The need for aesthetic practitioners in the UK beauty industry is expanding at a very fast pace. More and more consumers are choosing to have this type of treatment which means this is a good career choice. If you love the beauty industry and you’re thinking about working for a company or setting up your own business, the role of an aesthetic practitioner could be the perfect carer change for you.

What is an Aesthetics Practitioner?

The role of an aesthetic practitioner focuses on skin health, understanding how the skin functions, and the options and treatments that are available to help clients improve and optimise their skin. They often work in salons, spas, or alongside a dermatologist. They can also work in medical practices to provide skincare treatments that align with doctors’ orders. However, they cannot prescribe any medication, that must be done by a licenced doctor. An aesthetic practitioner cannot tell you what condition you have or how to treat it, but they can perform the procedures that work with your dermatologist’s treatment plan.

How to Become an Aesthetics Practitioner?

If you’re considering a career as an aesthetic practitioner, you may be wondering where to start. Here are some steps you should take when deciding to be an aesthetic practitioner.

1. First, you need to decide what you want your career to look like and what credentials you need to achieve that. For example, you do not need a nursing degree to be an aesthetic practitioner. However, having one will offer way more opportunities.
2. Find a course that you enjoy and that teaches you the skills you need to do the job.
3. Speak with beauticians, dermatologists, and medical professionals in the field to find out what the best work environments are and business practices. Find out how they started their careers and what they did to get where they are today.
4. Create a great CV and apply for positions as an aesthetic practitioner.
5. Build good relationships with your clients so they keep coming and recommend you to others.

Working as an Aesthetics Practitioner

When you are trained as a trained Aesthetic Practitioner in the beauty industry, there will be many opportunities to find the ideal role to suit you. The industry expanding and ongoing innovation means that you can constantly be developing skills and talents. However, this also means that you need to be very aware of new trends and developments to keep up with the fast-growing industry.

The benefits:

• Gives you the opportunity to work in an industry that is growing rapidly.
• Flexible working opportunities which help build a work-life balance.
• Lots of training and courses available.
• An opportunity to earn an extra income.
• Training in aesthetics will give you some variation (not having to do the exact same thing daily as you will have new clients, new treatments, and new challenges).
• The opportunity to develop a personal brand or set up an independent practice.

The challenges:

• Having to build a good reputation, client base and brand.
• If you are having to manage other responsibilities alongside aesthetics (another job, stay at home parent etc.), it can be very time consuming.
• If you are moving from a big organisations (such as the NHS) to aesthetics, working on your own, it can be like going from one extreme to the other.
• Being tempted to undersell your services due to a competitive market.

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The UK beauty industry was valued at £12.14 billion in 2022 and is growing rapidly, so now is the best time to make the change. Whether you want to work for yourself or a company, there are many opportunities. We hope this blog has helped explain you understand what an aesthetic practitioner is and whether the role is right for you.