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If you’re wondering how to start a career in beauty, you’re in the right place! We’ve created this 5-step guide, which will show you all the steps you need to take to start your career — we’ll cover qualifications you’ll need, affordability, as well as what area of the beauty industry suits you best.
Firstly, let’s talk about what a beautician is.
What Is A Beautician?
Beauty therapists are experts in face and body care and give various treatments to their clients, which vary from facials to body massage.
They need practical and theoretical knowledge of all the different body parts and the treatments they apply to them, which requires extensive teaching and training.
“Understanding the histology of the skin is the most important aspect. Identifying issues and guiding clients toward the proper solutions is not only fulfilling but can have a huge impact on a client’s life. I recommend keeping a copy of Fitzpatrick’s color atlas and synopsis of clinical dermatology on hand at all times.” — Gina Mari: Founder, Gina Mari Skincare
There are two types of beauty therapist, the employed therapist and the self-employed therapist. Employed therapists will usually have access to more equipment and will be skilled in more than one area, whereas self-employed will tend to focus on a particular area due to factors like expensive and bulky equipment.
1. Do Some Research
Before you decide to commit to a career in beauty, you need to know what it’s all about:
- History — beauty treatments spans thousands of years, it’s good to build up knowledge of how we’ve cared for our bodies over this period
- Practices — what is beauty therapy? And what are the treatments you’d expect to be doing?
- Requirements — what do you need to do to become a beauty therapist? Do you need qualifications? Kit? Experience?
- Trends and developments — the beauty industry changes rapidly, so you need to be aware of how specific changes could affect your career
- Interests — if you’re only interested in one area, massage therapy for example, you could become a masseuse instead of a beauty therapist
[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_single_image image=”1678″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]Once you’ve decided you want to pursue a career in beauty, you can start to take a closer look at the various treatments and what areas suit your skills and personality.
2. Consider How Different Treatments Require Different Skills
Let’s take a look at a few areas of beauty therapy and see if any of them appeal to you.
Massage Therapy
Personality:
- Empathic and nurturing — people come to massage therapy to deal with the stresses of everyday life, so you’ve got to be able to empathise with them. The process should be healing, therapeutic, caring and sincere. You need to build a relationship; it’s not a transaction
- Attentive listener/intuitive — the massage therapist needs to be able to take direct cues from the client, as well as more subtle cues given by the body and facial expressions
Skills:
- Physical stamina — massaging people can be exhausting if you’re doing it all day! You have to apply pressure to the body and make various movements over a prolonged period of time, so it helps to be physically fit
Waxing
Personality:
- Patient and comforting — if you’ve ever been waxed before, you’ll know waxing is painful! People often have second thoughts, get frightened or don’t want to deal with the pain. You need to ensure they’re as comfortable as possible
- Persuasive — many people say they’re never being waxed again after their first treatment, so to guarantee repeat business, you need to show them the benefits of waxing and convince them it gets easier over time
Skills:
- Hair removal methods — intimate waxing is different to back waxing, so you need to know the method used for each body part, and how they differ
Makeup
Personality:
- Positive and enthusiastic — you need to make people feel good about themselves and make them believe you’re passionate about it
- Selfless — when you have a client in your chair, it’s all about them. You need to sacrifice the brew you forgot to make, what you’re having for dinner — make them feel special!
Skills:
- Portfolio creation — generating business can often depend on the strength of your portfolio, so you need to have the creativity and skills to build it. If you have a print portfolio, you’ll need to design it, or if you want to keep it digital you can set up an Instagram account
Do you think you have any of these personality traits or skills? If so, one of these areas could be your specialism (check out our guide on how to become a makeup artist). Don’t worry if they don’t resonate with you though; there are other areas of beauty that you can explore.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner el_id=”blog-cta”][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text el_class=”blog-cta”]
Do you want to start 2019 by learning a new skill?
