Best Esthetician Services to Offer Clients
When just starting in the industry as a professional esthetician, or when looking to expand your services to tap into new markets, you might wonder what the best esthetician services are and what services draw the most customers in.
For students looking to break into the profession, there are also of course several disciplines and concentrations that estheticians can focus on. Knowing the popularity or demand of the services you’ll be providing is integral to being successful in your profession and in drawing in as many customers as possible.
Table of Contents
From choosing a concentration as a student to determining popular services that you might want to offer in your salon for those looking to expand, we’ll cover everything you need to know about the types of esthetician services and how best to provide them.
After all, you have to know what you want to offer so you can prosper and enrich your clients’ daily routines as well! So which are the best esthetician services to offer, and which are seeing rises in popularity? Let’s examine the best approach to take to set your business apart from the rest.
READ: Working with Dry vs. Dehydrated Skin: A Guide for Professionals
What are Esthetician Services?
First thing’s first: what are esthetician services? Professional estheticians provide a wide array of services, including skincare, cosmetic preparations or procedures, hair removal, facials, and more. When obtaining your esthetician license, you’ll have the option to specialize in certain processes or to study a specific array of services.
Because professional estheticians study such a wide range of specialties, they’re able to have very flexible careers that they can shape themselves - including which services they provide to customers. Estheticians own salons or spas or work as makeup artists, singular waxing specialists, facial or skincare specialists, massage therapists, or medical spa estheticians.
READ: How to Raise Prices in a Salon in 2022
What Services Can Estheticians Perform?
As we mentioned prior, estheticians can provide a wide array of services that they can tailor to their interests and customer base. From skincare to depilation, to medical services, estheticians can do almost anything!
Because being an esthetician covers so many different areas of expertise, it makes a perfect career field for those who know they want to help provide cosmetic (and sometimes medical) services to clients, but who aren’t quite sure which area they’re interested in yet.
Additionally, if you’ve studied a wide variety of esthetician services, you have the opportunity to provide clients with as many or as little as you want, especially if you own your business or operate independently.
READ: Full Body Waxing 101
How to Choose Esthetician Services to Offer
Once you’ve gotten your license and are looking to either strike out on your own or start planning your own services, you might wonder which services are best suited to your target audience, and which services are generally the most popular.
Whether looking for just waxing service recommendations or esthetician services in general, the key is to determine who your salon or business is going to cater to, and what people in your area are looking for. We’ll address marketing and branding later in this guide, but how you want your business and brand to be seen is an important aspect to consider when choosing which services to offer your target market.
If you’re deciding on which skincare services to provide, estheticians usually offer facials, peels (chemical or otherwise), and more involved services like microdermabrasion, microcurrent facials, laser, and even acupuncture facials.
Estheticians also sometimes offer makeup artistry services, eyelash extensions, eyebrow tinting, or other cosmetic services to enhance natural facial features. Certain salons even offer spray tans!
For estheticians that primarily offer waxing services, there’s more to choosing services than just the type of wax you’ll want to use.
Of course, you’ll want to have multiple formulas available for your customers, including hard wax and specialty waxes, but you’ll primarily want to first focus on what kind of services your clients are looking for. From eyebrow and facial waxing to Brazilians and leg waxes, every area is different as to which types of waxes people are looking for.
READ: Waxing and Dry Skin
What are the Most Popular Esthetician Services?
Of the different types of esthetician services you have the option of offering, there are of course baseline ones that are going to be more popular amongst clients than others.
This is particularly true for waxing services, where some people have specific services done regularly every 4-6 weeks, and others people have done just once and while, or just during a certain season (though they should keep up with their services year-round!).
Having both the most popular services at your business, as well as some up-and-coming ones that might pique client interest can create a good combination of regular and consistent customers to form your base around, plus enough pull to keep attracting new customers.
When it comes to waxing services, the general roster that salons will offer their clients are:
On top of staple waxing services like these, you can also look into providing trendy services like vajacials or vajazzling that might attract those just curious about not only waxing or the benefits it brings but in having a full pampering experience. These services can also easily be added as a sister service or add-on to your regular Brazilian or bikini waxes!
When creating your salon’s menu or service offerings, don’t forget to also stock up on products to create add-on bundles for pre & post-wax care and for those looking to give themselves a little extra pampering outside of the salon.
READ: Post-Wax Care: Tips & Best Practices
The best products to create at-home add-ons are Starpil’s Pre & Post-Wax Care Bundle, as well as the sensitive-skin-geared Starsoft Pre & Post-Wax Bundle, which can be aimed at clients who use our Starsoft Hard Wax formula for their hair removal.
To keep skin in its best condition post-wax, you can also offer clients Starpil’s Ingrown Hair Serum Spray as a chemical exfoliant to use a day after their waxes to dissolve ingrowns before they form. You could also sell our Coral Illuminating Dry Oil for those who would like to even hyperpigmentation and brighten freshly waxed skin post-appointment.
