What does an esthetician do?
An esthetician is responsible for providing skincare solutions such as facial treatments, hair removal procedures, and makeup services. Estheticians must be highly-knowledgeable on various skin conditions to perform effective treatments and recommend maintenance skincare routines. An esthetician should also be strict on following hygienic procedures, ensuring sterilization of all the tools and equipment used for the procedures. They also respond to customer's inquiries and concerns regarding skincare health and sell products depending on the customers' needs.
Esthetician responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real esthetician resumes:
- Manage the aesthetics department and perform consultations with patients regarding aesthetic and facial surgery procedures.
- Cleanse skin and remove makeup.
- Close group for PCA skin care professionals only.
- Maintain HIPPA privacy laws while reviewing patient's history.
- Assist in surgery and process tissue for Mohs surgery.
- Assist with and document Botox, Injectables and Sclerotherapy procedures.
- Maintain patient charts using EMR while following all HIPPA guidelines.
- Perform all aesthetic procedures and document all patient charts through EMR.
- Remove excess hair from the body using depilatories, waxes, or tweezers.
- Maintain strong client relationships through greeting guests, booking appointments and resolving client concerns.
- Play key role in trade shows as well as Botox and facial injection parties.
- Participate in Utube documentaries for business treatments, ae: Dermapen treatments, PRP facials.
- Certify and approve by PCA to use and sell PCA to clients in the wellness center.
- Facilitate upkeep of each lab and the processing of biopsies, MOHs slides, and excisions.
- Assist practice physician with PRP treatments, performing collagen induction therapy using platelet poor plasma after dermal injections.
Esthetician skills and personality traits
We calculated that 27% of Estheticians are proficient in Customer Service, Excellent Guest, and Cleanliness. They’re also known for soft skills such as Business skills, Customer-service skills, and Initiative.
We break down the percentage of Estheticians that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 27%
Recognized for extending outstanding customer service to individuals; interacted with customers, assisted with selections and recommended purchases.
- Excellent Guest, 14%
Provide excellent guest service and take charge of every guest Massage Heights experience.
- Cleanliness, 8%
Maintained room cleanliness and sanitation to medical standards.
- Retail Products, 7%
Hired and supervised hair stylists and cosmetologists Recommended retail products to clients.
- Body Treatments, 7%
Recommended seasonally specific facial and body treatments to accurately address changes in climate, humidity and sun exposure.
- Treatment Rooms, 6%
Provide customer service and front end Duties-Facials-Waxing-Body Treatments-Makeup-Stocked treatment room with Supplies-Maintained clean work area
Most estheticians use their skills in "customer service," "excellent guest," and "cleanliness" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential esthetician responsibilities here:
Business skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for an esthetician to have is business skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "skincare specialists who run their own salon must understand business principles, such as accounting, to manage a salon efficiently and profitably." Estheticians often use business skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "learned the trades of owning a small business, running the front desk. "
Customer-service skills. Another essential skill to perform esthetician duties is customer-service skills. Estheticians responsibilities require that "skincare specialists should be friendly and courteous to their clients to encourage repeat business." Estheticians also use customer-service skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "leveraged guest vision software for scheduling appointments and documenting client history. "
Initiative. This is an important skill for estheticians to perform their duties. For an example of how esthetician responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "self-employed skincare specialists generate their own business opportunities and must be proactive in finding new clients." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an esthetician: "directed retail sales of professional skin care products and drove impactful marketing and networking initiatives. ".
Physical stamina. A big part of what estheticians do relies on "physical stamina." You can see how essential it is to esthetician responsibilities because "skincare specialists spend most of their day standing." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical esthetician tasks: "completed and updated client record forms, including information related to treatment and product history, physical ailments, and allergies. "
The three companies that hire the most estheticians are:
- Massage Envy855 estheticians jobs
- Soothe152 estheticians jobs
- WTS International
62 estheticians jobs
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Compare different estheticians
Esthetician vs. Skin care therapist
A skin therapist is a licensed professional who specializes in recommending and implementing treatments to improve skin health. Their responsibilities revolve around meeting with clients to identify their needs and skin conditions, conduct assessments and evaluations, suggest skincare products, and perform treatments such as hair removal, facial cleansing, and other techniques, ensuring client satisfaction. There are also instances where they may refer clients to dermatologists and other specialists. Moreover, a skin therapist must establish rapport with clients to have a strong customer base.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, esthetician responsibilities require skills like "customer service," "excellent guest," "strong customer service," and "cleanliness." Meanwhile a typical skin care therapist has skills in areas such as "patients," "patient care," "mental health," and "family therapy." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Skin care therapists tend to reach higher levels of education than estheticians. In fact, skin care therapists are 19.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.2% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Esthetician vs. Beauty therapist
A skin care specialist mainly cleanses and beautifies the body and face of their client for enhancement. They give full-body treatments, head and neck massages, and facials for skin improvement. Some of them give other skincare treatments such as masks, peels, and scrubs to remove dead or dry skin. They create skincare routines and recommend products for customers based on their skin analysis. Sometimes, they sell skincare products such as lotions, creams, and cleansers. They refer clients to other skincare specialists like dermatologists if they find serious skin problems.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that esthetician responsibilities requires skills like "excellent guest," "strong customer service," "cleanliness," and "retail products." But a beauty therapist might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "spa treatments," "make-up," "hair removal," and "beauty treatments."
In general, beauty therapists achieve similar levels of education than estheticians. They're 3.5% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 2.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for estheticians in the next 3-5 years?
Charley Sain
Cosmetology Instructor, Program Coordinator for Cosmetology, Esthetics, and Manicuring, Cleveland Community College
Esthetician vs. Skin therapist
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an esthetician is likely to be skilled in "excellent guest," "strong customer service," "cleanliness," and "pca," while a typical skin therapist is skilled in "booking," "guest service," "hair removal," and "laser treatments."
When it comes to education, skin therapists tend to earn similar degree levels compared to estheticians. In fact, they're 3.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Esthetician vs. Skin care specialist
Types of esthetician
Updated January 8, 2025
