Sunday, May 2, 2010


A Day in the Shoes of an Esthetician

Throughout my life, several careers have wandered through my mind, from being a Veterinary technician to being a makeup artist. Recently the career of an Esthetician has crossed my mind and has really interested me. Esthetics has to do with skin care management. It is not to be confused with dermatology though. I discovered this career while doing research on cosmetology. This career interests me a lot because it has to do with making people feel beautiful and happy. I have learned a lot more about the esthetician career since I’ve been doing research, including the ongoing controversy about the use of lasers. I believe that it would be a lot safer to have at least a physician in the room during laser treatment, and that these weekend courses not be offered.
First off, the job duties of being an esthetician are time consuming and demanding. Estheticians generally work in spas spas and beauty salons. They are required to be on their feet for long periods of time and have to maintain high standards of cleanliness, health and safety (Careerdetailsforesthticians). Estheticians give facials, manicures, body treatment, and waxing. Once you learn all this you can choose whether to advance onto the laser treatment which requires more education. An esthetician has to be able to make good judgments on what type of procedure would best fit the client’s skin type. Also Alba from Career Cruising “Questions and Answers” says, “People skills are very important, because people want to look good and feel good about their selves.
Controversy in the esthetician career is really only focused on one main thing, which is the use of lasers in skin procedures. More and more people are becoming emotionally and physically scarred by having these skin procedures done by amateurs (Lasersugeryinthewronghands). There are a lot of laser technicians out there that are only taking a weekend course or some other kind of brief training. Due to this reoccurring problem there might be no future as to an esthetician being able to provide laser treatment without some degree in laser surgery. Only one state requires a doctor to be in the room when a skin procedure is performed, and only 4 states require a physician.(Berke)
I hope that they do not ban estheticians from performing these procedures, because laser procedures are the most important part of being an advanced esthetician. I plan on furthering my career to become an advanced esthetician, and laser procedures are what I’m most interested learning how to perform. Also the big money lies within being an advanced esthetician, but it’s surely not worth permanently damaging someone’s skin for. I think that there should be a limit as to what an esthetician can do as far as laser procedures go, leaving the bigger stuff to the dermatologist or doctors. It’s too risky of a procedure to perform on a patient when the doctor is not completely sure of their selves.
The education requirements for becoming just a basic esthetician are pretty typical. First you must graduate from a school that offers an esthetics program. Many beauty schools offer this program. They also have school specifically for esthetics. Students have to complete the required amount of hours, for most states the minimum is 600 hours (Estheticiancareerguide). The majority of these programs teach students about physiology and anatomy. To be officially licensed esthetician trainees must complete a written test given by the state board. The tuition can be kind of pricey depending on where a person chooses to attend. The cost averages somewhere between $3,000 to $5,000 for basic classes and advanced classes are between $8,000 and $10,000(Estheticiancareerguide). I want to attend Steiner Institute of Esthetics, which is in Phoenix. Luckily people that qualify can receive grants to pay for some if not all of the schooling.
Esthetics is a great career for men or women in a two income family when their just starting out. In training estheticians may make only 40% commission of what the esthetician makes. Full time estheticians that are just starting out usually make between $16,000 to $20,000 a year (CareerCruising). This isn’t very much at first, because they must first build their clientele. A clientele is made up of customers that are dedicated to the use of someones services only. If their good at what they do and have a strong clientele they are more likely to make up to $50,000 a year. Don’t plan on making this much within your first years though because it usually takes 3-5 years to build a strong clientele. “The estheticians that make the most money though are the ones who have their own business. Job security depends on how much someone puts into it, the more they put it in the longer they’ll stay in it.” (Alba). It cost a lot to start a business however, with the cost of equipment and skin care products, and the continuing cost of rent. As long as the person is successful at building their own business, the time, effort and expenses put in to it are well worth it.
I know it is going to take a lot of hard work and time to get where I want to as an esthetician, but I know it will be worth it. I’m hoping to also learn massage therapy so that I can do both the job of an esthetician and massage therapist in a day spa. I want to be able to own my own salon or spa before I start a family so that I can make my own work schedule and times when I have a family. As the saying by Ian McEwan goes, "You can tell a lot from a person's nails. When a life starts to unravel, they're among the first to go." So remember to get your monthly mani!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Collected Links

