients at homes, offices, and events (Regulation 17-22).

Renewing Your License

• When: The board’s renewal page lists June 30, 2025 as the last deadline for registered barbers and master hair care specialists, and June 30, 2027 as the next one. The board’s August 2026 notice says the 2027 renewal opens April 1, 2027, and individual licenses stay on the June 30, odd-year schedule. Renew online during the open renewal period.
• Fee: $125 for a registered barber, $150 for a master hair care specialist, and $140 for a barber instructor (Regulation 10-6).
• Lapsed licenses: Miss the deadline and your license lapses. Reinstatement costs $150 for a registered barber. After more than three years, you have to pass the exam again (S.C. Code 40-7-250).

You can check any license on the board’s licensee lookup, linked from its homepage.

Barber Salary and Jobs in South Carolina

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, barbers in South Carolina earned a median annual wage of $32,900 as of May 2025, or $15.82 an hour. That’s below the national barber median of $38,210. Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists in South Carolina earned a median of $33,700. These BLS estimates include reported tips but leave out self-employed barbers, so they don’t capture what you’d earn renting a chair or owning a shop.

BLS employment estimates leave out self-employed workers, so the employment column isn’t a count of every barber in the state. Projections Central estimates a 4.2% change in barber employment in South Carolina between 2024 and 2034, with an average of 220 openings per year. For hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists in the state, it estimates a 6.1% change and 850 openings per year. Nationally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects barber employment to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is barber school in South Carolina?

South Carolina requires 1,500 hours at a board-approved barber school. Full time is 7.5 hours a day, five days a week, for at least 40 weeks, or about nine months. Part time is 20 hours a week for at least 75 weeks. Training in a shop takes 1,920 hours instead.

Can you become a barber in South Carolina without going to school?

Yes. You can train for 1,920 hours in a licensed barbershop under a licensed barber instructor instead of attending a barber school. You need a $35 student permit first, and you take the same NIC exams as school graduates.

How much does a South Carolina barber license cost?

Board fees come to about $160: a $35 student permit, a $45 exam application, and an $80 upgrade from apprentice to registered barber. The NIC exam fees go to the testing company, and tuition and tools are separate. Renewal is $125.

What exam do you take for a South Carolina barber license?

You take the NIC barber theory and practical exams, and you need 70% to pass each one. The board approves your application first, then sends you instructions to register with its testing provider.

Can I transfer my barber license to South Carolina?

Yes, by reciprocity, for a $140 fee. Your state’s requirements must equal or exceed South Carolina’s, you must have passed the NIC theory and practical exams, and you must have been licensed and barbering for the preceding calendar year. Apprentice licenses from other states don’t qualify.

• Licensing agency: The South Carolina Board of Barber Examiners, part of LLR, under S.C. Code Title 40, Chapter 7 and Chapter 17 of the regulations.
• Training: 1,500 hours at a barber school, 1,540 in a high school program, or 1,920 hours of on-the-job training in a shop.
• Exams: The NIC theory and practical exams, 70% to pass each.
• Apprenticeship: At least 12 months and 1,920 hours under a licensed barber before your full license. Confirm with the board whether a final exam applies.
• Fees: About $160 in board fees, plus NIC exam fees, tuition, and tools. Renewal is $125.

2025 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures for Barbers and for Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists. Job growth projections (2024-2034) are from the US Department of Labor-sponsored resource, Projections Central. Figures reflect state and national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed November 2026. National job outlook figures (2025-2035) are from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.