Help people feel confident in their skin.

As a beauty therapist, you offer treatments that improve the skin and help people feel good about how they look. You provide services from head to toe, including facials, waxing, massage, eyelash tinting, cellulite wraps, and manicures and pedicures. You use hands-on techniques like body scrubs and also work with machines to treat skin and body concerns. Some equipment helps remove hair, while others help tone muscles or improve skin condition.

For further information:
SA Hair & Beauty Association (SAHBA)
Phone: 0468 409 111
Email: info@sahba.com.au
Website: www.sahba.com.au/

Skills SA
Phone: 1800 673 097
Website: www.mytraining.skills.sa.gov.au

TAFE SA offers courses relevant to this occupation including the Diploma of Beauty Therapy and Advanced Diploma of Skin Therapy. Pathways include Certificate III in Beauty Services.

Still unsure? Then try a short course also offered through TAFE SA. Check the website for the full list of short courses.

Retail sales go hand in hand with the beauty industry, so beauty therapists need to be confident when doing the selling. This stems back to good product knowledge and understanding a client's needs. There are some skin problems that beauty therapists are not trained to deal with, however they should be able to identify problems such as dermatitis and eczema and recommend if necessary, that a client consult a medical practitioner.

Beauty therapists provide treatments and advice on skin care. Often a first booking is scheduled so that beauty therapists can carry out a skin analysis. This determines a client's skin type so that they can recommend the most appropriate skincare regime. Cosmetic products and treatments that may help the client are also recommended by beauty therapists. When not attending to their clients, beauty therapists undertake general receptionist duties such as making appointments and maintaining clients' records.

Beauty therapists need to be well-groomed at all times. They need to be pleasant and tactful and have a genuine interest in people. It is essential that they have good hand-eye coordination and are professional during a client’s body and facial treatment.

'I completed a beauty course so that I could learn how to look after my skin better. I've always been a people person and I was interested in doing something where I could help others. I've always wanted to teach, so I turned what I learned for myself into a teaching opportunity,' says a beauty therapist. This is an excellent career choice for those interested in working closely with people. Beauty therapists share close contact with their clients and may be required to treat what a client perceives as an embarrassing condition, so, good interpersonal and communication skills are highly desired.

Men are increasingly enlisting the services provided by beauty therapists, which largely attributes to a therapist's communication skills. 'More and more men are coming in for treatments such as facials and massages on a regular basis. After all, they have skincare needs too. But it comes down to the way in which beauty therapists communicate with them.' With so many products available to consumers, offering sound product advice is integral to beauty therapists establishing a good relationship with their clients. 'If a client is using the wrong product I recommend alternative products which would better suit them, and I also educate them to use them correctly. Clients should be able to trust that their beauty therapist is giving them good advice and not just selling them something to make more money,' says a local beauty therapist.

For further information, contact:

Advanced Association of Beauty Therapists
Phone: 1300 309 022
Email: info@aabth.com.au
Website: www.aabth.com.au

Service Skills Australia
Phone: (02) 8243 1200
Email: info@serviceskills.com.au
Website: www.serviceskills.com.au