Mississippi: Permanent Makeup & Nano Brows Regulation

Verified against official sources, 2026-07-16.

How can you check Nano Brows providers in Mississippi?

Online lookup available: You may search the issuing agency's public lookup for the provider or establishment.

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

Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH), Office of Licensure / Professional Licensure Division — sole statewide regulator (state-centralized); PMU legally = tattoo but administratively tracked as its own 'Permanent Makeup Artist' registration category with its own provisional pathway

Does it cover permanent makeup / nano brows?

Coverage: explicitly-covered

Rule 11.1.2.10, verbatim: "'Permanent Makeup' shall mean a tattoo, whether permanent, semi-permanent, or temporary, which includes eyebrows, eyelids, lips, and other parts of the body for beauty marks, hair imitation, lash enhancement, or areola re-pigmentation. This term includes any procedures whether referred to as, without limitation, permanent makeup, micro-derma-pigmentation, micro-pigment implantation, tattooing, or any other similar procedures and for the purpose of these Regulations has the same meaning as tattoo." Cosmetology boundary OFFICIAL: MS Board of Cosmetology's own page: "MS State Board of Cosmetology does NOT regulate: ... Permanent Makeup, Tattooing, Microblading (Regulated by MS Dept of Health)." Physician exemption (§73-61-1(7)) covers the physician personally; PMU staff in a physician's office register via an accelerated pathway under 'Direct Order' (Rule 11.3.1(5)).

Artist requirements

License required	Yes
Training	apprenticeship-based, no hour curriculum or school system: PMU provisional track = minimum 6 MONTHS under on-site supervision of a Regular certificate holder in Tattooing or PMU (Rule 11.3.3) — AMBIGUITY FLAG: general Regular-certificate rule references 9 months (11.3.1.3); whether PMU advances at 6 or 9 months UNRESOLVED (MSDH confirmation queued)
Exam	NONE — confirmed absence (complete ch. 11 read; no written/practical exam anywhere)
Bloodborne pathogen	yes — American Red Cross 'Preventing Disease Transmission' course or MSDH-acceptable equivalent (every pathway)
Minimum age	18+ artist (all pathways); CLIENTS: FLAT BAN under 18 — §73-61-1(4) verbatim: "It shall be unlawful for any person to place a tattoo upon the body of any person under the age of eighteen (18) years" — NO parental-consent exception (statute + Rule 11.1.3 both checked); misdemeanor $100-$500
Fee	$150 initial + $150 annual renewal ($125 each if multiple registrations); reinstatement $200; registration year June 1 - May 31
Renewal	annual (online; notices 60 days out; abandoned if application incomplete 6 months)

Facility requirements

License required	No
Inspection regime	NO standalone facility license (convergent: rule structure + no facility form + fee schedule) — instead the INDIVIDUAL's certificate is conditioned on the establishment passing standards (Rule 11.5.1): sanitation, private non-carpeted work area, autoclave w/ monthly spore tests (3-yr records), local zoning compliance; AUTOMATIC suspension of all registrations at an establishment for unregistered practice, minor tattooed, sterilization or consent failures; inspections: statutory ≥1/yr, regulatory routine ≥every 180 days + 2-week critical-violation rechecks + 1 unannounced observation-based/yr; mobile establishments must meet identical standards; convention/expo track $50 MS / $100 non-MS
Fee	n/a (establishment charges billed through the registrant: change of location $25/$100 w/ inspection)
Renewal	n/a

Local variation

County-level variation: No

State-centralized — MSDH is sole registrar/inspector; the only local hook is ordinary zoning/business-license compliance (Rule 11.5.1.4). No county/municipal body-art regime found (UNRESOLVED-ABSENCE at the margins).

Reciprocity

MSDH pathway (Rule 11.3.1.4): licensed/registered within the past 18 months in the same discipline in MS or another state + clean record → direct Regular-certificate application (skips provisional supervision) — an evidentiary shortcut, not automatic recognition. Separately, §73-50-2 universal recognition (2021, residency-based) textually appears to apply; MSDH-specific confirmation UNRESOLVED.

Pending / recent changes

Active changes: Yes

Nothing pending on the MSDH/PMU scheme itself (2025-26 bill sweeps clean; no sunset). LIVE ADJACENT RULEMAKING: the merged MS Board of Cosmetology and Barbering has an OPEN comment round (as of 2026-07-16) on its ch. 9/11/12 rules — ch. 11 reportedly bars estheticians from procedures below the epidermis (incl. microblading) — reinforces the MSDH boundary from the cosmetology side; final binding text UNRESOLVED, watch.

What this means before you book

Mississippi registers permanent-makeup artists through the State Health Department under its tattoo law — PMU has its own registration category, learned by apprenticeship (about six months minimum under a registered artist) with Red Cross disease-transmission training, and the studio must pass state inspections roughly twice a year. The cosmetology board itself confirms it does not regulate PMU or microblading, so an esthetician's license alone is not enough. Tattooing or PMU on anyone under 18 is banned outright. The state's public search lists all registered Permanent Makeup Artists.

Statutes & sources cited

Miss. Code Ann. §73-61-1 (tattooing: definition, 18 ban, $150 fee cap, annual facility inspections, physician exemption, misdemeanor $100-$500; official Code is Lexis-gated — verbatim text via FindLaw mirror cross-verified against MSDH's own restatements)
15 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 19, Subpt. 60, ch. 11 (MSDH Regulations Governing Registration of Individuals Performing Tattooing and Body Piercing; full text read: Rule 11.1.2.10 PMU definition, 11.3 registration pathways, 11.5 establishment standards, 11.7 penalties, 11.8 fees, 11.9 inspections) — DATE DISCREPANCY flagged: PDF header 'Amended November 2019' vs index label 'Revised November 2023'
Miss. Code Ann. §73-50-2 (Universal Recognition of Occupational Licenses Act, 2021) — textually appears to cover MSDH registrations; agency confirmation UNRESOLVED