Minnesota to Require a Specialty License to Perform Eyelash Extension Services

On May 19, Minnesota became the second state in the U.S. to require a specialty license to perform eyelash extension services. Minnesota statute SF2802 will go into effect on July 1, 2017.

Whether they’ll start issuing licenses at that time is not a sure thing. “We have the skeleton of a license, we have the definition of a license, but we don’t have the rest of the body to actually implement that license,” says Catrina Mairose, chief of staff of the Minnesota Board of Cosmetologist Examiners.

Because Minnesota passed the law in a non-budget year for the state, several key elements were stripped out of the bill, says Gina Stauss Fast, executive director of the Minnesota Board of Cosmetologist Examiners. For example, the rule-making authority for the Minnesota Board of Cosmetologist Examiners was stripped out. “And no money was appropriated for the board to actually administer the license,” she says.

In other words, the board has to go back to the legislature next year to work out the kinks. Still, Stauss Fast thinks the specialty license is a positive development. “It’s creating avenues for people to do a service that has implications for public protection, and having infection control, having the board involved in the regulatory components, is extremely important. I think that we are doing the public, the licensees and everyone good by attempting to create these specialty licenses,” she says.

“This bill got more press than any other bill I’ve done in 10 years,” she adds. “Eyelash extensions is definitely a hot topic.”

Definition of the statute SF2802

“‘Eyelash extensions’ means the application, removal and trimming of threadlike natural or synthetic fibers to an eyelash and includes the cleansing of the eye area and lashes. Eyelash extensions do not include color agents, straightening agents, permanent wave solutions, bleaching agents, application to the eyebrow or any other cosmetology services.”

[Image: Getty Images]