RE-LAUNCH: Can I Just Be An "Esthetician"?

Medical esthetician vs. spa esthetician—why does this conversation feel so loaded? In this episode of The Skintrovert, we unpack one of the most debated topics in aesthetics: the divide between “medical” and “spa” esthetics. Where did these labels come from? Why do they create so much tension? And how do we move forward with more collaboration and less competition? If you’ve ever felt caught in the middle of this conversation, this episode is for you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hey y'all, welcome to The Skin Trovert. I'm your host, Sam Bazil, and today we are definitely sipping on some tea, specifically my own brew of tea, because this is a topic that's very special to me. And why is it special to me? Well, today we are going to dig into the medical aesthetician. And is that title an ego or identity? Let's talk about it. Okay. So there was a particular instance that took place in my life that made me realize this is something we need to dive into. Many years ago, I was a part of this local Facebook group. It was a Facebook group called like aestheticians of whatever. I think it was like in Louisiana or Gulf Coast or something. I don't remember what it was called, but it was a local esthetician group. And there was this gentleman, okay, for lack of nicer words, um, that was in this group. And, you know, he always had something to say about everyone and everything. And, you know, he was one of those people that like took their uh mod duties or their admin duties to like next level. Like, calm down, dude. So anyway, he always had something to say about everyone. And this day in particular, he was ripping. When I tell you ripping, ripping these people to shreds, okay? Um, basically saying, if you put medical esthetician in your bio, you are uh breaking the law, and that is not a recognized term, and you should be fined for that. Like, dude, he was going like off, okay? And I wanted to weigh in so bad. Like I wanted to give my opinion on it so bad, but I was scared. I feared that like all the bullies would come for me. So I stayed quiet. And a lot of y'all do that in these aesthetics groups. You're scared to ask a question or you're scared to give your opinion because, like, you know, the keyboard warriors are gonna come for me and they're gonna humiliate me and they're gonna tell me I shouldn't be in this industry and blah, blah, blah. That's horrible. Guys, it is freaking 2026. If you are still giving mean girl energy, you're disgusting. You are vile and you are gross. Okay, there I said it. So let's not do that. Instead, let's allow people to feel safe and feel comfortable and be able to ask questions because that's how we grow. That is how this industry will keep growing in a positive direction. Be there for your peers. Be an be an asset, be helpful. All right, that's another topic. Okay, so anyway, back to this weirdo. I was scared to say anything, okay? I didn't want people to come for me. But guess what? Now I have a voice and I can say what I want, and I'm gonna, I want to use it. Now, I don't want to use this platform to push my ideas on anyone, but I want to use it to open the door so that way we can all have safe conversations about the truth and how the aesthetics industry has evolved. Now, aside from the medical aesthetician topic, there is a lot of gray area in aesthetics that we do need to talk about. Um, so this industry can keep growing, so it can grow safely for the patient and for the provider. That's why I started this podcast, guys. But we're gonna stay on topic. So today we're here to talk about aestheticians, which is special to me because, again, I am an aesthetician. Now I'm gonna bring you back to when I started aesthetic school a long time ago. Okay. At aesthetic school, I learned how to be a successful spa aesthetician. I learned how to perform a facial, I learned how to have those fluid hand movements, I learned about basic skincare anatomy, about facial massage techniques, makeup techniques, and other spa-related skills. Now, while I am truly grateful for this because it's what made me a licensed aesthetician, um I was a little bummed, to be honest. Why? Because I feel like I wasted $15,000. I put $15,000 into an industry to an education platform for me to be able to move into an industry that I wanted to work, but I couldn't. I was in this medical space and knew nothing about it. How could I work with prescription strength, skincare, lasers, microneedling, chemical peels when I didn't learn any of that, right? This spa essay education did not prepare me for the field that I wanted to work in. Okay. So thankfully, I have a very good fake it till you make it, and it worked out for me and I was able to get the training that I needed. I also was blessed to be welcomed in by an amazing provider. Um, a nurse practitioner took me under her wing immediately out of school and allowed me to learn and grow from her. So, Reba, if you're out there watching, it's all because of you, kid. Thanks so much. Appreciate you, love you. Yeah, she believed in me. She saw the passion in me, she saw something in me that was more than my lack. Okay. So I'm grateful. So, anyway, I get this job, okay, in a med spa. I'm so excited. It's what I've wanted to do, you know, basically my whole life, but I felt inadequate. I was able to get training from the skincare that we offered. I was able to get training from the lasers that we had. I was able to get training for microneedling from the pen that we carried. And so, yeah, I was able to get all of this like brand focused training, but I still felt inadequate. So I invested about 10 to another 15,000 on additional dermaplane training, chemical peel training, microblading training, right? So I realized very early on in my career that there was a definite difference between being a spa aesthetician and a medical aesthetician. Now, the aesthetics industry, it is definitely evolving daily, okay? Back in the day, aestheticians, our space was a spa room. That's where we were. But as aesthetics progressed, aestheticians moved into dermatology offices. We moved into