Estheticians are licensed skin professionals that work with a variety of special products to provide beauty services to their clients. If you’re a creative and motivated individual, you may be interested in a career as an esthetician. Estheticians have good job stability and many opportunities for work.
What Is an Esthetician?
An esthetician should not be confused with an aesthetician, which is a related and similar occupation.
An Esthetician working at a spa or salon.
Estheticians usually need a significant amount of training, as well as licensing, before they begin practicing their trade. An esthetician that works with a spa or salon will usually receive fairly intensive on-the-job training before they begin working on clients alone. Estheticians may also provide other related services such as facials, massages and aromatherapy. Overall they are meant to provide both beauty treatments and relaxation to their clients.
What Does an Esthetician Do?
The responsibilities of an esthetician usually vary based on their place of work. Those with spas will usually have more extensive offerings than those with salons, and they will usually focus more on relaxation therapies than cosmetic treatments. The cosmetic treatments an esthetician may offer includes exfoliation, scrubs, wrinkle treatments, facials and more. Estheticians will often discuss a client’s options with them before beginning treatment and may also talk to their client about aftercare procedures.
Estheticians working with spas or salons may need to be knowledgeable about the products that their spa or salon sells and may need to make suggestions to their clients about the products that suit them best. Estheticians can also gain additional certifications to provide different types of advanced treatment to their clients as they desire. Estheticians usually are not allowed to perform any type of medical treatment.
How Do You Become an Esthetician?
Becoming an esthetician usually involves a degree or certification program as well as licensing. Estheticians usually do not need to go to school for longer than two years. Once the esthetician’s education has been completed they will usually pursue work with a salon or spa for additional training. This training will usually be in the form of supervision by a more advanced esthetician.
Licensure for estheticians vary by state. The New York Licensing Services for Esthetics requires certification from an accredited school as well as a certain level of experience in the industry. The field of esthetics is extremely stable and offers many opportunities throughout the nation. According to O*Net Online, the skincare specialist field is an extremely quickly growing field that should show 20 percent to 28 percent growth within the decade.
How Do You Advance as an Esthetician?
Estheticians can potentially advance by moving into the field of aesthetics, which is traditionally more highly paid. Aesthetics includes more rigorous education but not significantly so and they can acquire certifications in fields such as laser surgery for more opportunities.
Estheticians that wish to stay within the field may be able to increase their salary by working for more expensive salons or even by opening their own salons. Those that work in higher end boutique salons and resorts may also make more money, especially in tips. Other related fields include becoming a stylist or general cosmetologist, all of which have relatively similar requirements and employment opportunities.