R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-10-8

(a) The division shall issue licenses to persons engaged in, or desiring to engage in, the practice of barbering, hairdressing and cosmetic therapy and/or manicuring or esthetics and for instructing in any approved school of barbering or hairdressing and cosmetic therapy and manicuring or esthetics; provided, that no license shall be issued to any person under this chapter unless the applicant for the license:

(1) Is at least eighteen (18) years of age;

(2) Is a citizen of the United States of America or has legal entry into the country;

(3) Is of good moral character;

(4) Is a high school graduate or holds the equivalent or has twenty-five (25) or more years of prior experience in the practice for which the license is sought;

(5) Has satisfactorily completed the course of instruction in an approved school of barbering, hairdressing, and cosmetic therapy and/or manicuring or esthetics;

(6) Has satisfactorily passed a written and a practical examination approved by the division to determine the fitness of the applicant to receive a license; and

(7) Has complied with § 5-10-10 and any other qualifications that the division prescribes by regulation.

(b) Notwithstanding the provision of subsection (a)(4), on and after July 1, 1997, an applicant seeking licensure as a barber must be a high school graduate or hold the equivalent combination of education and experience.

(c) The division may license, on a case-by-case basis, with or without examination, any individual who has been licensed as an esthetician, barber, cosmetologist, electrologist, or manicurist under the laws of another state, which, in the opinion of the division, maintains a standard substantially equivalent to that of the state of Rhode Island.