How to Become a Beautician
Majors Overview January 15, 2013Beauty professionals and Beauticians provide personal care services, which improves physical appearance. A training program needs to be completed by beauty professionals in order for them to earn a license and practice their profession. In this article, we will discuss what a prospective beautician needs to pursue their career.
Job Profile
While facials and nail care are specializations in which beauty professionals typically focus, there are several other beauty practices they perform that include providing professional beauty advice to customers, giving pedicures and manicures, preparing and applying skin treatments, analyzing skin, applying makeup, and styling hair.
Education Prerequisites
Postsecondary institutions including community colleges offer beautician education in the form of associate degree programs. Training programs usually last between nine to twenty-four months to complete and coursework focuses on one or more specialty areas such as hairstyling or cosmetology.
Graduate Programs
Prospective beauticians can get well-rounded training by enrolling for an associate degree program in cosmetology that covers nail, skin and hair care. Students are taught how to style, dye, and cut hair; they also learn to perform pedicures and manicures. Makeup application and skin treatments are other areas in which students get trained. The use of various chemicals is a common practice in the beauty industry, and cosmetology courses teach students how to handle such chemicals safely. Identification of different nail, skin and hair conditions and the practice of proper sanitation are other focus areas of training. With beauty salons frequently run by beauticians themselves, cosmetology courses also focus on selling, accounting and marketing techniques aimed at teaching students how to acquire customers. Some prospective beauticians also take communication classes, seeking to develop skills of persuasion and salesmanship aimed at selling specific treatments or products to clients.
Licensure Norms
Beauty professionals seeking to practice their profession in the United States are required to satisfy licensure norms (source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (www.bls.gov)). Every state has its own specific licensure norms. Common requirements in most states for students, possess a high school diploma or equivalent qualification by aspiring beauticians. They are also required to be a certain age and should have completed a state-licensed graduation program as well as a state examination. Such examination will include practical sections, in addition to written questions. The practical exercises test the application of students’ skills in relation to real-life situations.
