Upholding the practice & standards of North Dakota's beauty industry

**NO PAYMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT A COMPLETED APPLICATION**

ONLINE RENEWAL NOW OPEN!

All licenses MUST be renewed by December 31, 2025.

Important Notice Regarding Establishment(Salon) License Renewals- January 1, 2026

The Board of Cosmetology is currently experiencing a technical limitation with our online payment processor. At this time, the system is unable to process establishment(salon) renewal payments that include assessed late fees, as the total amount exceeds the processor's current transaction threshold.

We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience. Please be assured that we are working diligently with our payment provider to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.

How to Complete Your Renewal

While we work on a digital fix, affected licensees may use one of the following methods to ensure their establishment remains in good standing:

• Phone Assistance: Call our office directly at 701-224-9800. Our staff is ready to assist you in processing your renewal over the phone. Please leave a message as the volume of calls make it difficult to answer every call as they come in.

• Mail-In Option: You may submit a paper renewal application along with your payment (check or money order) via mail to the address on the form.  To access the form, click the 'Forms' tab in the grey menu bar and select '2026 Renewal Form'

Inspection Grace Period

We understand that this technical hurdle may cause concern regarding compliance. Because the Board is aware that this issue prevents online payment, no establishment/independent licensee will be penalized during an inspection for an expired establishment license related to this specific technical delay. You must still renew your individual master license.  Since these licenses are already in a late status, the total fees owed will not increase further while we resolve this matter over the next few weeks. Our priority is ensuring you can complete your renewal without additional stress.

Thank you for your patience and professional cooperation.

**Remember if you own a salon or are an independent licensee you MUST renew BOTH your Master(Individual license renewal button above) license  AND your salon or independent licensee(Salon license renewal button above) license.  This will be TWO separate transactions.**

Please allow 3 weeks for license processing and mailing.  You can use the license lookup feature to see if your license has been renewed for 2026.

Renew Online 

To renew online: You may renew online using your credit or debit card, however, there will be a convenience fee if you choose to renew online.

· Enter the salon license number or the business name and click lookup. 

Renew By Mail

To renew by mail: Please complete and return the renewal form with the appropriate renewal fee. 

You may pay by check or money order, payable to "ND STATE BOARD OF COSMETOLOGY". 

Applications and payments must be mailed to: 

ND State Board of Cosmetology 

4719 Shelburne St, Suite 1 

Bismarck, ND 58503.

Renew In Person

To renew in person: Please complete the renewal form prior to stopping in.

You may pay by credit card, cash, check or money order, payable to "ND STATE BOARD OF COSMETOLOGY". 

*Please allow 3 weeks for renewal license processing. If you do NOT receive your license within 4 weeks of payment, please contact the board office.

 Include a $50 late fee for EACH license being renewed if paid or postmarked after December 31, 2025.

Individual License Renewals:

You MUST make a separate transaction to renew your individual  license: Visit the Individual Renewal page to renew that license. 

Troubleshoot Online Renewals:

Individual License:

Error:  License not found. Try again or please call us at 701-224-9800 for assistance.

            Make sure you have the correct license number (if you recently obtained your master license, your license number changed) You can utilize license look up to find your number.  Once you find your number you will need to restart the renewal process.

Make sure you do not have an extra space at the end of your license number, the system will not find you if there is an extra space.

The Board may not have your social security number on file and you will need to contact the board office to update your information to be able to utilize online renewal.

Error: You cannot renew online. Please contact us to renew your license.  

            Please call our office at 701-224-9800 or email bocinfo@nd.govfor assistance.

Establishment/Independent Licensee (Booth Rental) License:

Error: NO Results

            Try searching by salon number, make sure you do not have an extra space at the end of your license number.

            Try to search by partial salon name: type: Suc  for ‘Salon Success’

            Try closing your browser and starting over

Payments:

Error: Address

            The payment system does not recognize special characters such as # or /.  IF these are in your address, manually remove them:  Use Apt or Unit instead of #, if your address in 721 ½ use 721.5 etc.

Error: Email 

            You will need to enter an email address to process. You can use a fake email address, but you will not receive a receipt. 

Miscellaneous:

·        Please double check your mailing address while renewing to make sure we have the most current. Update as needed.

·        If you need to update your name: Renew today, then contact board office to update.

MAILING PAPER RENEWALS:

ALL MAILED IN RENEWAL MUST BEPOSTMARKED DECEMBER 31, 2025, OR BEFORE. NO EXCEPTIONS.  Keep in mind that just because you drop it in the post office box on December 31, it may not get post marked until AFTER that date.  This is not an excuse and the Board can only accept what is postmarked on the envelope.