How To Become A Clinical Esthetician: What It Is and Career Path

What is a clinical esthetician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a clinical esthetician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.82 an hour? That's $39,150 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 17% and produce 13,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreClinical EstheticianUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,150

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.5

Growth rate 17%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.34%

Asian 8.65%

Black or African American 5.06%

Hispanic or Latino 16.29%

Unknown 6.40%

White 63.26%

Gender

female 93.04%

male 6.96%

Age - 33

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 33

Stress level

4.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.7

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

10.0

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a clinical esthetician

Explore clinical esthetician education requirements

Most common clinical esthetician degrees

Bachelor's

37.7 %

Associate

21.7 %

Certificate

17.4 %

Start to develop specific clinical esthetician skills

Skills	Percentages
Laser Hair Removal	16.12%
Retail Sales	15.59%
Skin Care Products	9.04%
Body Treatments	8.29%
Laser Procedures	6.38%

Complete relevant clinical esthetician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New clinical estheticians learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a clinical esthetician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real clinical esthetician resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed clinical esthetician usually doesn't require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed clinical esthetician in most of states. 38 states require clinical estheticians to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	Specific course required	State exam required	Licensed Esthetician
Alaska	Specific course required	State exam required	Esthetician
California	Specific course required	State exam required	Esthetician
Colorado	Specific course required	State exam required	Estheticians
Delaware	Specific course required	Third-party exam required	Aesthetican

Research clinical esthetician duties and responsibilities

Manage the aesthetics department and perform consultations with patients regarding aesthetic and facial surgery procedures.
Perform chemical peels, acne treatments, microdermabrasions, maintain patient charts, sell retail skincare.
Assist physician during IPL, fotofacials, KTP, liposuction surgery, and laser fraxel treatments.
Provide acne extractions, facials, post-laser camouflage, make-up applications, brow grooming and waxing services.

Prepare your clinical esthetician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your clinical esthetician resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a clinical esthetician resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable clinical esthetician resume templates

Build a professional clinical esthetician resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your clinical esthetician resume.