American Samoa: Permanent Makeup & Nano Brows Regulation

Source status: this page relies in whole or part on reasonably credible secondary sources because a usable current official source was unavailable. The material is attributed, the review date is shown, and the conclusions are qualified.

Secondary material alone is not used here to make a definitive minor-eligibility statement or to assert that any named provider has acted unlawfully.

Reviewed as of 2026-07-16. Evidence tier: secondary-only.

How can you check Nano Brows providers in American Samoa?

No online lookup located: As of 2026-07-16, we did not locate a public online lookup. You may ask the provider for the credential's name and issuing agency.

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

NO regime in force — American Samoa DOH (Environmental Health Services) enforces the GENERAL health-permit statute (A.S.C.A. §25.0501: restaurants, food, 'any barbershop or beauty parlor' — tattoo NOT named) against tattoo activity by interpretation (2019 enforcement reported: 'Because tattooing involves piercing the skin, it has to be subjected to health regulations'), and has TWICE NOTICED (2023-07; re-noticed 2025-06-02, comments closed 2025-06-23) a tattoo-specific rule for ASAC tit. 25 ch. 02 — NO ADOPTION FOUND as of 2026-07-16. VERIFICATION TIER NOTE: rated secondary-only — core code text comes from asbar.org (the Bar Association's QUASI-official ASCA mirror, incomplete by its own account) and key agency positions from unfetchable Samoa News reporting; official items (osas.as notices, americansamoa.gov memoranda) support the pending-rule and board-existence findings only. FIRST sub-official entry in the DB → publication_status=secondary-only-qualified (2026-07-17): the unverified-tier display template now exists — B10 Display-Language Templates Draft 2.2 §8 ('Secondary-only pages', adopted 2026-07-17) is the operative display template; the page publishes ONLY with §8 qualified labeling (attribution + review date + qualified conclusion) plus the §9 standing footer. §8's AS-specific limits apply: no definitive minor-eligibility statement and no named-provider unlawful-conduct claim from secondary material alone; the unadopted-proposal history may be summarized only as identified-source material, never as current law

Does it cover permanent makeup / nano brows?

Coverage: unaddressed

PMU/permanent cosmetics/microblading appears NOWHERE in any retrievable American Samoa text. No tattoo-specific regime is in force; DOH's enforcement hook is the general §25.0501 permit ('beauty parlor' sweep-in for a PMU studio is OUR inference, unconfirmed). The pending DOH rule is framed around 'tattoo parlor'/'tattoo-related event'/'traditional or cultural tattooing' — whether PMU would be captured is UNRESOLVED (no definitions retrievable). Cosmetician licensing (topical only) does not fit PMU as written. Minors: NO provision FOUND (tit. 46 archive swept — bigamy/incest/child-welfare only; archive possibly non-exhaustive; whether the pending rule has an age clause unknown) — UNRESOLVED, not confirmed absence.

Artist requirements

License required	No individual artist license at this level
Training	no individual tattoo/PMU credential exists (convergence: §31.1504 covers hairdresser/cosmetician only; tit. 27 business classifications have no tattoo category; DOH's own reported position: 'Currently there are no set regulations regarding the profession of tattooing in the Territory' — secondary-relayed)
Exam	none
Bloodborne pathogen	none codified; the pending rule reportedly adds sterilization standards (unverified)
Minimum age	no artist floor; CLIENTS: NO minors provision located (UNRESOLVED — see coverage note)
Fee	n/a
Renewal	n/a

Facility requirements

License required	Yes
Inspection regime	TWO general layers, neither tattoo-specific: (1) annual Dept. of Commerce business license (all businesses; renewal Oct 1-Dec 31; late fee Jan; suspension Feb 1; online portal app.oncamino.com or in person; no tattoo/PMU category — 'professional services'/'service organization' presumed); (2) DOH health permit IF swept in as a 'beauty parlor' (§25.0501 — inference); a reported Board-of-Cosmetology sign-off gate before Commerce issues cosmetology-field licenses is secondary-only (unfetchable source). The PROPOSED rule would add tattoo-parlor + tattoo-event permits ($100 each, reported)
Fee	business license per Commerce schedule; proposed $100 tattoo permits (unadopted)
Renewal	annual (business license, calendar year)

Local variation

County-level variation: No

Unitary territorial government (ASCA/ASAC territory-wide); districts/counties/villages hold customary authority (village fono/pulenu'u), not business/health licensing — no sub-territorial body-art layer found.

