Upscale Esthetician: How Do You Become One?

 Do you dream about working in a swanky, upscale spa one day? Do you know how to go from working in an ordinary spa to an extraordinary spa?

I called it the trifecta of esthetics because there are three important components to establishing yourself as an UPSCALE ESTHETICIAN-- (1) Hard Work, (2) Experience, and (3) Luck.

Hard Work--Let's start with this one first, I've seen a lot of estheticians who want to do the bare minimum and still get paid top dollar. There are a lot of estheticians that don't take pride in what they do, they lack the passion and motivation to service their clients to an upscale standard. Clients are not stupid, let me repeat that one CLIENTS ARE NOT STUPID, they know the difference between a substandard treatment and an upscale treatment. Do not go into this business if you do not like pampering people. Take great care to treat all your clients the way you would want to be treated.

Experience- When I talk about experience I am not merely talking about school and work experience. I am referencing a couple different things, for instance, working in other professional environments sometimes helps create great estheticians because they have good business sense and communication skills, and they know how to treat clients. The other "experience" I am referencing is by BEING A CLIENT before you are an esthetician. Why is it important to be a client first? This one confuses a lot of soon-to-be estheticians, but being a client before you actually work as an esthetician is very important (and I don't mean at school clinic) because you will learn techniques and characteristics of other estheticians that you like and dislike. If you want to work for a high end spa, going and getting services at a few of those spas will help you research how you should conduct yourself as an esthetician to get there. In addition, going to dermatologists for regular visits helps too because when you go to the dermatologist you have a vast array of information at your fingertips, and while you are in your appointment you can absorb as much knowledge as possible from your doctor about skin care treatments (lasers, bleaching creams, Retin-A, new fillers etc). Of course, you don't have to know these things to be an esthetician, but UPSCALE CLIENTS will likely expect you to be up-to-date on these types of things because they are. It will look really bad if they know more than you do in terms of the latest skin care treatments. Just because your spa doesn't do those services, doesn't mean you shouldn't have some basic familiarity with them. Remember, your upscale clients are going to look to your for education about these types of treatments and they will trust you and perceive you as an "UPSCALE ESTHETICIAN" if you can hold an intelligent conversation about these types of things. Of course, this is not requirement to be an esthetician, but it is a must if you want to work in an upscale, high end spa.

Luck-There is some luck in esthetics. Finding the right job, being at the right place at the right time, or knowing the right people will certainly influence your chances for a high end position. You can alter this luck positively by networking with your esthetics' instructors, doing internships, working at a day spa while in school to increase your chances for good luck in the high end spa job search. Depending on where you live, it might make or break your luck in landing an upscale esthetics' job--if you live in a small town without access to wealthy customers you can't expect to work in an upscale spa. Look at your area market, and see where you can fit in, and what place of employment would be the best for your pocketbook. Even in a small town, you can earn a reputation of being an upscale esthetician by constantly learning and educating yourself, and providing outstanding services.