Virginia increases training requirements for students in tattoo schools

Starting Sept. 1, Virginia students seeking a tattooing license through a school will have to undergo more hours of training following regulatory changes.

Those changes increase the hours students must spend in training from 750 to 1000 hours, with the additional 250 hours to be used solely for hands-on training. Requirements for a permanent cosmetic tattoo license will increase from 90 hours to 200 hours.

State regulations define permanent cosmetic tattooers as people who tattoo marks that resemble permanent makeup on a client, including “the permanent coloration of … eyebrows, eyeliners, lip coloring, lip liners” and other parts of the face.