The Problem with Beauty School 2

There are so many things that my school did not prepare me for upon completion of my training in Esthetics. I was not given any kind of realistic job futures. Don't get me wrong! I know that Esthetics is like a lot of things, you get out of it what you put into it, but when I went in to the school I attended for my "Interview" They told me job prospects could reach into the 40,000$ range. Now, I don't know about you, but that has taken me years to build up to and didn't include the first job where I made $5,000.00 for the entire year.

Also, Several of my cohorts in class were totally shocked that they would ever have to work weekends. (Which I just assumed, but they did not)

They also don't prepare you for the interview and job market. I had no idea what I should and shouldn't be looking for in a job prospect. What are red flags? What questions should I be asking in an interview? How does compensation work? Pros and Cons of going it alone, commission, hourly, etc. Including taxes.

And for goodness sake! Teach us how to retail!

How about meeting with a tax person just to get an idea of what one will NEED?

How about some internet marketing skills?

Also, there are all kinds of different modalities using different options. Why not go over those? Or at least describe them.

Here are a few things my class did NOT prepare me for:

Being yelled at by another Esthetician. Who was wrong.
Being yelled at by a Manger in front of clients. Because I put a conditioner on the wrong shelf while I rang up over $5,000.00 worth of product, sales, and gift certificates.
An owner who refused to buy retail because she didn't believe in wearing makeup or "any of that frou frou crap".
Snakes. Lawd! The snakes...
Cockroaches
weird centipede-like crawling things. On clients.
Blistering breakouts from any number of combination of treatment problems.
ingredients. any kind. period. Heck, I could teach the ingredients class to my own class.
Waxing the nostrils or ears.
Brazilian Waxing
Makeup contouring
Boundaries with clients
Maternity Leave

Just a few examples of things that I would've liked at least a heads up on. Do you have anything to add?

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Comment by Amy Sherman on February 9, 2014 at 9:06am: Agreed Holly! I had a school friend who had no idea that she was going to have to work weekends. Lol :-)

Comment by Holly Sheppard on February 8, 2014 at 12:26pm: Aesthetics is a career that you have to continually take additional classes to educate and expand your knowledge. Researching the industry talking to another aesthetician before jumping into school would be the best thing, than you have a slight understanding of what to look for in school. Brazilian is a continuing education class..why? I don't know, that's just the way it is. There's unexpected situations in every job, you live and you learn :)

Comment by Amy Sherman on February 2, 2014 at 7:16am: Kimberly you are right on with the bikinis! The school I went to no longer exists. They were bought out while I was still going there which created a lot of confusion. Now, it's much better!

Comment by Kimberly Bourbon on February 2, 2014 at 7:00am: I also think you should give this list to the school you went to. Knowing the mistakes they made with your education is the only way to correct future educations.

Comment by Kimberly Bourbon on February 2, 2014 at 6:58am: I hated doing regular bikini waxing for the first year of my career! I broke out in a full sweat every time I would get one. But,practice makes perfect and I stuck it out!!!!! This was 22 years ago! Now,I can do brazillians in less than 20 min. I offer incentives for brazillian waxing such as if you come within a 4-6 week time period the $ goes down. This keeps the client regular and you aren't starting from scratch. This works really well for me and the client. Quicker and less painful for both of us.

Comment by Amy Sherman on January 15, 2014 at 8:06am: Agree with you Jamie! Lori Nestore taught me and I am the go to person in my town. And I agree that you somehow become a sexpert and will definitely need to maintain a closed mouth, never discuss what people talk about with you to anyone else. Also, a mistake I made without training was tweezing. Don't ever tweeze.lol Otherwise follow your training. I was lucky to have a couple of co workers who let me practice on them.

Comment by Jamie Jacob on January 14, 2014 at 9:21pm: It's standard for Brazilians to be an after the basics class because it's another ball of wax. Which btw is a great video or take the classes with Lori Nestore of Tuel/Evas Esthetics. You need to know the basics because Brazilians create a whole other world with those clients. You become a relationship sex expert/therapist and you need to be mentally prepared for it and yes they will assume you know about everything from toys to positions and will ask your advice. Its not for the faint of heart because YOU are now the expert whether or not you're ready. You have to be able to maintain composure when they ask " Do you think I should bleach my butthole?" These are the real things that no one will prepare you for.

Comment by Angela Segal on January 14, 2014 at 8:02pm: I agree with you 100% on this. I'm a recent Esthetics grad, on my way to taking state boards. My number one complaint is that we received no training whatsoever on Brazilian waxing. I've done bikini, which wasn't too bad at all. I would like to know how a brand new Esty with no experience doing Brazilian's is supposed to handle their very first Brazilian client. At some point, a client is going to request one. What if you get a walk in? How do you convey your lack of experience with Brazilian's to your client?