Getting a Texas Class A barber license: TDLR steps and the PSI exams

TDLR licenses barbers in Texas and PSI runs both exams. The order is fixed: hours, written, the rest of the hours, practical, application. Source: the TDLR Class A Barber page and the PSI Texas barber bulletin, Jan 1, 2026. Checked Oct 21, 2026.

1. Enroll in a Texas-licensed barbering or cosmetology school

   The Class A Barber course is 1,000 hours. TDLR issues you a student permit while you train.

2. Hit 900 hours: the written exam opens

   Your school reports the hours to TDLR. Once TDLR confirms eligibility, PSI emails you scheduling instructions; TDLR says to allow 24–48 hours after your hours are reported.

3. Pass the written exam

   You cannot sit the practical until the written is passed. Book it at 900 hours, while the theory is fresh, instead of waiting for graduation.

4. Finish all 1,000 hours, then pass the practical

   Completing every hour plus a passed written triggers practical eligibility.

5. Apply to TDLR

   After both passes, apply online. The application fee is $50 and non-refundable, you must be at least 17, and a license runs two years from the date of issue. Any criminal conviction other than a minor traffic violation means filing TDLR’s Criminal History Questionnaire with the application; that review can take one to six weeks.

Class A Barber and the other Texas licenses

On TDLR’s list of new individual licenses (TDLR license types), Class A Barber is the one barber license. The rest are cosmetology-side: Cosmetology Operator, Esthetician, Manicurist, Esthetician/Manicurist, Hair Weaving Specialist and Eyelash Extension Specialist. If you want to cut and shave in a Texas barbershop, Class A is the target and the rest of this page is about it.

The Texas Class A written exam is closed book: 85 scored items in 90 minutes, plus 8 unscored items with 10 extra minutes added for them. You need 70% correct. Seventy percent of 85 is 59.5, so plan on 60 right answers and know you can miss 25. The content outline comes from committees of Texas practitioners, instructors and regulators (PSI Texas barber bulletin, Jan 1, 2026).

You can take it at a PSI test center or as a remotely proctored e-exam on your own computer. Remote sessions allow no breaks. Your score shows on screen when you finish; a failing score report adds a diagnostic of your strengths and weaknesses, which is your retake study plan.

Infection Control is 25 items. Haircutting, coloring and chemical texture together are 24.

What the questions are written from

PSI names five references for the item writers: Texas Administrative Code Chapter 83 and Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1603 (the law behind the 13 Licensing and Regulation items), Milady’s Standard Professional Barbering 7th edition, Milady Standard Foundations 1st edition (2020) and Pivot Point Fundamentals: Barbering (©2022). You need one textbook and the two Texas law documents, not all five.

The practical is eleven timed sections, every one performed on a mannequin, scored on safety, sanitation and procedure (PSI Texas barber bulletin, Jan 1, 2026). The pass mark is 70% of the whole exam: 115 of 163 points. That leaves you 48 points to lose across the day.

The bulletin lists every criterion an examiner rates. Shave and haircut procedure steps are worth 3 points each; every other criterion is worth 1. Adding them up section by section gives the table below.

The other cheap points are habits. “Kit remains sanitary” and “Avoid cross contamination” are each scored in nine sections: 18 points for two things you do anyway if you keep a clean station. Safety criteria as a whole are 59 of the 163 points.

Where Texas differs from the NIC practical

The Texas haircut removes one inch throughout in 37 minutes, using freehand clipper work at the nape, clipper-over-comb, finger-and-shear on top and shear-over-comb to blend. The NIC Barber Styling practical asks for at least half an inch in 40 minutes (NIC practical bulletin). Texas also adds a manicure, a facial and blow drying with thermal curling, none of which are core NIC barber sections.

Kit rules that cost points

• A 30″ × 30″ kit labeled “Pre-sanitized, Clean or Disinfected”, and English labels on the products the bulletin lists (disinfectant, hand sanitizer, shaving cream and the rest); manufacturer labels count, numbering of any kind does not
• No labels on the tools the bulletin says to leave bare: clippers, shears, razor, combs, mannequin head
• A disposable-blade straight razor and non-aerosol shaving cream
• A mannequin head on a stand or tripod and a mannequin hand prepped with tips; trainer hands are not allowed
• Odorless nail liquid, or you lose the tasks that use it
• Closed-toe shoes; no phone in the exam room

Texas barber exam and license fees, before school tuition

Written exam, per attempt (PSI)

$55

Practical exam, per attempt (PSI)

$76

Class A Barber application (TDLR)

$50

Minimum if you pass both first time

$181

Exam fees are from the PSI Texas barber bulletin, Jan 1, 2026; the application fee from the TDLR Class A Barber page. Checked Oct 21, 2026. Tuition is separate and set by each school.

Your exam eligibility lasts five years and you can test an unlimited number of times inside it, but every attempt is a new fee. After a fail you wait 24 hours before booking again, so no same-day retake. PSI fees are non-refundable and non-transferable, and a fee is forfeited if you do not test within one year of PSI receiving it. Rescheduling keeps your fee only if PSI has your notice two days before the exam date.

A licensed Cosmetology Operator does not repeat 1,000 hours. TDLR’s crossover route asks for a 300-hour Class A Barber course at a licensed school, with your cosmetology license current, active and in good standing (TDLR cosmetologist-to-barber page). You still pass both the written and the practical, then apply by mail: $50, age 17 or older, license valid two years.

Spend those 300 hours where the exams go past cosmetology: the straight-razor shave is 15 written items and 34 practical points, and the clipper-heavy Texas haircut is the biggest practical section at 43. TDLR also lists the reverse route, barber to Cosmetology Operator, and a dual-credit option.

Our barber practice test and the app follow the NIC National Barber Theory domains. Most of the Texas written is the same barbering theory under different headings: infection control, shaving, cutting, color, chemical texture, hair and scalp, facials. Everything in the table above except Licensing and Regulation and the manicure slice of Nail and Skin Care maps onto an NIC domain.

1. Theory first, by item count

   Run timed sets from the practice test until infection control and shaving are your strongest areas; they are 40 of the 85 items.

2. Law in the final week

   Rules are the most forgettable material, so learn them last and close to exam day.

3. Practical in parallel

   Time every haircut and shave rehearsal against the 37- and 42-minute limits.