How To Become An Esthetician/Skin Therapist: What It Is and Career Path

What is an esthetician/skin therapist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an esthetician/skin therapist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.12 an hour? That's $37,682 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 17% and produce 13,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreEsthetician/Skin TherapistUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $37,682

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 94.57%

male 5.43%

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 an esthetician/skin therapist

Explore esthetician/skin therapist education requirements

Most common esthetician/skin therapist degrees

Bachelor's

36.7 %

Master's

13.3 %

Certificate

13.3 %

Start to develop specific esthetician/skin therapist skills

Skills	Percentages
Treatment Rooms	78.35%
Skin Care	3.10%
Customer Service	2.97%
Spa Treatments	2.82%
Facial Treatments	2.54%

Complete relevant esthetician/skin therapist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New esthetician/skin therapists 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 an esthetician/skin therapist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real esthetician/skin therapist resumes.

Research esthetician/skin therapist duties and responsibilities

Provide direct assistance to patients in residential and intensive outpatient eating disorder programs.
Work together with management to effectively market the salon and spa, along with the Aveda name.

Prepare your esthetician/skin therapist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your esthetician/skin therapist 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 an esthetician/skin therapist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable esthetician/skin therapist resume templates

Build a professional esthetician/skin therapist 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 esthetician/skin therapist resume.