Virginia Regulatory Town Hall View Comments

Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation

Board for Barbers and Cosmetology

Guidance Document Change: This guidance document currently provides guidance to regulated parties and the public regarding the implementation of the 1,000-hour cosmetology curriculum which became effective on September 1, 2024. The document establishes protocols for students already enrolled in a 1,500-hour cosmetology curriculum and outlines school responsibilities in meeting the 1,000-hour cosmetology program requirements. On September 29, 2025, the Board for Barbers and Cosmetology (“the Board”) amended this guidance to implement changes made to the Barbering and Cosmetology Regulations (18VAC41-20) as a result of the Board’s General Review of the Barbering and Cosmetology Regulations (Action 6339/ Stage 10871). The regulatory change (i) revised the cosmetology curricula while keeping the minimum training requirement of 1,000 hours; (ii) revised the barber curricula and reduced the minimum required training hours from 1,100 hours to 750 hours; (iii) revised the master barber curricula and reduced the minimum required training hours from 400 hours to 250 hours; and (iv) revised the dual barber/master barber curricula and reduced the minimum required training hours from 1,500 hours to 1,000 hours. The regulatory changes will become effective December 1, 2025. The amended guidance does not impose any new requirements. Please refer to the ORM review form for additional information.

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12/1/25 2:02 pm

Commenter: Kristen Kent, Rudy & Kelly Academy, A Paul Mitchell Partner School

Deadlines make completion of program impossible for part-time students

I'm asking for the Board to extend the deadlines given for completing programs that were still Board-approved as of November 30, 2025 to enroll new students. The admissions departments work with prospective students months ahead of their start dates, providing them with crucial information about the program, including the program length and scheduled completion dates. Students then sign contractually-binding enrollment agreements committing to that program that was presented to them by our admissions team. We pride ourselves on making sure the information we provide is accurate and not misrepresenting the programs we offer. Both parties entered agreements within the past several months with the full expectation that the school would be able to meet those contractual obligations to the student by providing the program that was approved and available at the time of signing. The completion deadline dates in this guidance document were not made public until more recently, after several classes of students had already committed to a program that according to these dates they will be unable to finish. This is harmful to students and to schools.

The Board is putting schools in a precarious position by creating a compliance conflict. Not only does accelerating the program in order for students to finish prior to the deadline violate our accrediting agency standards as well as the Department of Education requirements, but it violates DPOR's own standards since our program approvals contain the published program length. Schools are left with no options to maintain compliance while still meeting our contractual obligations.

Students must be allowed to continue in the program in which they enrolled, through it's scheduled completion date. Our school's longest program length is 50 weeks, for a 1000-hour part-time program at 20 hours a week, but if other schools have longer programs then the guidance document should be set accordingly. If the longest approved program is 50 weeks, then the earliest possible completion date for a part-time student with zero absences who enrolled by November 30, 2025 would be around November 30, 2026 when accounting for holidays and school closures. These students should be given until at least January 2027 to complete their program. 1500-hour Dual Barber/Master Barber students will need until November 30, 2027.

We appreciated the consideration of this concern last year when the 1500-hour Cosmetology program was being reduced to 1000 hours. Allowing those students who enrolled by 8/31/2024 to complete by 8/31/2026 was a reasonable deadline. Even with that deadline, there are a small number of students who may not be able to complete due to circumstances requiring a leave of absence from the program, such as pregnancy, but all students at least had the opportunity to complete based on their original signed enrollment agreement. I am asking for the same consideration for the current Cosmetology & Barber students. The small change of extending these deadlines will benefit the students by resolving these compliance conflicts.

Thank you for your consideration of these extensions for the best interests of our students.

CommentID: 238155