For clients who want to do some at-home pampering after receiving a Brazilian Wax, especially during the summer months, our Brazilian Waxing Mask can also make for a perfectly soothing and rejuvenating add-on to their service. We even offer all three of these products in a pre-made Summer Bundle, which can translate perfectly for your clients.
READ: Working with Different Skin Types
Esthetician Services Prices
When pricing your chosen esthetician services, you should always take into account your or your estheticians’ skill level(s), specialties, and client volume they’ll be taking on. After all, you always want to know your and your employees’ worth and price accordingly.
Whether providing waxing services, skincare, and more, you should also take into account the costs of supplies, operation costs, and the time spent on each service to make sure your pricing evens out and turns a profit for your business.
Finally, when considering your price points, take into consideration the area you’re based in and competitor salon pricing. After all, if you’re providing upscale services in a wealthy or well-off area, you’re not going to want to provide them with bottom-level prices.
That being said, don’t try to mark up services an unreasonable amount. Always match the value of your services to the prices you’re charging, whether just pricing according to the service itself, or for the service and overall salon experience if you plan on providing clients with a luxury experience while they’re at your business.
For general pricing, there is a rule of thumb for staple services. Since we’re focusing on waxing, we’ve included a brief overview of prices for waxing services. Keep in mind these standards can vary by area, amount of competition, or by clientele.
Body Waxing Service Prices:
- Full-Body Waxing: $150.00+
- Arm Waxing (Half): $35.00+
- Arm Waxing (Full): $40.00+
- Underarm Waxing: $25.00+
- Back Waxing (Full): $60.00+
- Bikini Line Waxing: $40.00+
- Full Bikini Waxing: $45.00+
- Brazilian Waxing: $50.00+
- Chest Waxing (Full): $30.00+
- Shoulder Waxing: $25.00+
- Hand Waxing: $15.00+
- Leg Waxing (Half): $45.00+
- Leg Waxing (Full): $75.00+
- Stomach Waxing (Full): $30.00+
- Toe Waxing: $15.00+
Facial Waxing Service Prices:
Again, remember that waxing service prices vary from region to region and also depend on your esthetician’s experience levels and their client volumes. When determining your salon prices, never price less than what your hard work is worth! Your clients will recognize your worth and will want to support you in that.
READ: What is the Average Full Body Wax Price?
Esthetician Marketing Ideas
When you’re just starting in the industry or just starting your own business, you should always have a strong marketing plan to build yourself up. From branding to advertising and getting your name out there, you need to have a strong presence in order to attract clients and keep yourself set apart from the competition. You want to cultivate a brand that people seek out, and not just attract clients who just search ‘waxing services near me’ or ‘waxing salons near me’ (though you’ll want these clients too!).
When considering your target market and branding, consider first how you want you and your business to be seen and what kind of experience you’d personally like to cultivate for your clients.
Do you want to be an upscale establishment that offers high-price services to those in your area? Do you want to be accessible, and provide affordable services prices to clients? Do you want to be chic and stylish or comfortable and homey? These are all things you’ll want to consider what kind of services you’d like to offer and how you’d like your business to be seen.
In addition to the general vibe you’d like to bring to customers, you should also consider how your salon’s image reflects the pricing and services you provide. For example, as we mentioned before, if you’re creating a bougie, upscale establishment, you’ll probably have more expensive pricing and emphasize the experience your clients receive on top of their hair removal or skincare services than a regular waxing salon.
At the end of the day, your brand and your marketing are what will attract customers to your business. Have a marketing plan in place, create a strong social media presence, and establish yourself as a recognized brand in your area.
If you’re looking for additional tips to enhance your business's marketing strategy, get our complete Salon Glow Up Guide to learn about all things business and marketing.
Upselling Your Waxing Services:
Starpil Wax Educator, Taylor Shipley, shares how upselling certain waxing services can be very profitable for your business.
"Waxing can be an extremely profitable to service for estheticians to add on their service menu. It can be a high profit margin addition to bring on to your business. From my personal experience as a waxer & and solo esthie, clients love add on services.
Vajacials, jelly masks & butt facials are ways to not only increase your revenue and services per ticket, but for your clients to maintain better overall skin health and wax results. Educate your client on the benefits of the jelly mask or vajacial!
If they don’t get it in that service, at least you put the bug in their ear for their next appointment.
At my studio, I have masks (jelly masks included) as just a $10 add on (depending on your area and your overhead will help you decide what to charge for thisI) put it on after waxing and finish with the Starpil Post Wax Care.
For the newer esthies out there, if you’re building up your service menu, keep it simple! Focus on what you want to be the money makers and build up from there. If you’re not ready to offer a whole vajacial service, start with just adding a jelly mask. Starting out can be overwhelming, and keeping your menu focused will assist with that."
READ: The Complete Bikini/Brazilian Wax Guide
Final Thoughts
If you’re currently finishing up your time in school or in the licensing process, you’re probably wondering how to break into the industry and strike out on your own.
Whether a prospective or new business owner, it can be hard to know how exactly to market your business and which services to offer so that your existing clients are satisfied while you bring in new ones. Keeping that balance and providing the right esthetician services are key to establishing a core client base and having a successful and profitable business for years to come.
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