Maryland Cosmetology Law, Board Rules, and Scope of Practice
Who regulates what
Maryland licenses the practitioner and, separately, the establishment in which services are performed. Those are independent approvals: a licensed esthetician cannot legally practice in an unlicensed or unsanitary shop, and a shop license never authorizes an unlicensed person to touch a client. The State Board of Cosmetologists approves curricula, sets minimum training hours and examination requirements, issues and renews licenses, inspects premises, and investigates complaints. Know the difference between a license (individual), an establishment license, and a permit to operate a school.
Scope of an esthetician
The esthetician scope is non-medical skin care of the face and body: cleansing, exfoliation, facial and body massage, masks, makeup application, temporary hair removal, and the non-medical esthetic devices permitted by regulation. It does not include diagnosing or treating disease, prescribing, injecting, breaking the skin, or performing medical procedures such as laser resurfacing, intense pulsed light, and injectables - those sit under medical licensure or physician supervision in other Maryland law. Estheticians also do not shampoo, cut, color, or chemically wave hair unless separately licensed.
Traps that recur
Questions swap cosmetologist and esthetician; they imply a license from another jurisdiction transfers automatically (Maryland requires application and Board approval - verify current reciprocity rules); and they slip medical verbs into a service description ('treats,' 'cures,' 'diagnoses'). Also watch for a salon owner telling an unlicensed assistant to perform a service.
Rule of thumb
If a service breaks the skin, injects a substance, uses a medical device, or claims to treat a disease, it is outside your scope - stop and refer.