Life as an Esthetician: Here’s how your work environment affects esthetician health and safety

When you think about your life as an esthetician, do you ever worry about your safety?

Esthetician health and safety rarely makes front-page news—even in the beauty industry. That spot is frequently reserved for hairstylists with their hot curling irons, or nail techs with their exposure to cuts and hot water.  

But we want to make one thing clear (besides your skin, besties): Being an esthetician is no walk in the park. The more you know about common esthetician injuries, esthetician health risks, and the dangers of being an esthetician, the better you can protect yourself.

Let’s unpack (and unmask) esthetician occupational hazards you could face on the job.

6 Esthetician Health and Safety Concerns

“Is being an esthetician hard on your body?” your parents want to know.

“How stressful is it being an esthetician?” your friends ask.

Oh, boy. If you’re working as an esthetician, you’ll encounter these questions at some point. Strangers and loved ones have no clue how grueling life as an esthetician can be.

The job isn’t for everyone. Depending on your state’s requirements and restrictions, daily tasks can expose you to esthetician health and safety risks such as:

1. Eye Injuries

Chemical exposures, irritating fumes, lasers, and long periods of analyzing fine details puts strain on your eyes. 

Protective gear for estheticians is designed to shield you from lasers and splashes. To keep yourself, your employees, and your clients safe from eye damage, invest in quality gear and train your team to use it properly.  Additionally, research if your state requires you to cover windows or remove mirrors from laser treatment rooms.

2. Cuts and Burns

Barbers aren’t the only ones at risk of nicks and cuts.

If you use dermaplaning tools, you’ll need some “sharp” thinking. Innocuous as they may seem, dermaplaning uses a surgical blade or razor to gently scrape the skin’s surface. 

Even the most experienced skin care specialists have accidentally cut themselves during a dermaplaning session. A slip of your tweezers or extraction tools could draw blood, too.

To minimize your esthetician health and safety risks, clean, disinfect, and cover any cuts right away. Not only does it prevent you from bleeding all over your client, it also protects you both from bloodborne pathogens, like the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

What about burns? Chemicals, lasers, and waxing raise a few “burn concerns” in the esthetician industry. But if you’ve burned yourself, you’ve probably burnt your client, too. (Ouch.)

That’s when gloves become your best friend. They shield your hands from accidental burns and cuts. They also shield you and the client from infections.

3. Ergonomic Issues and Estheticians

An esthetician’s work environment is a demanding one. Among an esthetician’s physical demands, you’re on your feet all day. Your posture is fixed over the table, or you’re cleaning and running the front desk in between clients. 

Without proper prevention, beauty specialists like estheticians, hair stylists, and nail techs are prone to repetitive strain injuries (RSIs). Over time, an untreated esthetician repetitive strain injury can interfere with your work and long-term mobility.

To alleviate strain on your neck, shoulders, and lumbar, get an adjustable table and avoid unnecessary slouching or extending. For example, move around the table to reach active treatment areas instead of staying in one spot. 

Additionally, set aside time throughout the day for stretching. If you have time to get massages and exercise outside of work, too, those are fantastic for preventing injuries.

4. Esthetician Respiratory Issues

Some laser treatments are ablative, meaning they vaporize layers of skin, Katie O’Reilly writes for MedEsthetics. 

Ablative treatments (and even some nonablative lasers) emit something called plume. It’s a vapor or debris that contains harmful particles, including biological materials, Karen Appold wrote in a separate MedEsthetics article. 

Studies have shown that plume can release 150 harmful compounds, which may enter your or your clients’ respiratory tracts, Appold said. These include:

• HPV.
• HIV.
• Viable bacteria.
• Staph.
• Carcinogens like benzene.
• Carbon monoxide.
• Cyanide.
• Toxic irritants like acrolein.

There are plenty of safe esthetician practices you can adopt to protect yourself from the long-term effects of being an esthetician and operating lasers. To combat the esthetician health and safety risks plume poses, don’t skip these esthetician safety tips.

For example, use protective equipment like gloves, N95 respirators, and laser goggles, Appold suggests. Physical barriers like gels during laser hair removal can trap particulate matter, too. Furthermore, treatment rooms should use smoke evacuators and HEPA filters, Appold writes.

5. Skin Reactions

The beauty industry is no stranger to skin reactions and allergies like contact dermatitis. They’re cumbersome when your hands come in constant contact with skincare products, fragrances, and latex gloves. Frequent hand washing doesn’t help, either.

Of course, you can’t exactly skip the hand washing. Because without good hygiene, you expose yourself to esthetician health and safety risks like staph and bacterial infections. Workplace safety for estheticians requires consistent cleaning and sanitizing of tools and surfaces.

Meanwhile, to combat esthetician skin allergies on your hands and wrists, opt for calming moisturizers and hypoallergenic gloves. If a reaction doesn’t go away, consider seeing a dermatologist.

6. Stress

If you’re new to the field and haven’t yet experienced the stressors of an esthetician’s work environment, you will.

On top of the job’s physical demands, estheticians juggle high expectations from clients, a fast-paced schedule, licenses, certifications, ongoing research, financial stress, marketing, and the other daily stressors of running a business. 

Before things get too bad, look into stress management for estheticians. Set boundaries (with clients and your work) and don’t neglect your self care. Otherwise, you risk total burnout from life as an esthetician.

A safe esthetician work environment needs proactive insurance.

As a business owner, you know it’s essential to be proactive. 

You’re proactive about preventing infections. Managing employees, you’re proactive about providing the best place for estheticians to work. Your team is proactive about setting expectations with clients. And you’re proactive about scoping out skincare trends so you can provide optimal care. 

But are you proactive about protecting your business from claims? 

Life as an esthetician has its share of risks and challenges. So don’t leave your risk to chance. Find out how WellnessPro can secure peace of mind for estheticians and aestheticians.

Fill out our fast, online app to get started today.