StateLicensed

Esthetician License Requirements in New Jersey

Verified · July 2026
Training hours
600 hrs
Upfront cost
$193
Exam
New Jersey Skin Care Specialist Theory Examination
Renewal cycle
Every 2 years
Issuing board
New Jersey State Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling

How to get licensed

  1. 1

    Meet the prerequisites

    Be at least 17 years old, High school diploma or equivalent (GED accepted), pass a criminal background check. Minimum age 17 and proof of high school completion (or GED) are required. There is no dedicated fingerprint-based criminal background check described on the Board's licensing-requirements page, but the Board's own application forms (e.g., the Application for Licensure by Endorsement) require applicants to disclose arrests, criminal charges, convictions, prior disciplinary actions, and child-support/student-loan default status, and require the applicant to "voluntarily consent to a thorough investigation of my present and past employment and other activities for the purpose of verifying my qualifications," authorizing the Board to obtain records from employers and government agencies. This self-disclosure-plus-investigation process is recorded here as the state's background-check mechanism. [1]

  2. 2

    Complete approved training

    Complete 600 hours of training at a state-approved program. 600 hours of training completed at a Board-approved skin care specialty program (N.J.A.C. 13:28-6.34, "Curriculum for 600-hour skin care specialty course"). Training may be completed at an approved school in New Jersey, another state, or a foreign country, but out-of-state/out-of-country training must be certified by the issuing licensing authority as substantially equivalent to New Jersey school training (N.J.A.C. 13:28-1.1(e)3). New Jersey does not use a two-tier esthetician/master-esthetician structure — Skin Care Specialist is the sole license level; no evidence of a separate tier was found on the Board's official pages. [1]

  3. 3

    New Jersey Skin Care Specialist Theory Examination

    Pass the New Jersey Skin Care Specialist Theory Examination (fee: $53). 120-minute written/theory exam; 115 multiple-choice items, of which 105 are scored Written Exam Fee ~$53.00 (Written Exam Retake Fee also ~$53.00), effective 12/1/2023 per Prometric's posted New Jersey exam-fee notice; this exam fee is paid directly to Prometric and is separate from the Board's own $50 (examination route) or $100 (endorsement route) application filing fee tracked under fees. No separate practical/skills exam is described in the current Candidate Information Bulletin. Sourced via a Wayback Machine snapshot (dated 2025-01-15) of prometric.com/exams/njsbch/ and its linked Candidate Information Bulletin PDF, because prometric.com blocked direct fetches (HTTP 403 / redirect loop) during this research; sourceUrl below is the original Prometric page. [2]

  4. 4

    Submit your application

    Submit your application to New Jersey State Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling with the $50 application fee. [3]

  5. 5

    Receive your license

    Once your application is approved, New Jersey State Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling issues your Skin Care Specialist for New Jersey.

Fees

Fee Amount
Application fee [3] $50
License fee [3] $90
Renewal fee [3] None specified
New Jersey Skin Care Specialist Theory Examination [2] $53
Licensing fee if applying in the second year of a licensing cycle (examination route) [3] $45
Application for Licensure by Endorsement — filing fee (in place of the $50 examination-route application fee) [3] $100

Per the Board's official Application Process Overview: the examination route costs a $50 application fee plus a $90 licensing fee if applying in the first year of a licensing cycle (or $45 in the second year); the endorsement route costs a $100 application fee plus the same $90/$45 licensing fee. These are the fees actually published by the Board. The exact current biennial renewal-fee amount is not stated on any official njconsumeraffairs.gov page located during this research (the Overview PDF only says renewals are done online "and require a renewal fee" without a number); non-official sources cite $90, matching the first-year licensing-fee figure, but this could not be independently confirmed on an official page, so renewal is left null rather than guessed.

Renewal & continuing education

Renew every 2 years.

Individual licenses (including Skin Care Specialist) are valid for 2 years and expire in September of even-numbered years; renewals are completed online. The Board's official Application Process Overview does not list any continuing-education requirement for renewal, and no CE requirement for this license appears on any other official Board page reviewed, so New Jersey is treated as having no published CE requirement for Skin Care Specialist renewal.

Reciprocity

Endorsement/reciprocity from another state is available.

Skin Care Specialist is one of the license categories explicitly available on the Board's "Application for Licensure by Endorsement." To qualify, an applicant must hold a current and active out-of-state (or foreign) license and either (a) have training certified by the issuing authority as substantially equivalent to New Jersey school training, or (b) have at least 3 years of work experience in the field in that state/country, submitted via notarized affidavit plus a certification of licensure (N.J.A.C. 13:28-1.1(e)3). Per the Board's Application Process Overview, if the applicant's home-state license does not meet New Jersey's requirements they may be asked to obtain additional training (a New Jersey school may evaluate prior training rather than requiring a full restart), and if the home state does not require a practical examination the applicant will not qualify for endorsement. The Cosmetology Licensure Compact is not operational in any state at this time regardless of individual state enactment status, so compacts is recorded as empty; New Jersey's own endorsement/reciprocity pathway (described above) is the applicable mechanism, not a compact.

14 state-approved training providers in New Jersey — browse programs and compare schools on tradecolleges.org.

Cost calculator

  • $50
  • $90
  • $53
Total$193

Frequently asked questions

What is the official license name for estheticians in New Jersey?

New Jersey licenses this work as "Skin Care Specialist" through the State Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling. The Board's own statutes, regulations, and application forms use "Skin Care Specialist" exclusively — the term "esthetician" does not appear on the Board's official pages or forms.

How many training hours are required to become a Skin Care Specialist in New Jersey?

600 hours of training completed at a Board-approved skin care specialty program, per N.J.A.C. 13:28-6.34 and the Board's licensing-requirements page.

What exam do I need to pass, and who administers it?

The New Jersey Skin Care Specialist Theory Examination — a 120-minute, 115-item written exam (105 items scored), developed by the National-Interstate Council of State Boards of Cosmetology (NIC) and administered by Prometric through its Iso-Quality Testing network. The exam fee is about $53 (effective 12/1/2023).

Can I transfer my out-of-state license to New Jersey?

Yes, via the Application for Licensure by Endorsement, provided you hold a current and active license and your training is certified as substantially equivalent to New Jersey's, or you have at least 3 years of work experience in the field (N.J.A.C. 13:28-1.1(e)3). If your home state did not require a practical exam, you will not qualify for endorsement.

Does New Jersey require continuing education to renew a Skin Care Specialist license?

No continuing-education requirement is listed in the Board's official Application Process Overview. Individual licenses simply renew online every 2 years, expiring in September of even-numbered years.

Sources

  1. [1] njconsumeraffairs.gov/cos/Pages/licensing-requirements.aspx — accessed 2026-07-11
  2. [2] prometric.com/exams/njsbch/ — accessed 2026-07-11
  3. [3] njconsumeraffairs.gov/Documents/licenseprocess/Cosmetology-and-Hairstyling-Application-Process-Overview.pdf — accessed 2026-07-11
  4. [4] njconsumeraffairs.gov/cos/applications/application-for-licensure-by-endorsement.pdf — accessed 2026-07-11