Beauty School Basics: Aesthetician or Esthetician?

Considering beauty school? It's time to get your terms straight. Get the scoop on aesthetician versus esthetician, medical estheticians, and how you can earn a degree or diploma that suits your career goals.Training to work in cosmetology can be challenging, rewarding, and fun. Link your passion for beautiful skin to professional-level training. With the education you receive in esthetician training, you could even go on to work in a medical esthetics office.

Aesthetician or Esthetician Training? Learn at Beauty School

Here's your language lesson for the day: the words aesthetician and esthetician are each hundreds of years old, and draw both from the German ästhetisch and the French esthétique. The words evolved to mean roughly the same thing: art for art's sake. In time, the term came to be aligned with beauty treatments and cosmetology in general. Think of the body as a work of art, and the evolution makes a lot of sense. Estheticians enjoy the following benefits of their work:

  • Helping their clients feel and look their best
  • Working closely with the latest beauty products
  • Improving clients' long-term self esteem

Which term should you use: aesthetician or esthetician? These days, they mean the same thing. Your esthetician training will be sufficient for an aesthetician career, and vice versa. So don't worry about getting the word right in beauty school; it's the skin care training that matters.

Esthetician or Medical Esthetician?

These similar terms actually do have some differences. While an esthetician works primarily in spas, retail centers, and beauty salons, a medical esthetician can be found in a doctor's office or clinic. Beyond the typical duties of an esthetician, medical estheticians may also:

  • Teach patients to apply makeup after facial surgeries
  • Provide pre- and postoperative skincare treatment in plastic surgery centers
  • Work in burn centers with severely burned patients

For medical estheticians, beauty isn't only skin-deep; it can mean improving the self-esteem of a patient undergoing chemotherapy, or help a burn victim leave her home without shame. To become a medical esthetician, supplement your beauty school esthetician training with a medical esthetics diploma and certification.

Beauty School Training Choices

You have a choice of where to attend beauty school, and once you're there, you have a choice in how you'd like to specialize. Here are just a few popular fields from which you can choose within esthetician training:

  • Skin care and hair removal
  • Cosmetology business
  • Nail technology (in some states)
  • Facialist training

While no training program can guarantee a particular career or salary, hiring managers in the fields described above typically require prior training among applicants. In fields where certification is required, training is your first step to legal practice. No matter which word you use for it, studying to become an esthetician has real benefits.

Featured Schools

Southern Careers Institute

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Get your career on the right track with Southern Careers Institute.

Campus Locations:
  • Corpus Christi
  • San Antonio
  • Brownsville
Programs:
  • Esthetician Specialist - Evening
  • Esthetician Specialist - Day
Florida College of Natural Health

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Prepare for a Massage Therapy or Skin Care Career That You Will Love!

Campus Locations:
  • Maitland
  • Pompano Beach
  • Miami
  • Bradenton
Programs:
  • Advanced Paramedical Skin Care Program
  • Skin Care and Electrology Training Program
American Institute School of Wellness and Beauty

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Boost your career with training from the American Institute School of Wellness and Beauty.

Campus Locations:
  • Pompano Beach
Programs:
  • Cosmetology
Florida Career College

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Train for the real-world skills that help you launch a successful technology or healthcare career with a degree, or diploma from Florida Career College.

Campus Locations:
  • Miami
  • Clearwater
  • West Palm Beach
  • Boynton Beach
  • Hollywood
Programs:
  • Diploma - Skin Care Specialist
  • Diploma - Skin and Nail Care Specialist (Full Specialist)
The Studio Academy of Beauty

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If you are looking for a multi-faceted and dynamic education in the beauty industry then look no further. The Studio Academy of Beauty is focused on your career.

Campus Locations:
  • Phoenix
  • Chandler
Programs:
  • Esthetics
  • Cosmetology
Milan Institute

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Prepare for an exciting new career at the Milan Institute.

Campus Locations:
  • Nampa
  • Clovis
  • Bakersfield
  • San Antonio
  • Boise
Programs:
  • Esthetician
  • Cosmetology
Brio Academy

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Launch your career with Brio Academy.

Campus Locations:
  • Willimantic
  • Enfield
  • East Hartford
  • Northampton
  • Torrington
  • Niantic
  • Fairfield
  • Hamden
  • Meriden
Programs:
  • Esthetics (Skin Care)
  • Makeup Artistry