Connecticut: Permanent Makeup & Nano Brows Regulation
Verified against official sources, 2026-07-14.
How can you check Nano Brows providers in Connecticut?
Online lookup available: You may search the issuing agency's public lookup for the provider or establishment.
Official lookup for Connecticut
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
Connecticut DPH — individual 'Tattoo Technician' licensing only (no state establishment license); local health directors may inspect establishments annually for sanitation (fee ≤$100)
Does it cover permanent makeup / nano brows?
Coverage: covered-as-tattoo
§20-266n(3): "'Tattooing' means marking or coloring, in an indelible manner, the skin of any person by pricking in coloring matter or by producing scars" — tool-neutral, textually reaching machine PMU/nano brows; §20-266p(5) bars advertising 'tattoo'/'tattooing' without a license. No DPH page found using 'microblading' or 'permanent makeup' (explicit-statement UNRESOLVED — hence covered-as-tattoo; industry sources agree the tattoo license is required, secondary). Exemptions (§20-266o(d)): physicians; APRNs (with physician); RNs (under physician direction); PAs (under physician supervision).
Artist requirements
| License required | Yes |
|---|---|
| Training | 2,000-hour supervised apprenticeship (applicants after 2015-01-01; pre-2015 5-yr practitioners grandfathered); OSHA/BBP course (29 CFR 1910.1030) WITH proficiency exam within 3 years pre-application; current Red Cross/AHA first-aid certificate; free 'student tattoo technician' registration allows supervised practice up to 2 years while accruing hours |
| Exam | the BBP course's proficiency exam (no separate state exam) |
| Bloodborne pathogen | yes |
| Minimum age | 18+ (technician); clients under 18: parent/guardian permission required (§20-266p(6)) |
| Fee | $250 initial/reinstatement; $200 biennial renewal (renewal requires redoing the BBP course within 6 months of expiration) |
| Renewal | biennial |
Facility requirements
| License required | No |
|---|---|
| Inspection regime | no state establishment license — §20-266s authorizes LOCAL annual sanitary inspections (fee ≤$100); some districts layer their own body-art establishment rules (e.g., Ledge Light Health District, secondary) |
| Fee | n/a (state); local inspection fee ≤$100 |
| Renewal | n/a |
Local variation
County-level variation: Yes
Practitioner-level state licensing with local sanitation oversight — inspection rigor varies by town/health district.
Reciprocity
YES (§20-266o(f)(1)): out-of-state technicians with a current license in good standing + ≥2 years' licensed practice immediately preceding + BBP course + first-aid cert; non-renewable 120-day temporary permit pending review.
Pending / recent changes
Active changes: None identified
No 2026-session bill on tattoo/PMU/microblading licensure located (session adjourned sine die 2026-05-06) — UNRESOLVED margins (search-based).
What this means before you book
Connecticut recognizes only the Tattoo Technician license (or an exempt physician/supervised medical professional) for PMU and nano brows — a 2,000-hour apprenticeship state — and you can verify any technician instantly via eLicense or the state's open-data roll. Studio sanitation oversight is local rather than state-level, so inspection rigor varies by town.
Statutes & sources cited
- CGS ch. 387a, §§20-266n–20-266s (Tattoo Technicians; P.A. 13-234, eff. 2014-07-01)
- CGS §20-266p(6) (minors: tattooing an unemancipated minor under 18 without parent/guardian permission = prohibited act, class D misdemeanor) — CITE CORRECTIONS: §19a-92a was REPEALED eff. 2014-07-01; §19a-92g covers body piercing ONLY, not tattooing
- CGS ch. 387 (esthetics, §§20-265a–i) — full text searched: ZERO references to tattooing/PMU/microblading (official absence: esthetics licenses do not cover PMU)