Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between direct support professionals and hair stylists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a hair stylist has an average salary of $38,221, which is higher than the $32,077 average annual salary of a direct support professional.
The top three skills for a direct support professional include direct support, developmental disabilities and autism. The most important skills for a hair stylist are cosmetology, clips, and kids.
| Direct Support Professional | Hair Stylist | |
| Yearly salary | $32,077 | $38,221 |
| Hourly rate | $15.42 | $18.38 |
| Growth rate | 36% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 142,034 | 49,578 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 30% | High School Diploma, 31% |
| Average age | 48 | 40 |
| Years of experience | - | 2 |
Direct support professionals are responsible for taking care of patients with physical or mental limitations. They do a variety of tasks for their patients, such as doing household chores, running errands for them, cooking for them, feeding them, bathing and dressing them, and helping them with their medication, among others. They also provide their patients with companionship, accompanying their patients to appointments, providing emotional support, and being with their patients for the most part of the day. They should be familiar with their patients' prescribed medicines, meal plans, therapy schedules, and other items related to the betterment of the patients' condition. Direct support professionals help the patients overcome their challenges and assist them in acclimating themselves with their current environment.
A Hair Stylist's role is to provide services such as haircuts, treatments, coloring, styling, and even maintenance. Most of the time, the clients choose which style or treatment they would prefer, which is why a Hair Stylist must have extensive knowledge and keep up the current trends in Hair Styling. Moreover, a Hair Stylist can also recommend styling and treatments that would suit the client, even sell Hair Care products. Aside from providing quality service, it is also essential for a Hair Stylist to build rapport with clients to ensure customer satisfaction and have a robust client base.
Direct support professionals and hair stylists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Direct Support Professional | Hair Stylist | |
| Average salary | $32,077 | $38,221 |
| Salary range | Between $18,000 And $54,000 | Between $27,000 And $53,000 |
| Highest paying City | Santa Clara, CA | Scottsdale, AZ |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Meta | - |
| Best paying industry | Government | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a direct support professional and a hair stylist in terms of educational background:
| Direct Support Professional | Hair Stylist | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 30% | High School Diploma, 31% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Cosmetology |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between direct support professionals' and hair stylists' demographics:
| Direct Support Professional | Hair Stylist | |
| Average age | 48 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 24.4% Female, 75.6% | Male, 9.2% Female, 90.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 8.3% White, 61.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 7.6% White, 59.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 12% |