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Does a med spa have to register or hold a license in Rhode Island?

Facility · part of The Practice Perimeter

Rhode Island licenses the SHOP as a class of license in its own right: an “esthetician shop” means a shop licensed under the chapter to do esthetics of any person, and a “hair design shop” means a shop licensed under the chapter to do barbering or hairdressing/cosmetology, or both. The division issues licenses to persons engaged in, or desiring to engage in, the practice of barbering, hairdressing and cosmetic therapy and/or manicuring or esthetics, and to instructors, provided that no license is issued to anyone under eighteen years of age. Licenses are divided into classes issued to applicants who have qualified for each class, with the hairdresser’s and cosmetician’s license requiring not less than one thousand hours of continuous study and practice. These claims survey the barbering and hairdressing chapter and do not report on registration requirements elsewhere in Rhode Island law. The PRICE sits in the Department of Health’s fee statute rather than the cosmetology chapter: the chapter sends the applicant to a fee established in regulation and to the renewal fee set forth in § 23-1-54, and that section lists a $25.00 application fee and $25.00 renewal application for barbers and hairdressers and a SHOP LICENSE of $170.00 initial and $170.00 renewal.

Drawn from 11 verified rules in this section · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice

The rest of what Rhode Island says on this

Every other rule we have verified under med-spa registration & licensing, each linked to its primary source.

  • ⛔ RHODE ISLAND ANSWERS THE COMPOUNDED-SEMAGLUTIDE QUESTION WITH A SENTENCE ABOUT COPIES. Compounding does not mean the routine preparation, mixing, or assembling of drug products that are essentially copies of a commercially available product. Semaglutide and tirzepatide are commercially available products, so a compounded version prepared as a routine copy of one falls outside what Rhode Island calls compounding at all.

    R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-19.1-2 (⛔ compounding is NOT copies of a commercially available product) · verified Sep 6, 2026

  • The positive definition is narrow in the same direction. “Compounding” means the act of combining two (2) or more ingredients as a result of a practitioner’s prescription or medication order occurring in the course of professional practice based upon the individual needs of a patient and a relationship between the practitioner, patient, and pharmacist.

    R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-19.1-2 (compounding follows an individual patient and a three-way relationship) · verified Sep 6, 2026

  • And the place is fixed by statute, which is the provision a med spa feels. Compounding shall only occur in the pharmacy where the drug or device is dispensed to the patient or caregiver and includes the preparation of drugs or devices in anticipation of prescription orders based upon routine, regularly observed prescribing patterns. A clinic that is not the dispensing pharmacy is not a lawful place of compounding in Rhode Island, however the preparation was obtained.

    R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-19.1-2 (⛔ compounding may occur ONLY in the dispensing pharmacy) · verified Sep 6, 2026

  • Dispensing itself is defined to include the compounding step. “Dispense” means the interpretation of a prescription or order for a drug, biological product, or device and, pursuant to that prescription or order, the proper selection, measuring, compounding, labeling, or packaging necessary to prepare that prescription or order for delivery or administration.

    R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-19.1-2 (definition of “Dispense”) · verified Sep 6, 2026

  • “Esthetician shop” means a shop licensed under this chapter to do esthetics of any person.

    R.I. Gen. Laws §5-10-1(7) · verified Sep 3, 2026

  • “Hair design shop” means a shop licensed under this chapter to do barbering or hairdressing/cosmetology, or both, to any person.

    R.I. Gen. Laws §5-10-1(9) · verified Sep 3, 2026

  • The division shall issue licenses to persons engaged in, or desiring to engage in, the practice of barbering, hairdressing and cosmetic therapy and/or manicuring or esthetics and for instructing in any approved school of barbering or hairdressing and cosmetic therapy and manicuring or esthetics; provided, that no license shall be issued to any person under this chapter unless the applicant for the license is at least eighteen (18) years of age.

    R.I. Gen. Laws §5-10-8(a) · verified Sep 3, 2026

  • Licenses shall be divided into the following classes and shall be issued by the division to applicants for the licenses who have qualified for each class of license: A “hairdresser's and cosmetician's license” shall be issued by the division to every applicant for the license who meets the requirements of §5-10-8 and has completed a course of instruction in hairdressing and cosmetology consisting of not less than one thousand (1,000) hours of continuous study and practice.

    R.I. Gen. Laws §5-10-9(1) · verified Sep 3, 2026

  • Fees payable to the department shall be as follows: Barbers/hairdressers 5-10-10(a) Renewal application $25.00; Barbers/hairdressers 5-10-11[c] Application fee $25.00; Barbers/hairdressers 5-10-15 Shop license: initial $170.00 Barbers/hairdressers 5-10-15 Shop license: renewal $170.00.

    R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-1-54 (Fees payable to the department of health — barbers/hairdressers, shop license) · verified Sep 7, 2026

  • Applications for licenses under § 5-10-9 shall be made upon any forms that are prescribed by the division and are accompanied by an application fee established in regulation. Every person who wishes to renew his or her license must file with the administrator of professional regulation a renewal application duly executed together with the renewal fee as set forth in § 23-1-54.

    R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-10-10(a) (Application form — Fee — Expiration and renewal of licenses) · verified Sep 7, 2026

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← All Rhode Island rules and changes · MedSpaRadar is regulatory monitoring and reference, not legal, medical, or compliance advice. Verify against the linked primary source and consult qualified counsel before acting — rules change and turn on your specific facts. Legislative data via LegiScan (CC BY 4.0).