Esthetician Training & Careers

1) What Is an Esthetician?

Estheticians (also called Aestheticians) are skin care specialists who help clients with their personal appearance and well-being. They offer facials or full body treatments that cleanse and nourish the skin, give head and neck massages, apply makeup, or even remove hair via waxing or laser treatments. Estheticians work in spas, doctors' offices, theaters (as make-up artists), and as sales representatives for particular products.

While a beauty school career might once have been regarded as a career catering to the pampered, attitudes toward esthetician training are changing. These days, greater numbers of people are transferring to esthetics from other careers, and aspiring estheticians can receive a holistic education that includes a focus on health and wellness. Advances in the field have also led to the growing field of medical esthetics.

2) What Is Esthetician School?

Esthetician schools are usually beauty or cosmetology schools that train students in hair dressing and styling, skin care, and nails. You can get an esthetics education in a cosmetology program while also studying hair styling, skin care, and nail technology. However, if you are particularly interested in the skin side of personal health and appearance, an esthetician training program can offer education in that area specifically. These esthetician training programs are often shorter than comprehensive cosmetology programs.

3) Esthetician Training: Available Degrees and Certifications

The most direct route to becoming an esthetician is to complete a training program in esthetics and earning a certificate or diploma. The number of hours of training you'll be required to complete depends on the state in which you plan to work, and your esthetics program. Most states require that students complete 600 hours of esthetician training, with a few states requiring more or less time. At the high end of the scale, Georgia requires estheticians to complete 1,000 hours of training.

If you want to complete an associate's degree in cosmetology, you can get your esthetician training as part of a cosmetology degree program, or you may enroll in an esthetics instructor program after working as an esthetician for a few years.

Esthetician training typically involves a combination of theoretical courses, which give you background knowledge about the science of skin care, and practical courses, which give you hands-on experience. Esthetics students take classes that can include the following:

• Skin type analysis
• Hair removal
• Makeup application techniques
• Sanitation
• Bacteriology
• Chemical peeling

Many states allow estheticians to complete an apprenticeship instead of a beauty program, but apprenticeships typically require twice as many hours. Some esthetics courses are offered online, though usually an online education in esthetics covers the business side of cosmetology rather than the practical. If you chose to pursue your esthetician training online, make sure your program includes enough hands-on training to qualify you for licensing.

4) Esthetician Licensure and Certification

Estheticians in all fifty states must be licensed. Exact requirements for esthetician licensing vary across states, so you'll need to check the specific requirements of the state in which you wish to work. However, there are some common requirements: Most states require that estheticians have a GED or high school diploma, have completed a certain number of hours of esthetician training through a qualified school, and pass a state licensing examination.

5) Career Trends and Salary Information for Estheticians

Whether you have just graduated from high school and are looking to start a career completely from scratch, or you've been in the workforce for years and are looking for a new job, now could be a good time to enroll in an esthetician school. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of esthetician jobs is expected to increase by 38 percent between 2008 and 2018, which is much faster than the average career. Once you've earned your license, you could work in one of the following places:

• Salon
• Spa
• Hotel
• Resort
• Theater
• Medical office

According to the BLS, the average salary for estheticians and other skin care specialists is $32,040. Raises come with increased clientele and greater experience, so make sure to give yourself a good foundation with the right esthetician training and continuing education.