Is a Non-Compete Enforceable for a Booth Renter or Salon Suite Renter in Texas?

Somebody hands you a contract, and buried in it is a clause that says you can’t do hair, or nails, or lashes, within some number of miles for a year after you leave. You sign because you want the job. I did it myself early in my career, because it was a great salon with a lot of amazing promises. Most stylists never read that clause again until the day they’re actually ready to leave, and then it’s the one line in the whole contract that matters.

So here’s the actual Texas law, read straight from the statute and put into plain words. This page is legal information, checked against the primary sources. It isn’t legal advice for your contract, so for that, read what you signed and talk to a Texas employment attorney.

What does Texas law actually require for a non-compete to hold up?

A Texas non-compete has to pass two tests to hold up. To get them, we opened Texas Business & Commerce Code §15.50(a) itself instead of leaning on somebody’s summary of it, and here’s what it asks for...

• It has to be ancillary to or part of an otherwise enforceable agreement. In plain words, it can’t stand alone as its own promise, so it has to be attached to a real deal, like an employment agreement or a contract for space, that actually gave you something in exchange at the time you signed it.
• Its limits on time, geographic area, and scope of activity have to be reasonable, and no broader than what it actually takes to protect the salon’s goodwill or business interest.

Fail either one, and the clause is exposed.

The statute doesn’t set a magic number of months or miles. It asks whether the restriction matches what the salon actually has to protect. So a one-year, three-mile non-compete against a stylist who never got client lists, formulas or specialized training handed to them reads very differently from the same clause against a manager who received all three.

What happens if my non-compete looks too broad?

Don’t assume "too broad" means "thrown out." Rather than take a blog's paraphrase, we checked §15.51(c) itself, and here's how it works...

If a Texas court finds a non-compete is tied to a real agreement but its limits are unreasonable, the court can reform it, meaning narrow it down to a fair scope, and then enforce that narrower version. The salon can’t collect damages for anything that happened before the reformation, and its remedy before that point is limited to an injunction.

But the clause itself doesn’t just disappear because it was written too wide.

Who has to prove what depends on the shape of the underlying agreement, too. Under §15.51(b), if the agreement’s main purpose is personal services, which covers most salon employment and rental agreements, the salon carries the burden of showing the non-compete meets §15.50’s tests. That burden sits with the business rather than with you.

Does the federal non-compete ban protect me?

No, and this is the fact most likely to be out of date wherever you read it. In 2024, the Federal Trade Commission announced a rule that would have banned nearly all non-competes nationwide. I recorded a Glam Chats episode about it at the time, and I talked about it as a ban that was on its way, even though it wasn’t in effect yet and there were already lawsuits against it.

It never got here.

A federal district court in Texas blocked the FTC from enforcing the rule on August 20, 2024, before it ever took effect. The FTC appealed, then moved to dismiss its own appeal on September 5, 2025.

When we checked the FTC’s own Noncompete Rule page, it said it plainly: "The Noncompete Rule is not in effect and it is not enforceable." That’s true everywhere, Texas included, so Texas Business & Commerce Code §15.50 through §15.52 is the law that actually governs a non-compete here today, and no federal rule does.

Does it matter if I’m an employee, a commission stylist, or a booth or suite renter?

It affects what a salon actually has standing to protect, and we checked the IRS common-law test instead of guessing. The test sorts a worker into employee or independent contractor using three kinds of facts: behavioral control (who directs how the work gets done), financial control (who sets pay, who covers expenses, who owns the tools), and the type of relationship (written contracts, benefits, how long it’s expected to last).

Here’s how the three setups usually line up...

Texas courts apply the same §15.50 framework no matter how you’re classified, but an independent contractor arrangement usually gives a salon less to point to as the "goodwill or other business interest" the statute requires. That usually means no formal training program, no client list ever handed over and no marketing budget spent building your name. And that narrower footing is often the practical weak point when a salon tries to enforce a non-compete against a renter instead of an employee.

Is a non-solicitation clause the same thing?

A non-compete and a non-solicitation clause are different tools with different limits. A non-compete stops you from doing the work at all, in a covered area, for a set time. A non-solicitation clause is narrower, since it only stops you from reaching out to specific former clients or coworkers. Texas courts generally read one under the same §15.50 framework, so it still needs a real underlying agreement and reasonable limits.

For a related question, we checked bex+Co.’s own site, which answers plainly for its own members: "Can I bring my existing clients? Yes. Your book is yours. Most members move with their clients on day one and grow from there."

That’s bex+Co.’s own policy for its own membership, so it says nothing about what any other salon’s contract allows. Plenty of salons write a fair, narrow non-solicit that a Texas court will hold you to.

Then there’s your client list.

Who "owns" it is frequently the actual fight inside a bigger non-compete dispute, and it’s a question your own contract’s wording answers rather than a general rule.

What should I do before I sign, or before I leave?

The best time to deal with a non-compete is before you sign it. I haven’t signed one since that salon, and I’d never work at a commission salon that asked me to. I’ve always told stylists that if a place isn’t the right fit, I want them to find somewhere that fits better, and a non-compete makes that a lot harder.

My Beauty Empire Blueprint course gives students a list of questions to ask a salon owner before renting, starting with how long the contract runs. The first and third questions below come from that list, and the other two matter most for a non-compete.

Here’s what to ask before you sign...

• How long is the contract, and is it a fixed term or month-to-month, with any penalty for leaving early?
• What does the agreement say about contacting your own clients if you leave?
• What amenities, marketing support, or client bookings does the salon actually provide in exchange?
• Are you signing as an employee or as an independent contractor, and does the agreement say which?

If you already signed something and you’re getting ready to leave, read the actual non-compete or non-solicitation clause again, word for word, before you make a move. I’m not a lawyer, which I tell my students too, so have an attorney look at it.

The part I do teach is what comes after the contract question. Keep your schedule and prices the same at first, so the move feels safe to the client who has to decide whether to follow you. I walk through the timing, the scripts and the rebooking method in will my clients follow me.

A non-compete is a real legal document, and this page can’t stand in for a Texas employment attorney reading yours. What it can do is give you the actual law, read at the source, so you walk into that conversation knowing what the statute requires instead of what a forum post guessed.

★★★★★

At bex+Co.^® I have complete freedom over my schedule. It lets me actually enjoy my life outside of work, something I never had before. I've met some of my best friends here. It gave me confidence, support, and a community I didn't expect to find.