plastic surgery practices and med spas. So our space is growing, but not our trade. It's just stayed stagnant. We are just an aesthetician. Now, some states have different regulations. So aesthetician scope of practice can vary state by state, but the title can too, right? There are some states that allow estheticians that maybe have taken advanced courses or continued education. They can be called like a master esthetician or an advanced esthetician. But to my knowledge, no state acknowledges a medical esthetician as a title. But honestly, in my opinion, guys, we should. Being medical or spa, it doesn't make you better than the other. Like you're not better if you're medical or spa. It just means that you're different trades. You're doing something different. So for example, I could be an office manager or I could be a project manager. They're both managers, but one manager handles HR and payroll while the other handles timelines and budgets. Very different roles and responsibilities, but titles are still the same. They're still considered considered a manager. That's kind of like where we're going with this, right? All are considered estheticians, but roles and titles and regulations are all different, right? But just like all the arguing in that Facebook group, we're fighting each other instead of coming together to fight the real issue, which is the industry, right? There's an industry problem that we're avoiding, guys. There's this weird gray area that no one wants to talk about. The title of esthetician may seem so insignificant to some, right? And there are definitely others, other issues in this industry that we have. And I do plan to dig into more of this gray area, but instead of fighting one another, let's come together to make this industry better, right? I really feel like as aestheticians, we need to be more unified. And there are some things that I think we can do to do just that. So, for example, we need to standardize advanced education pathways. We need to give aestheticians that finish aesthetic school opportunities to take advanced course trainings that grow you in the field that you want to work. You need to learn about disease of the skin, skin histology. There needs to be things that we can do to grow as providers, right? Another thing that I think we all need is we need unified professional advocacy. We need one voice to advocate for positive change. Okay. We don't need to be fighting each other and disagreeing. We need to learn that things grow, including this industry. So so do we. Which leads me to my next. We need clear career ladders for aestheticians. So what does that mean? Well, as this industry grows, our job should too, right? You can have a licensed esthetician. Maybe you can have a medical esthetician. Maybe you can have an advanced skin health practitioner. Maybe you can just be the lead medical aesthetician. I don't know. Other trades have this advancement, so why don't we, right? We also need to push for better regulations. A lot of aestheticians that I work with, they don't even know what their scope of practice is, right? When you're considered an aesthetician and you work independently, you're not in a physician's office, you're just doing the thing. Your roles and responsibilities are very clear because the local cosmetology board governs you and they're making sure that you're following the rules and you're doing everything that you're supposed to do. But then when you move into this medical space, it's like boom, nobody knows what the hell they're supposed to do or what they can and can't do. That's wild to me. Okay. That's that gray area that we're just kind of like, oh, I don't know, I guess that's crazy. That's nuts. We need very clear, clear regulations for what we should or we shouldn't be doing, right? And we need better education access. Okay, not just from the brands and the devices. And what do I mean by that? Look, when I became an aesthetician, I was very grateful for that brand training because that's really all I had to train in the industry I wanted to be in. So I was very grateful for it. But what most brands do, thankfully the brand that I work for doesn't, but a lot of these brands stick to their very clear brand training, right? They don't really advance. And well, let me, let me, let me be clear about that. Like, so for example, if you carry brand XYZ skincare and their skincare treats skin a certain way, well, they're gonna teach you that that way is the right way, which there's nothing wrong with that. If you're choosing to partner with a bring-in, then you must believe in their method of skin, you know, restoration and you are gonna follow their guidelines. Nothing wrong with that. But why can't we learn how to be greater at what we do? Like how to be a better aesthetician. And I feel like thankfully, the brand that I work for does that. Not only do they teach these providers about the product knowledge about the product, but we teach about disease of the skin, skin histology. What does rosacea look like? How do we treat it? What does aging skin look like? Why is it aging? How do we treat it? So I do wish more um brands would take that approach, but sadly they don't. So you're stuck just learning very, very branded training. Okay. Same with lasers, same with uh microneedling devices and all these things. You're indoctrinated in their brand training. While it's helpful and while it's needed, if you're gonna carry the brand, we need more. We need better education access. Okay. We also need very clear role definitions. We need to know what is in our scope of practice as an aesthetician, what that looks like. And if we want to grow, if there's a growth opportunity, also, what does that look like? So I want to say this. I want us to come together and be more unified. You know, in the role that I'm in right now in sales, I get to take a very cool position. I get to come in to the ones that want me. I get to come in, I get to work with your staff, teach them how to create treatment plans, how to successfully protocol their patients and, you know, how to grow them as providers. I love that part of my job. I love that