How to become a Beautician

Are you handy with hairstyles? Do you have a passion for pedicures? Do you cherish your cosmetics? Then a career as a beautician might just be the path for you. On the face of it, you might think that it’s a leisurely and fairly straightforward choice but as this short guide will demonstrate it requires skill, determination and buckets of personality.

Firstly it would be useful to quickly define exactly what a beautician is- in its broadest terms a beautician is a beauty professional who undertakes a range of services including hair styling, nail care, skin care and make-up application. Some will also provide more specialist services such as UV tanning, skin treatments, aromatherapy, hydrotherapy and epilation.

Qualifications

As with many career choices it is not absolutely necessary to undertake any qualifications to call yourself a beautician, you could for example gain an entry level position in a salon and learn on the job, however to gain the essential skills required and to give themselves professional credibility most beauticians undertake formal qualifications. To be considered a fully qualified beautician you will be required to have successfully undertaken a level 3 diploma in beauty therapy, these 2 year courses cover all the skills you will need including hair styling, skin treatments, waxing and are available from bodies such as City and Guilds and Edexcel (check with your local College to see what they offer). You will be provided with work placements during the course but many people choose to work part-time in a salon to gain hands-on professional experience.

Alternatively you can also access these qualifications via shorter more intense courses at private beauty schools such as the Oxford International College of beauty, but be aware that these can prove to be very expensive. In addition to the level 3 diploma there are numerous specialist courses which can be taken to further develop your skills base including piercings, UV tanning and laser treatments.

Type of Person and Desirable Skills

It goes without saying that you should be someone who takes pride in their appearance and has a real interest in hair, nail, skin and other beauty treatments. You should be friendly, have a great personality, find it easy to build rapport with customers and have a knack for making people feel comfortable- any customer facing role will certainly stand you in good stead when applying to be accepted onto a course.

A beautician’s work is often intricate and delicate and as such excellent manual dexterity and precision are highly desirable. There is often a creative element to the work especially when providing hair styling and manicure services so a level of artistic skills, personal creativity and an eye for styles and fashions will be very useful during training and indeed throughout your career.

As well as the duties you would most typically expect a beautician to undertake as you progress you will increasingly be required to carry out reception work, appointment booking, maintaining supplies/stock and keeping record of clients treatment programmes. There are further qualifications which can be undertaken throughout your career aimed at increasing your proficiency with these tasks including various certificates in beauty salon reception.

What Next?

If you like what you have been hearing and are considering starting a new career as a beautician the first thing you should do is take a look at your local college’s web-page to ascertain where you will be able to undertake your training. If you are going to complete a part-time course it would also be handy to start looking for a part-time paid/unpaid position in a salon to get yourself more familiar with the industry and gain some first hand experience.

Best of luck if you do choose to become a beautician, we hope you found this brief guide useful!

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