1. Spa And Beauty

I think this is helpful site, because it covers every aspect of an Esthetician job. It talks about the different jobs levels you can work towards and what you will have to study. I trust this site because it does have sources and it’s a top site on Google. I have learned so much from this website already. I also learned that there is a beauty school in Prescott, by using their beauty school locator. This website was also useful in finding information on another career I’m going to pursue, which is massage therapy, I’m hoping to be able to do both the work of an esthetician and massage therapist in a spa someday.

2. Career Cruising

I like this site the most because it covers every topic of becoming an esthetician, it even tell me the job outlook for Arizona or whatever state I want. This website also has interviews with two different estheticians that I can use in my essay. The site also provides pictures of the work environment of an esthetician.

3. CNN

This website was useful for me because it talks about the laser controversy in the esthetician field. I never knew that there was any kind of controversy in this field before doing the research on the topic. Hopefully they will not ban esthetician from performing laser surgeries. I will be using this site in my paper because the information it provides me with is very helpful.

4. Wordpress

This site provides a lot of blogs about different procedures people are interested in getting from an esthetician. The site just provides a bunch of helpful tips about skin care, why you should and shouldn’t get this done and what is really good for your skin. This site is very informative from an average person’s point of view. I didn’t use this site in my paper because there were no good sources.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

How To Become an Esthetician

I like this video, because it gave me more of a visual of what I was researching.



Though this video is not a full length video, I liked that it showed how an esthetician analyzes the skin, which is a very important aspect.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Annotated Bibiography

"Career Cruising." Career Details for Esthetician. Web. 5 Apr 2010.


I chose this source because it has a lot of helpful tips on becoming an esthetician. The website lists the career outlooks, salary, education and even the working conditions. It also has interviews with two different estheticians asking them their likes and dislikes about the career. I like that this website also includes photos of the work environment. It’s one of the few sites that covers a good amount of information about being an esthetician. I’m planning on including most of this information is my essay, plus some.

"Esthetician Career Guide." Spa and Beauty Education. n.d. Web. 7 Apr 2010.


The site goes over more about education and tuition cost. It covers the two different licensing you can get and how many hours it will take to get them. The source goes over the different skin treatments a person would have to study whether he/she is a basic esthetician or a master. I like that this website is fully based on spa and beauty. I plan on also becoming a massage therapist, so this is site is useful in finding more out about that. This is a good site to use because it has two sources listed at the bottom, which means that it’s a creditable site.

"Skin Care Specialist." N.p., 27 jul 2009. Web. 7 Apr 2010.


I like this source because it tells a lot about the skills that you should have to do this career. It also shows the job outlooks for California, which is where I eventually end up living. I like the face that it was just recently updated in 2009 so it is up to date. I want to learn as much as I can about this career so that I’ll be good at it and be able to perform maximum customer satisfaction. This source talks about benefits, something I didn’t see at the other sites. It talks a little about where the job can lead, such as working as a makeup artist or furthering your career in the medical field.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Topic Proposal

The topic I chose to write about is Esthetician. I jumped around from wanting to be a cosmetologist to just wanting to be a makeup artist. When I started researching careers along the lines of beauty, I discovered Estheticians. I have always wanted to do something that makes people feel good about themselves, because let’s face it, I’m a pleaser. This seems like a good career for me, because I’m good with people, I love making people feel good about themselves and I’m always very careful in the tasks I do. I want to learn about skin care management not only to help other people, but to help myself too. Esthetician is the only career that has actually stuck in my mind, I use to say I wanted to be something and then change it every week. I’m hoping to go to the Steiner Institute of Esthetics in Phoenix soon to start working towards getting my license.