part of my job. It is so fulfilling and rewarding. But you know what I see a lot of? And sadly, it's a lot of aestheticians. I don't know why. It doesn't compute with me. I can't relate, but I don't see a lot enough passion. I don't see a lot of passion. And that's sad to me. It's sad because when I was an aesthetician and I had my hands on skin, I can't explain to you how good I felt. Only passionate aestheticians know exactly what that means. Like when you're working on a patient's skin and you are truly a part of getting their skin healthy and transforming the skin, that in itself is a reward. But there's something else about me putting my hands on you and just being able to love on you for a minute. A lot of patients, when they come in, they are stressed out. They've got a lot going on in their life. They don't have maybe have the people in their that in their life to love on them and give, give back to them. And when you can actually connect with your hands to a patient and you can just put love on them, I know my aestheticians that are listening or watching know exactly what I'm talking about. It's just something that you can't put a price on it. It's the most incredible part of being an aesthetician. And that is reserved for passionate aestheticians, aestheticians that really love what they do, and that is missing. Um, maybe it's because aesthetic school is a quick fix. They can get in, get out, get out into the field. Maybe they thought it was cool to work with Botox and filler. Um but there's more to being an aesthetician. And I I really wish it was only reserved for the passionate ones. Cause you see, as aestheticians, we are not always respected in this industry. And I say that because sometimes patients, while they love you, they love what you do, they think you're great, they want to go to the doctor or the nurse practic or the nurse for that final word, like, oh, thanks for those recommendations, but I'm gonna check with doc so-and-so first and make sure he or she is on board with that. Um, I feel like we're not getting the the respect that we we deserve. And I fear that it's because there's so many unpassionate, lazy aestheticians that are out there that just don't want to, that don't have, that don't have it in here. So I'm gonna say this respectfully. If you are an aesthetician out there that is not passionate about what you're doing, get out respectfully. Okay. Because the rest of us that are passionate, that are trying to advocate for our industry, that are trying to advocate for our title and our role, when you're out there undoing what we're working so hard to put together, girl, go do something else. Find something that you're passionate about. I would hate, I seriously, I would hate to have a job that I had to wake up and go to every day that I just didn't enjoy, that I wasn't passionate about. Do yourself a favor and find something that gets your goat. Find something that just rouse you up, find something that makes you happy to get up and just do it. Because that's what aesthetics is for me. And I know other passionate aestheticians out there that would agree. We are in the best space here. This is such a cool industry. AI can't take what we do. Okay. This is going to be a growing industry, and you are in the right space. We just need to make sure that our education, our passion, um, what we offer, what we do matches that growth. And I feel that if we keep doing that, if we just keep ticking away at those gray areas and really working to just mold it and refine it, we are going to make a huge impact on this industry. And I know I have big pipe dreams. I get it. I I know a lot of people are like, girl, you you do, because listen, this is not anything new. This is something that I've brought up. And you want to know what what I was told when I said I wanted to address this. I was told, you better not, you better stay away. It's a cult, it's not going to be received well. You're going to spend a fortune and they're going to laugh at you. These aesthetic schools are together on the y'all. I've heard it all. And while, yes, it may be click tight. And while I'm just one person, a little voice, I bark and I'm loud. And with other peers that share this same passion with me, we can bark together. And we can definitely at least rile them up a little bit to initiate some change. So listen, I want to hear from y'all. I want to hear, do you agree with me? Do you disagree? Do you think I shouldn't be speaking on this? I know nothing about it. I need to stay in my place. Like I've always been told, get back in the corner, know your know your place. Do you agree? Do you feel that's where I should be? Look, any feedback is welcome. Okay. That's how I can make this a better space for all of us. So I want to hear from you. Um, whether you want to comment on something that we talked about today, or you think that there's a gray area or a topic or an education piece that we should cover, reach out to me. You can reach out to me on all social media platform platforms. I'm there as the skintrovert. Um, you can also email me directly at skintrovertsam at gmail.com. Um, I want to hear from you. That's how this is gonna continue to stick around because uh this is a new thing for me. And while I am enjoying chatting with you all, um, I do want to hear from you. And uh that way I can keep on growing. All right. Okay, guys, thanks for tuning in. Don't forget to follow. Don't forget to subscribe, and please leave a five-star review if you've enjoyed what you heard. All podcast platforms, Apple, Spotify, iHeart, whatever one is your favorite, you can find me there. All right, guys, have a wonderful rest of your day. Thanks for tuning in, and until next time. Bye, guys.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Think of the Skintrovert as your aesthetics roundtable, not a training manual. This podcast is for professional education and discussion. It's not medical advice. Your scope of practice matters, regulations vary, and your license always leads. To continue the conversation, follow the Skintrovert on Apple, Spotify, or any platform that you listen to your podcast.