Ask an (actual) esthetician!

[Mayu]

So I'm super late to the party and just unlocked the aesthetician the other night. Hilaaarious and I loved the thread, although I was giggling at the choice of which form of aesthetician to use. In the business, it's USUALLY reserved for medical aestheticians (not always, though).

 

I thought I'd make a thread about the actual esthetician profession and answer any questions you may have. First off...

 

What is an esthetician?

 

We primarily deal in skin but we're not dermatologists. We perform facials (everyone laughs at this), bacials (back facials), sometimes body scrubs and lots and lots (and lots) of waxing. Also sometimes we do makeup, but not always. I'm one of those people who loves to do makeup, being a more creative sort of person.

 

You can find us in salons, spas, medical offices, chiro offices (kinda rare), malls at sketchy kiosks, corporate offices, schools and other spots. I've only ever worked in retail shops in managements and in spas. I much prefer spas, but now I'm working for myself and that's even better.

 

At the spa I suffered a LOT of discontent with my line of work and had to move on because the prices kept getting lower, as did my pay, though we were being whipped regularly to up the quality. It was a bad situation for the professionals, though the clientele made out pretty well on that end. 

 

What I loved the MOST about my job in the spa was working one-on-one with clients and I was guaranteed at least an hour of silence. Sometimes the clients would talk, which is cool because I'm a pretty friendly person. But usually they would just lay there and I'd work my magic.

 

So, go ahead and ask me questions about the following. Just keep in mind that I CANNOT and will not dispense ANY medical advice. If something weird would pop up on my table, I'd usually just reply with "better go to the dermatologist for that."

 

Ask me whatever about:

 

-Products

-Regimens 

-the professions itself

-Fun stories

-Recommendations

 

I really, really miss the educational aspect of the job. Most clients would just want to come in, lay down and then leave. I went to school for this in '06 so I believe I know a thing or two!  So pick my brain.

[ShoggMommy]

I've just got to ask...

 

 

this is totes what you guys do right? ;D

 

Okay, seriously this is a cool thread. I look forward to seeing what's posted here.

[Mayu]

HAHA, another funny thing is that he would TECHNICALLY be a cosmotologist, since he also does hair. I do not do hair, not licensed for it either. I worked with a woman who had her cosmo license (which allows you to do almost everything in a salon) and she was super good at hair but chose to make her living with skin treatments instead.

[Aaron]

Does it hurt?

 

This is my main curiosity about this.

[Mayu]

Which part, Aaron?

 

Some of the stuff I do hurts a LITTLE :3 

 

It's funny, I went all through school and all through my professional life until recently LOATHING leg waxes. I would bleed. I would cry. And then when I went for a speed waxing class at the Dermal Institute, our instructor practiced a bit on me and it didn't hurt. It was mildly uncomfortable but I think I'd actually pay her to do it.

 

If it hurts so much you're crying, get another esthetician.

 

Also, extractions (where you remove black heads and other fun stuff) can be uncomfortable but it should never be painful.

[Dat Oni]

I believe the reason our flamboyant fellow carries around those tools yet bears the Aesthetician moniker is because he is not limited to hair, if the editor is to be taken as a form of "pseudo-canon". 

 

He just carries them around for the hair part of the job.

[Aaron]

Which part, Aaron?

 

Some of the stuff I do hurts a LITTLE :3 

 

It's funny, I went all through school and all through my professional life until recently LOATHING leg waxes. I would bleed. I would cry. And then when I went for a speed waxing class at the Dermal Institute, our instructor practiced a bit on me and it didn't hurt. It was mildly uncomfortable but I think I'd actually pay her to do it.

 

If it hurts so much you're crying, get another esthetician.

 

Also, extractions (where you remove black heads and other fun stuff) can be uncomfortable but it should never be painful.

I assumed you did the more extreme stuff like reconfigure faces or something lol.

 

I've never been to a esthetician unlike many of my friends because i just assumed they'd go mad scientist on my face and make me too beautiful to be seen in public. 

