Guam: Permanent Makeup & Nano Brows Regulation

Verified against official sources, 2026-07-16.

How can you check Nano Brows providers in Guam?

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

Guam DPHSS, Division of Environmental Health — generic Tattoo Shop regime (26 GAR div. 1 ch. 4 art. 13, 1997 vintage, still the current listed rule): facility Sanitary Permit + individual Health Certificate. PMU SITS IN A GAP: not named anywhere in Guam law; the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology (GBBC) track affirmatively EXCLUDES invasive/dermis-penetrating work AND bans micro-thin blades from its establishments by statute — so the tattoo-shop regime is the only plausible home, but DPHSS's application of it to PMU in practice is UNCONFIRMED

Does it cover permanent makeup / nano brows?

Coverage: covered-as-tattoo

No Guam provision names PMU/microblading/cosmetic tattooing. Both generic tattoo definitions (26 GAR §41301(c); 9 GCA §70.410(f)) reach machine PMU on their face — but DPHSS enforcement practice toward PMU businesses is UNCONFIRMED (no guidance/FAQ/enforcement record either way). The cosmetology track is CLOSED to PMU (invasive-work exclusion + the §18128.6(c) micro-thin-blade ban pending never-confirmed Board rules) — industry-site claims that Guam PMU falls under the cosmetology board were checked against the statute and REJECTED. Physician boundary: Article 13 has NO medical exemption (Health Certificate mandate is unqualified); the Healing-Arts exemption (§18112(a)) exempts only from the Cosmetology Act — physician-PMU status under Article 13 UNRESOLVED. Anesthesia note: subcutaneous local anesthesia during tattoo/PMU work = licensed healthcare professionals only (9 GCA §70.410(c)).

Artist requirements

License required	Yes
Training	NONE — the individual credential is DPHSS's HEALTH CERTIFICATE (26 GAR §41314), a communicable-disease screen, not a competency license: written application + physical exam (chest x-ray OR tuberculin skin test PLUS a syphilis blood test) + $10 fee ($1 duplicates); annual expiration; record kept at the shop. No exam, no training hours, no BBP certification, no apprenticeship anywhere in Article 13 — with HI's scheme as the only other medical-screening model in the DB, and far lighter
Exam	none
Bloodborne pathogen	no certification requirement; statutory single-use needle/ink + sterilization duties (9 GCA §70.410(b)) and Article 13 sanitation standards apply
Minimum age	no artist floor identified; CLIENTS: under 18 requires the parent/legal guardian's PHYSICAL PRESENCE (9 GCA §70.410(a), misdemeanor; good-faith ID-reliance defense (d)) — the older rule's written-consent-on-file standard (26 GAR §41311(b)(2)) is SUPERSEDED by the later, higher statute (both quoted; discrepancy flagged, statute controls)
Fee	$10/yr Health Certificate
Renewal	annual

Facility requirements

License required	Yes
Inspection regime	DPHSS Construction Permit (pre-build/alteration, §41303) + Sanitary Permit (§41304: application + inspection; non-transferable; posted; 12-month term renewed each June 30, renewal due ≥15 days early; denial/revocation for contagious-disease employees, invalid Health Certificates, inadequate water/plumbing; appeals per 10 GCA §21109) + separate DRT general business license (Form BL-01/guamtax.com, ~7-10 business days; Business License and Permit Center intake — bsp.guam.gov carried a cyber-incident restoration banner during research, partial-access caveat)
Fee	per DPHSS/DRT schedules
Renewal	annual (June 30 sanitary permit)

Local variation

County-level variation: No

Single territory-wide jurisdiction — 19 villages have mayors but no separate licensing layer found anywhere (all agencies territory-wide; well-supported inference, not an explicit statement).

Reciprocity

None for the tattoo track — full Article 13 read: no reciprocity/endorsement clause; every practitioner needs the Guam physical-exam Health Certificate regardless of credentials elsewhere (documented absence). (GBBC's cosmetology reciprocity, 10 GCA §18114 — 2 yrs licensed + mutuality + 2-yr Guam employment before establishment licensure — does not reach PMU.)

Pending / recent changes

Active changes: Yes

TWO open regulatory threads, both stalled: (1) GBBC has never confirmably promulgated the §18128.6(c) micro-thin-blade rules (2017 mandate) — the statutory default PROHIBITION on microblading-class tools in cosmetology premises stands; (2) DPHSS/DEH's 'Proposed Rules... Governing Barber and Beauty Shops, Cosmetology Schools, and Nail Salons' has carried a 'Proposed' label since ~FY2018 (content unfetched — whether it addresses microblading UNRESOLVED). No 38th Legislature (2025-26) PMU/tattoo bill found (JS-gated bill database — incomplete search, margins caveat).

What this means before you book

Guam has no PMU-specific rules: tattoo shops need a health department sanitary permit and each artist an annual health certificate (a $10 medical screening — chest x-ray or TB test plus a syphilis test — with no training or exam requirement), and it's unresolved whether the health department applies this regime to PMU studios in practice. Salons and estheticians may NOT do PMU — Guam law bars invasive work and microblading-type blades from cosmetology premises. Minors require a parent physically present. There's no public register for tattoo or PMU credentials — ask the studio for its sanitary permit and the artist for their health certificate.

Statutes & sources cited

26 GAR div. 1 ch. 4 art. 13 (Tattoo Shops, §§41301-41316; DPHSS-hosted full text, internally dated 1997 — no substantive amendment evidence; authority asserted from 10 GCA §10102 + §§21101-21102): §41301(c) tattooing definition (pricking + subcutaneous non-toxic dyes/pigments/scars); §41303 construction permit; §41304 sanitary permit (annual, June 30 renewal); §41311(b)(2) minors (WRITTEN consent — superseded, see minors); §41314 Health Certificate
9 GCA §70.410 (crimes; current per Compiler text through 2026-06-10): (a) unlawful to tattoo under-18 'without the physical presence of that person's parent or legal guardian'; (b) single-use needles/ink, pre-sterilized/autoclaved; (c) subcutaneous local anesthesia = licensed healthcare professionals only; (e) misdemeanor; (f) broad tattoo definition incl. scarring
10 GCA ch. 18 (Barbering and Cosmetology Act): §18101(h)(4),(6) — esthetics EXCLUDES procedures penetrating past the epidermis and machines penetrating the dermis ('considered invasive and... prohibited'); §18128.6(c) (P.L. 34-047, 2017) verbatim: 'No establishment or school shall have on the premises any micro-thin blade or blades or instrument of the like, which is used to perform tattoo services or other similar procedures... until such time as the Board promulgates rules and regulations' — MICROBLADING-CLASS TOOLS BANNED FROM COSMETOLOGY PREMISES by default; whether GBBC ever wrote the rules is UNRESOLVED (a DEH barber/beauty rulemaking has sat 'Proposed' since ~FY2018)