Reciprocity

n/a — no tattoo/PMU credential exists to reciprocate. (General cosmetology pathway §31.1504(a): US-state license + 3-of-5-years practice — not PMU. 2019 cross-border practice: visiting traditional artists from independent Samoa reportedly asked for Samoa MOH certification — news-reported practice, not codified.)

Pending / recent changes

Active changes: Yes

DOH proposed rule for ASAC tit. 25 ch. 02 (tattoo parlors + cultural tattoo events): noticed 2023-07, RE-NOTICED 2025-06-02 (comments closed 2025-06-23) — NO adoption notice found as of 2026-07-16 (osas.as Updated Regulations category shows only an unrelated Title 41 rule); >1 year past comments = stalled or finalized through an unfound channel — UNRESOLVED-CURRENT-VS-FINAL, HIGH watch (adoption would create the territory's first tattoo regime and may reach PMU). No Fono bill found — but asfono.gov has NO bill index at all (House page 'under construction') — access limitation, not a negative. NEHA Oct-2025 tracker: zero AS entries.

What this means before you book

American Samoa currently has no tattoo or PMU regulations in force — no license, no permit category, no register, and no located age rule — though the Health Department has treated tattooing as subject to general sanitation permits since 2019 and has a tattoo-specific rule proposed (covering commercial parlors and traditional tatau events alike) that had not been adopted as of this writing. A PMU studio needs the standard annual business license, and possibly a general health permit as a 'beauty parlor.' Ask the artist directly about training, sterilization, and single-use equipment — the territory's rules don't yet do it for you. [DISPLAY STATUS (2026-07-17): publishes under B10 Draft 2.2 §8 qualified labeling — secondary-source attribution + review date + qualified conclusions + the §9 standing footer. Data layer unchanged: verification=secondary-only; the AS DOH rule-adoption watch stays HIGH (adoption could lift this entry above secondary-only).]

Statutes & sources cited

A.S.C.A. §25.0501 (health permits — verbatim, asbar quasi-official): unlawful to operate without a DOH health permit '(1) any establishment defined as a restaurant; (2) any place defined as a food establishment; (3) any activity involving the sale of food or drink...; (4) any barbershop or beauty parlor' — TATTOO PARLOR NOT NAMED (1972, PL 12-44)
A.S.C.A. §31.1504 (Beauty Culture Act — licensure of 'hairdresser and cosmetician'; the 'cosmetician' definition (via §31.1502(d)-(e) as discussed in Ferstle v. ASG) covers topical work + eyebrow/eyelash DYEING only — no needle/pigment implantation). An uncited recurring web claim that the Cosmetology Board regulates 'permanent cosmetics... and tattooing' could NOT be traced to any primary source and CONTRADICTS the retrieved text — REJECTED as unverified
PENDING RULE: DOH Notice of Intended Action, ASAC tit. 25 ch. 02 (2025-06-02, osas.as — OFFICIAL; PDFs image-only/unextractable; content per unfetchable Samoa News reporting: health permits for commercial tattoo parlors AND cultural/traditional tattoo events, $100 each, sterilization standards, port-of-entry equipment inspection — ALL UNVERIFIED against primary text; cited authority '§25.0604(c)' maps to a food-labeling section as independently located — citation anomaly flagged). Traditional tatau (pe'a/malu): NO cultural exemption found; the proposal as reported applies TO traditional practice (a separate event permit) — 2019 practice reportedly required visiting tufuga to show Samoa Ministry of Health certification