ESTHETICIANS (sometimes spelled AESTHETICIANS) are licensed Skin Care Specialists who treat the facial skin to maintain and improve its appearance. Estheticians work to achieve their customers’ beautifying goals through the following tasks:

• Analyze customer’s skin care needs.
• Discuss treatments and products with clients.
• Use a magnifying lamp or visor.
• Perform facials to cleanse pores and improve skin tone.
• Apply chemical peels to reduce fine lines and age spots.
• Perform simple extractions to remove blackheads.
• Remove unwanted facial hair using depilatory wax.
• Tint eyebrows.
• Instruct customers on skin care and makeup techniques.
• Sterilize equipment and clean work area.
• Massage the face.
• Select and apply cosmetic products such as creams, lotions, and tonics.

The following skills, knowledge, and abilities are important for Estheticians:

• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Speaking - Talking to others to effectively convey information.
• Active Listening - Listening to what other people are saying and asking questions as appropriate.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react the way they do.
• Equipment Selection - Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
• Problem Identification - Identifying the nature of problems.
• Time Management - Managing one’s own time and the time of others.
• Arm-Hand Steadiness - Keeping the hand and arm steady while making an arm movement or while holding the arm and hand in one position.
• Knowledge of Disinfection Procedures and Considerations - Recognizing infectious diseases and knowing disinfection and safety procedures for the protection of operators and clients.

Estheticians also need an awareness of sound business practices since many will eventually be self-employed. They will need to know how to market services, manage inventory, retain clients while attracting new ones, negotiate rental contracts, and build in a stable profit margin.

Estheticians work indoors in salons, health and beauty spas, or medical offices. Estheticians may wear lab coats and gloves in their work. They use chemical and herbal preparations and must not be allergic to them. Estheticians must be able to do daily lifting, pushing, and pulling of up to ten pounds. Although Estheticians may sit a good percentage of the time, the job is not sedentary as Estheticians get up, reach, and bend over 80 percent of the day.

Estheticians can also work outside the treatment arena as educators and/or sales representatives for product manufacturers, as teachers, and as makeup artists in television studios, movie sets, fashion shows, and for wedding consultants.

The following information is from the occupational projections produced by Employment Development Department’s Labor Market Information Division and applies to the occupational group Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists that includes Estheticians.

According to data provided by the Bureau of Barbering and Cosmetology, the number of licensed Estheticians increased from 12,840 in July 1995 to 18,388 by March 2001 - an increase of about 43 percent growth in six years.

A primary force driving the growth of the Esthetician occupation is the increase in maturing baby boomers seeking skin care services to forestall or hide the aging process. Increased public awareness of sun damaged skin motivates more people to seek expert advice in protecting or repairing their skin. Advances in medical science and technology, such as chemical peels and microdermabrasion, are giving Estheticians more products and tools to improve the appearance of damaged or aging skin. These factors plus a growing population with increasing incomes spur the demand for esthetic services.

Beginner Estheticians will typically work for a salon or spa as salaried employees until they build a client base and set themselves up for self-employment by renting space in a salon or spa. The wages below primarily reflect the wages of new entrants to the profession and not the earnings of experienced professionals and do not include self-employed individuals.

The Esthetician’s work setting will dictate the hours. Many salons and spas are open six days a week and during evening hours to accommodate customers. Paramedical Estheticians maintain a Monday through Friday schedule. Self-employed Estheticians set their own schedules.

Full-time salaried Estheticians may receive vacation, medical, and dental benefits. For those not covered by employer-paid benefits, some professional associations offer group health benefits for an additional fee.

Estheticians must complete a 600-hour course in skin care from a school approved by the Bureau of Barbering and Cosmetology.

In addition, Paramedical Estheticians often receive on-the-job training and special training offered through professional groups. This specialty is just emerging, and training is still evolving.

Estheticians considering self-employment also need to prepare themselves for managing their business through courses, seminars, or books; and should develop a business plan. Even Estheticians not considering self-employment would be wise to do so. Working for a salon owner requires a sound knowledge of business for self-protection.

Estheticians must complete a 600-hour course in skin care from a Bureau-approved school and pass a written and a practical examination administered by the Bureau of Barbering and Cosmetology before being licensed. Cosmetologists can also practice skin care as their 1600-hour course and licensing includes skin care. Examination is offered in Los Angeles and Fairfield. There is a $40 examination fee. Licenses must be renewed every two years.

Estheticians attend seminars to keep current on new techniques and products.

Direct application to employers remains one of the most effective job search methods. Private firms are listed in the yellow pages under the following headings:

• Beauty salons
• Electrolysis studios
• Dermatologists
• Plastic surgeons
• Facial, skin care
• Spas and spa body work
• Skin and body care
• Wedding consultants
• Make-up studios

Many Estheticians are self-employed. Estheticians might operate out of their own home, or they could rent space in a salon. Other Estheticians might own a day salon or spa where they rent space to other beauty service specialists. Estheticians’ skills, knowledge, and abilities could lead to jobs such as product trainers, demonstrators, or sales representatives for distributors or manufacturers of skin care products. Estheticians who enjoy the instructing aspects of their job could pursue teaching at a beauty college as a licensed instructor. Estheticians may become make-up artists for movies, television, and theatres.

Estheticians interested in working in a medical setting are increasingly working with plastic surgeons and dermatologists as Paramedical Estheticians.