Licensure sounds bureaucratic until you understand what it is protecting. Michigan licenses beauty professionals because the work involves chemicals, blades, heat, hot wax and other people's skin. The license is the state's way of saying: this person was trained somewhere legitimate, and they proved it on an exam. Once you see it that way, the process stops feeling like paperwork and starts feeling like the thing that makes you a professional.
Who LARA is
LARA is the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. It is the state department that oversees occupational licensing, and beauty licensing sits inside it. LARA licenses cosmetologists, estheticians, manicurists and instructors, and it licenses the schools that train them — including this one.
Practically, that means two different bodies are involved in your career. The school teaches you and issues your diploma. The state licenses you. Neither can do the other's job.
The shape of the process
Stripped of detail, it goes like this:
- Enroll in the relevant program at a school licensed by the State of Michigan.
- Complete the training — theory plus supervised practical work on real clients.
- Graduate and receive your diploma from the school.
- Apply to the state and sit for the licensure examination for your discipline.
- Hold the license, and keep it current under the state's rules.
Each discipline has its own examination. A cosmetology license is not an esthetics license, and neither one covers nail technology. That is why choosing your program is a real decision rather than an administrative detail.
Why we will not print hours, fees or exam dates
You will find websites that state a confident number of required training hours for Michigan. Be careful with them. Michigan raised required training hours in 2024, and requirements can differ depending on when a student enrolled. Application fees and examination logistics also change on the state's schedule, not ours.
We would rather send you to the source and to a phone call than publish a number that quietly goes out of date and misleads someone planning their year around it.
What the exam is testing, in spirit
Without pretending to know the contents of any given examination, the intent is consistent across licensed trades: can you work safely, hygienically and competently on a member of the public? Which is why so much of school time goes into sanitation, disinfection, implement care, contraindications and standards — not because it is the fun part, but because it is the part that protects clients.
How training prepares you for it
Preparation is built into the program rather than crammed at the end. Theory is taught alongside the practical work it explains, and the clinic floor forces you to apply it while someone is actually in your chair. By the time you finish, the standards are habits instead of facts you memorised. The first weeks at beauty school describes how that starts.
Licensed school, licensed instructors
Nahla Beauty School is a licensed beauty school in the State of Michigan, operating under LARA. Every service performed on the clinic floor is overseen by a licensed instructor. Those two facts are the ones a prospective student should check anywhere they consider training, because they determine whether the work you complete counts.
If you are comparing schools around Metro Detroit — Garden City, Westland, Livonia, Inkster, Wayne, Redford, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Taylor, Southgate — ask each one plainly whether they are licensed by the state, and ask who supervises the floor. Good schools will answer in one sentence.
After the license
A Michigan license is not a finish line. It is what allows you to charge for your work, to be hired, to rent a chair, to build a clientele, and eventually — if you want — to train other people through instructor training. Where you take it is genuinely open; career paths after beauty school covers more of the options than most people expect.
Common worries, answered honestly
- “I'm bad at tests.” Most people who say this have never been tested on something they practise with their hands every day. It is a different experience.
- “What if requirements change while I'm enrolled?” Ask us — this is exactly the kind of question the phone exists for.
- “Is the diploma the license?” No. The diploma is the school's; the license is the state's. You need the first to pursue the second.
Everything else specific to you — program choice, scheduling around work, what applies to your enrollment — is a conversation, not a webpage. Call (734) 277-7726 and ask. If email is easier, write to us and we will call you back.