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What does a Beautician do?

Updated January 8, 2025
7 min read
What does a Beautician do

A Beautician is a person whose job is to do hair styling, manicures, and other beauty treatments. They work in various trades of the beauty industry, such as hair, skin, or nail care.

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Beautician responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real beautician resumes:

  • Manage beautiful hairstyles with the use of flat irons, curling irons, blow dryers, and other hair products.
  • Perform makeup artist techniques that include wardrobe suggestions for magazine and local newspaper editorials.
  • Make up applications, formal styling's, cut, and color with Redken product's.

Beautician skills and personality traits

We calculated that 51% of Beauticians are proficient in Cosmetology, Skin Care, and Beauty Services. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Customer-service skills, and Listening skills.

We break down the percentage of Beauticians that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Cosmetology, 51%

    Attended Cosmetology school while working for a salon and gaining integral experience in management, cosmetology, and customer service

  • Skin Care, 17%

    Provide skin care, nail care, and hair removal treatment.

  • Beauty Services, 4%

    Performed beauty services, such as threading, waxing, eyelash extensions, facials and make-up application.

  • Beauty Shop, 4%

    Set up, operating, open and close the beauty shop facilities.

  • Client Appointments, 4%

    Rescheduled and cancelled client appointments.

  • Customer Service, 3%

    Provide outstanding customer service - fostering positive word-of-mouth advertising, referrals and recommendations.

"cosmetology," "skin care," and "beauty services" are among the most common skills that beauticians use at work. You can find even more beautician responsibilities below, including:

Creativity. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a beautician to have is creativity. Their role and responsibilities require that "barbers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists must keep up with the latest trends and be ready to try new hairstyles for their clients." Beauticians often use creativity in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "experienced in multitasking front desk and was responsible for keeping track of all inventory and services provided. "

Customer-service skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling beautician duties is customer-service skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "workers must be friendly, pleasant, and able to interact with clients to build and retain clientele." According to a beautician resume, here's how beauticians can utilize customer-service skills in their job responsibilities: "addressed all guest complaints and referred any escalated situations to management. "

Listening skills. This is an important skill for beauticians to perform their duties. For an example of how beautician responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "barbers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists must be attentive when clients describe what they want to ensure satisfaction with the result." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a beautician: "perform all aspects of hair design and skin care as communicated through client consultation. ".

Physical stamina. For certain beautician responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "physical stamina." The day-to-day duties of a beautician rely on this skill, as "barbers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists must be able to stand for long periods." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what beauticians do: "analyzed patrons' hair and other physical features to determine and recommend beauty treatment or suggest hair styles. "

Tidiness. A commonly-found skill in beautician job descriptions, "tidiness" is essential to what beauticians do. Beautician responsibilities rely on this skill because "workers must keep their work area clean and sanitary for the health and safety of their clients." You can also see how beautician duties rely on tidiness in this resume example: "cut, style, shampoo, and color clients hair salon cleanup and tidiness assist in paying bills"

Time-management skills. Another skill commonly found on beautician job descriptions is "time-management skills." It can come up quite often in beautician duties, since "barbers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists need to manage their time efficiently when scheduling appointments and providing services." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day beautician responsibilities: "worked under deadlines to client satisfaction. "

Most common beautician skills

The three companies that hire the most beauticians are:

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Compare different beauticians

Beautician vs. Hair dresser

A hairdresser, also known as a hairstylist or beautician, is a person who specializes in the cutting or styling of hair with the goal of enhancing a person's appearance. As a hairdresser, your duties may range from cutting, washing, and styling to hair coloring and employing hair texturing techniques. You may also be required to educate clients on healthy hair practices on hair and scalp care.

We looked at the average beautician salary and compared it with the wages of a hair dresser. Generally speaking, hair dressers are paid $21 higher than beauticians per year.Even though beauticians and hair dressers are distinct careers, a few of the skills required for both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require skin care, beauty services, and client appointments in the day-to-day roles and responsibilities.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a beautician are more likely to require skills like "cosmetology," "beauty shop," "compassion," and "customer care." On the other hand, a job as a hair dresser requires skills like "product sales," "hair cuts," "bank deposits," and "bleach." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.

Hair dressers tend to reach similar levels of education than beauticians. In fact, hair dressers are 0.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Beautician vs. Colorist

On average, colorists earn a $2,039 lower salary than beauticians a year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both beauticians and colorists have skills such as "beauty services," "retail sales," and "front desk. "

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that beautician responsibilities requires skills like "cosmetology," "skin care," "beauty shop," and "client appointments." But a colorist might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "color correction," "davinci resolve," "color theory," and "color standards."

Colorists earn a lower average salary than beauticians. But colorists earn the highest pay in the media industry, with an average salary of $38,234. Additionally, beauticians earn the highest salaries in the health care with average pay of $37,525 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Colorists tend to reach similar levels of education than beauticians. In fact, they're 2.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Beautician vs. Hairstylist/cosmetologist

An average hairstylist/cosmetologist eans a lower salary compared to the average salary of beauticians. The difference in salaries amounts to hairstylist/cosmetologists earning a $61 lower average salary than beauticians.Using the responsibilities included on beauticians and hairstylist/cosmetologists resumes, we found that both professions have similar skill requirements, such as "cosmetology," "skin care," and "beauty services.rdquo;

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from beautician resumes include skills like "beauty shop," "compassion," "customer care," and "nail care," whereas a hairstylist/cosmetologist is more likely to list skills in "scheduling appointments," "makeup," "product sales," and "product knowledge. "

Hairstylist/cosmetologists make a very good living in the technology industry with an average annual salary of $35,549. On the other hand, beauticians are paid the highest salary in the health care industry, with average annual pay of $37,525.When it comes to education, hairstylist/cosmetologists tend to earn similar degree levels compared to beauticians. In fact, they're 3.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Beautician vs. Hair colorist

Hair colorists average a lower salary than the annual salary of beauticians. The difference is about $897 per year.While their salaries may vary, beauticians and hair colorists both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "client appointments," "retail sales," and "facial hair. "

Even though a few skill sets overlap between beauticians and hair colorists, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a beautician might have more use for skills like "cosmetology," "skin care," "beauty services," and "beauty shop." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of hair colorists require skills like "nyc," "assists clients," "product knowledge," and "art techniques. "

In general, hair colorists hold higher degree levels compared to beauticians. Hair colorists are 7.8% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of beautician

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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