Posh Nailz offer various, high standard courses that help you on your way to create you own profession career in the beauty industry. For course start dates for our training centres contact us now.
Sign Up Now [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]
5. Start Looking for Educational Courses or Apprenticeships
After you’ve conducted your research and got an idea of the areas of beauty you’re most interested in, you can start looking for beauty therapy courses. How exciting!
There are three ways you can become a qualified beauty therapist:
- Private beauty school — private schools are specialists in beauty, and their teachers will often be beauty therapists themselves. They can have a certain level of prestige attached to them which can help you get a better job on completion. They may also offer equipment and have a branded dress code
- College — the best thing for young people is that college is free up to the age of 18. However, for older generations, this isn’t the case, and you’ll need a loan (same with beauty school). Colleges are often committed to updating the curriculum and will have some emphasis on theory as well, so you’ll have a broad knowledge base
- Online courses — online courses are flexible, and the learner can access all the course materials in their spare time. However, you may have to submit by a certain date. Online providers often offer specialist courses as well, so you can focus on the area you’re most interested in
- Apprenticeships — an apprenticeship is a combination of on the job training and classroom learning, which you’ll get a qualification for. These qualifications are aimed at younger people who want to earn while they learn. The benefits of these apprenticeships are that you get holiday pay and learn from experienced therapists, the wages are low though
4. Learn From Other Professionals & Practise!
If you want to be the best beauty therapist you can be, you should consider doing a little work outside of your course curriculum as well. Teachers can’t cover everything, so it’s always good to build a knowledge base of your own.
There are loads of YouTube channels dedicated to providing educational and fun material that you can subscribe to. Have a look at this video from Makeup with Jah, who showcases all the techniques of applying a full MUA glam on a real client.
Be careful not to try anything too risky though; you don’t want to perform a procedure you aren’t qualified to do and hurt someone in the process.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
5. Consider Your Employment Options
It’s always beneficial to consider your employment options while you’re studying, that way when you leave you’ll have a plan in place, and you can start earning straight away. This is especially true if you have financial or family commitments. You could try to line work up so you can start straight after your graduation.
Employed Beauty Therapist
If you’ve decided to work as an employed therapist, you should consider the following points:
- Networking — if you’re looking for a job in a salon, it’s a good idea to start networking with local businesses. If you can get a few contacts from various companies, it might make it easier to apply in the future
- CV & portfolio development — if you’re applying for jobs after your training, you’ll need a credible CV and an eye-catching portfolio. If these two pieces of information are strong, you’ve got more chance of landing the job you desire
- Interview planning — it’s always a good idea to polish up your interview skills before you complete your training. You could try mock interviews with one of your beauticians or your partner/parents. The more prepared you are, the better your chance of success!
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Self-Employed Beauty Therapist
If you’re considering starting your career as a self-employed beauty therapist you should consider the following points:
- Business admin and management — if you’re going self-employed, you need to understand how to run a company, you’ll need to file all your taxes and manage costs effectively in your personal and professional life
- Business planning — how far do you want your business to go? If you’ve got ambitions to build a spa facility, this should be in your plan
- Marketing and promotion — you need to know how to promote yourself and your business, the more positive public image you have, the more business you’ll generate
“Be persistent and use your resources. If you are going in for an interview somewhere, research the company, look at their social media channels and be educated as to what the company does and how they do it so you can reference it in the meeting. Don’t be fake, though—it won’t get you anywhere when it’s obvious you don’t know what you’re talking about.” — Kristin Breen: Vice President of Beauty and Health Media Relations, Alison Brod PR
Are You Ready to Take the First Step?
Learning how to become a beautician is a big step in anyone’s life, but if you have an ounce of interest in the profession, go back to point one and start researching!
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Do you want to start 2019 by learning a new skill?
Posh Nailz offer various, high standard courses that help you on your way to create you own profession career in the beauty industry. For course start dates for our training centres contact us now.
Sign Up Now [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]