Provides relative to esthetics. (8/1/26)

Senate Bill 54 amends Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:563(8) to expand the statutory definition of esthetics by adding blow drying hair services to the list of practices that constitute the practice of esthetics. The bill retains all existing elements of the definition while inserting blow drying hair services as the first enumerated practice within the scope of esthetics. The amendment takes effect on August 1, 2026. This change operates within the existing regulatory framework for esthetic practices established in Louisiana's cosmetology and esthetics licensing scheme.

The practical effect of this amendment is to bring blow drying hair services under the regulatory oversight of the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology and thereby subject individuals performing such services to applicable licensure, training, and professional standards requirements. Persons who perform blow drying hair services professionally will now fall within the legal definition of estheticians and must comply with whatever licensing and operational requirements the board establishes for esthetic practitioners. Salons and establishments offering blow drying services will need to ensure their operators possess appropriate esthetic credentials under state law.

This amendment operates within Louisiana's existing regulatory structure for beauty professions found in Chapter 1 of Title 37 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes. The definition amended in Section 563(8) is part of the definitional section that governs the entire chapter regulating cosmetology, esthetics, hair dressing, and manicuring. The statute has long excluded certain medical procedures such as diagnosis and treatment of dermatological conditions and electrolysis from the scope of esthetics, maintaining a distinction between cosmetic beautification practices and medical treatments. The addition of blow drying hair services narrows the gap between what constitutes hairdressing and what constitutes esthetics in Louisiana law by bringing a hair-related service explicitly within the esthetic category.