 

I didn't know they did leg waxes or stuff also. I have PLENTY people I need to recommend this too now.

[Mayu]

Cracking up.

 

We don't really do anything extreme. Some of them microdermabrasion and dermaplaning but even that's nothing too intense. If you go to a medical spa, they can do botox and whatnot, and laser removal treatments!

[Aaron]

Cracking up.

 

We don't really do anything extreme. Some of them microdermabrasion and dermaplaning but even that's nothing too intense. If you go to a medical spa, they can do botox and whatnot, and laser removal treatments!

Im sorry if these questions sound stupid (swear im not trying to be funny) but stuff like this I have to know. 

 

 

When you say laser removal treatments do you use something like a tattoo remover laser or like one of those blue light ones I can't remember the name of.

 

I had a co worker who said they had a their laser treatment for a tattoo they could see the ink bubbling and or even their skin sorta disconfiguring visually like it was playdo.  And that any laser treatment leaves a scar or something. 

 

And for dermabrasions do you like use sand paper or like. . . Salt. . Because when I see "abrasions" nothing pleasant feeling taps my mind.

 

If this stuff isn't too bad one day I might take the trade up so I can feel like a deity when I repair (or utterly destroy and get fired) peoples faces.

[Mayu]

The only stupid questions are the ones not asked!

 

The laser thing...I'm pretty sure you need to be a dermatologist to do tattoo removal. I could be wrong about those qualifications, since I'm not a medical aesthetician myself. When I refer to lasers, I mostly mean like hair removal. If you go onto groupon you can see a bunch of places listed for hair removal. The money is good there, but the people I've met who do it are super bored because they just push a button all day and miss the client interaction.

 

Dermabrasion, in this case would be like tiny crystals. As long as the esthetician knows what they're doing it's really safe and I've seen the most -awesome- results from it. I did it on my sister once and her skin was totally different. On other people, nothing happens. It's a more aggressive form of exfoliation (like if you use a scrub on your face at the sink, you're getting rid of the dead skin) that can really make a huge difference on hyperpigmentation or acne scars. Those things are a pain.

 

It doesn't hurt. My clients reactions sometimes vary. One of them said it tickled. Another said it felt like a cat licking her.

[Aaron]

Where has this job been all my life. . . .

 

I can get paid to play with lasers and make people better looking. 

 

/starts looking into colleges because im still young enough to get into this.

[Kaniko Niko]

Not to hijack this lovely thread but... I'm kind of like a sibling to Mayu! I'm a licensed cosmetologist, much like Jandelaine. However, I will never be quite that fabulous. There's some crossover between our professions, but we're both entirely different beasts! If its a question about aesthetics that Mayu can't answer, I'll give it a shot.

[Mayu]

Not to hijack this lovely thread but... I'm kind of like a sibling to Mayu! I'm a licensed cosmetologist, much like Jandelaine. However, I will never be quite that fabulous. There's some crossover between our professions, but we're both entirely different beasts! If its a question about aesthetics that Mayu can't answer, I'll give it a shot.

 

 

Yay! 

 

So I'm assuming you do hair, then? I sometimes wish I had gone to school for hair just for my own benefit because I can't even braid it.

[Kaniko Niko]

Yay! 

 

So I'm assuming you do hair, then? I sometimes wish I had gone to school for hair just for my own benefit because I can't even braid it.

 

I do indeed do hair! Since 2010, actually. Hair, makeup, manicure, pedicures... the whole shebang.

 

 

HA HA. Bang.

[Mayu]

Fun fact!

 

When I was living in Canada I was encouraged to just start working in a spa up there, and not to worry about schooling...ummm...? Apparently the area I was in (in Ontario) they weren't necessarily licensed and if they were you wouldn't know it. Also, estheticians do nails in Canada as well whereas down here you'd need your cosmo license.

 

It varies SO MUCH just from state to state. It's kinda infuriating that way.