Arkansas: Permanent Makeup & Nano Brows Licensing and Regulation

Verified against official sources, 2026-11-11.

How can you check Nano Brows providers in Arkansas?

This is Arkansas's official registry — you can look up an individual artist and check their license.

A lookup result reflects only the information shown by the issuing agency. Directory inclusion does not certify a provider's credentials or legal compliance.

Who regulates it

Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) — state licensing of body art ARTISTS (by field, exam-based) AND ESTABLISHMENTS; 'permanent cosmetics' is one of five named licensable fields

Does it cover permanent makeup / nano brows?

Coverage: explicitly-covered

§17-26-601(12)(A): "'Permanent cosmetics' means the application of pigment placed in the skin by a needle or other instrument to beautify the body," naming microblading, permanent eyebrows/eyeliner/lip, scalp micropigmentation, and areola work; (12)(B): permanent cosmetics "does not include tattooing" — PC is its OWN licensable field beside tattooing (machine/nano brow methods sit inside the non-exclusive eyebrow subcategory). Physician exclusion: 'artist' excludes "a licensed physician" (§601(1)); minors may receive permanent cosmetics for medical necessity with a physician's consent in addition to parental consent — §17-26-602(k): "A person under eighteen (18) years of age may undergo a permanent cosmetics procedure due to a medical necessity if he or she is given medical consent from a physician in addition to parental consent." An earlier version of this entry cited that as §602(j); in the 2025 edition of the statute it is (k).

Artist requirements

License required	Yes
Training	400 clock-hours supervised training over 6-24 months PER FIELD (375 for branding; +250/field to add fields) (§607); annual OSHA bloodborne-pathogens course (§606)
Exam	written + practical exam, $50 fee (§608)
Bloodborne pathogen	yes — annual course
Minimum age	no statutory artist minimum found (UNRESOLVED; artist INSTRUCTORS must be 21+); CLIENTS: body art under 16 BANNED "regardless of parental consent" (earlobe-piercing exception); 16-17 with written parental consent + parent present + both photo IDs + guardianship proof, records 2 yrs (§602); areola/genitalia work and branding barred under 18 regardless of consent
Fee	$100/yr, due Dec 31 of the prior year; unpaid by March 1 = 90-day suspension (§603(e))
Renewal	annual

Facility requirements

License required	Yes
Inspection regime	≥1 ADH inspection per year; license non-transferable, tied to premises; unpaid by March 1 = closure; UNLICENSED OPERATION = CLASS D FELONY (§§602(i), 603) — the harshest unlicensed-practice penalty in this DB
Fee	$150/yr
Renewal	annual

Local variation

County-level variation: No

Statewide ADH scheme; no local layer identified.

Reciprocity

No automatic reciprocity — out-of-state/international licensees may seek a 'qualifications review' ($200 one-time fee, exam fee waived) (§603(a)(3),(e)(2)); temporary guest-artist track for conventions (§§601(8), 609).

Pending / recent changes

Active changes: None identified

No 2025R/2026F act amending §17-26-6/-7 located (UNRESOLVED margins — direct arkleg.state.ar.us bill search queued).

What this means before you book

Arkansas licenses permanent cosmetics as its own ADH body-art field — 400 supervised training hours, written and practical exams, annual bloodborne-pathogen training — plus a separately licensed, annually inspected establishment; you can browse the state's full public roster to verify any artist. Body art under 16 is banned outright, and operating unlicensed is a felony.

Statutes & sources cited

Ark. Code Ann. §17-26-601 et seq. (Body Art; Act 900/2021, amended Act 688/2023 eff. 2023-08-01, and further amended by Acts 267, 484 and 629 of 2025) — the former §20-27-1501 et seq. is repealed, all 13 sections. Statutory text read 2026-11-11 in the Arkansas State Board of Health's own "Cosmetology and Body Art Law Book", 2025 edition, which is the compilation the regulator issues to licensees and lists every amending act through 2025
ADH 'Rules for Cosmetology and Body Art in Arkansas' (Board-adopted 2024-01-25, eff. 2024-09-05; 17 CAR ch. 93/Part 54) — official ADH PDF
CITATION-HISTORY NOTE: a standalone 'Permanent Cosmetics and Semipermanent Cosmetics' subchapter (§§17-26-701–713, Act 900/2021) existed briefly and was repealed by Act 688/2023 §18, folding PC back into the general body-art subchapter