Opening a nail salon in Oregon: the salon license
What Oregon Health Licensing Office, Board of Cosmetology publishes about licensing the salon itself, checked on September 7, 2026.
- Who needs it
- Oregon calls the salon license a facility license. All practitioners who provide services in Oregon must do so in a licensed facility, the only exception being a practitioner holding a freelance authorization. A facility is an establishment operated on a regular or irregular basis for the purpose of providing services in one or more fields of practice.
- Source: Oregon Health Licensing Office - Nail technology licensing · Checked September 7, 2026
- Fees
- A non-refundable facility application fee of $140 plus a facility license fee of $155, a total of $295, as printed on the facility license application revised June 1, 2023. Do not send cash through the mail.
- Source: Oregon Health Licensing Office - Cosmetology facility license application (PDF) · Checked September 7, 2026
- Requirements
- The applicant must be at least 18. An Assumed Business Name must be registered with the Oregon Secretary of State unless the business name includes each owner's real and true name. The facility must be equipped with the structures, accommodations and equipment the HLO requires for all facilities, under Oregon Administrative Rule chapter 331 division 30. A home-based facility needs an identifying house number, a visible sign matching the filed name, and floor-to-ceiling walls separating the residence from the facility. A relocation needs a floor plan.
- Source: Oregon Health Licensing Office - Cosmetology business authorizations · Checked September 7, 2026
- Who holds the license and who signs
- The holder of a facility license must be a natural person, not a company; the form calls that person the responsible party. The application also lists every additional owner or partner, every employee who holds a practitioner certification, and every independent contractor leasing a station in the facility, and each of them must sign or the HLO will not update its records. An owner who holds a practitioner certification does not need a separate independent contractor registration to work in their own facility. With the form go one original photographic identification issued by a government agency in the applicant's current legal name, and proof of being at least 18. Form revised June 1, 2023.
- Source: Oregon Health Licensing Office - Cosmetology facility license application (PDF) · Checked September 21, 2026
- Leasing a station in someone else's salon
- A practitioner who leases a station in someone else's facility, and so is not under the control and direction of the facility license holder, registers separately as an independent contractor. The fee is a $70 non-refundable application fee plus a $140 registration fee, $210 in total, on the form revised July 1, 2024.
- Source: Oregon Health Licensing Office - Cosmetology independent contractor registration application (PDF) · Checked September 21, 2026
- A temporary facility
- For a facility that will only run for a short spell - a fair, an event, a pop-up - Oregon issues a temporary facility permit instead of a facility license, good for no more than 30 consecutive calendar days. Its holder must also be a natural person. The fee is a $70 non-refundable application fee plus a $140 permit fee, $210 in total, on the form revised June 1, 2023.
- Source: Oregon Health Licensing Office - Cosmetology temporary facility permit application (PDF) · Checked September 21, 2026
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The oldest line on this page was checked September 7, 2026