What does a licensed cosmetologist do?
A Licensed Cosmetologist provides various services, such as hairstyling, skincare, nail treatments, and makeup. They are responsible for complying with health and safety standards.
Licensed cosmetologist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real licensed cosmetologist resumes:
- Manage beautiful hairstyles with the use of flat irons, curling irons, blow dryers, and other hair products.
- Provide pedicure/manicure, skin care services, and dress wigs.
- Provide all services - hair stylist, nails, make-up, coloring services, blow-outs, and up-do's.
- Conduct DYI seminars on make-up application.
- Maintain hair tools and salon instruments for salon cleanliness and compliance with cosmetology regulations.
- Assist others hairstylist team members.
- Make up applications, formal styling's, cut, and color with Redken product's.
Licensed cosmetologist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 32% of Licensed Cosmetologists are proficient in Retail Sales, Customer Service, and Product Sales. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Customer-service skills, and Listening skills.
We break down the percentage of Licensed Cosmetologists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Retail Sales, 32%
Retained customers, generated new customer base and retail sales by utilizing advertising and community outreach activities.
- Customer Service, 15%
Establish and maintained relationships with clientele through professional customer service.
- Product Sales, 11%
Interact with customers and ensure customer satisfaction in product sales and appointment scheduling.
- Appointment Scheduling, 5%
Sell / Recommend professional hair products Manage appointment scheduling
- Make-Up, 4%
Greeted, prepped, washed, styled, designed (nails, make-up, hair)
- Cosmetic Services, 3%
Created an unparalleled experience for clients obtaining a variety of cosmetic services.
Common skills that a licensed cosmetologist uses to do their job include "retail sales," "customer service," and "product sales." You can find details on the most important licensed cosmetologist responsibilities below.
Creativity. One of the key soft skills for a licensed cosmetologist to have is creativity. You can see how this relates to what licensed cosmetologists do because "barbers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists must keep up with the latest trends and be ready to try new hairstyles for their clients." Additionally, a licensed cosmetologist resume shows how licensed cosmetologists use creativity: "invented invisible braids(tm) brand as innovative product within hair care industry maintaining long-term profitability. "
Customer-service skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling licensed cosmetologist duties is customer-service skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "workers must be friendly, pleasant, and able to interact with clients to build and retain clientele." According to a licensed cosmetologist resume, here's how licensed cosmetologists can utilize customer-service skills in their job responsibilities: "experience with: appointment scheduling software, customer information databases, electronic cash registers, sale processing software. "
Listening skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of licensed cosmetologists is listening skills. This skill is critical to many everyday licensed cosmetologist duties, as "barbers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists must be attentive when clients describe what they want to ensure satisfaction with the result." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "provided strong customer service by listening to client needs and recommending ideas to improve their overall image. "
Physical stamina. A big part of what licensed cosmetologists do relies on "physical stamina." You can see how essential it is to licensed cosmetologist responsibilities because "barbers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists must be able to stand for long periods." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical licensed cosmetologist tasks: "analyze customers' hair and other physical features to determine hair treatment for healthy hair and suggested hair styles. "
Tidiness. Another crucial skill for a licensed cosmetologist to carry out their responsibilities is "tidiness." A big part of what licensed cosmetologists relies on this skill, since "workers must keep their work area clean and sanitary for the health and safety of their clients." How this skill relates to licensed cosmetologist duties can be seen in an example from a licensed cosmetologist resume snippet: "cut, style, shampoo, and color clients hair salon cleanup and tidiness assist in paying bills"
Time-management skills. Lastly, "time-management skills" is an important element of what a licensed cosmetologist does. Licensed cosmetologist responsibilities require this skill because "barbers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists need to manage their time efficiently when scheduling appointments and providing services." This resume example highlights how licensed cosmetologist duties rely on this skill: "worked under deadlines to client satisfaction. "
The three companies that hire the most licensed cosmetologists are:
- The Lash Lounge5 licensed cosmetologists jobs
- European Wax Center2 licensed cosmetologists jobs
- ISM Spa2 licensed cosmetologists jobs
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Compare different licensed cosmetologists
Licensed cosmetologist vs. Braider
A Beautician is a person whose job is to do hair styling, manicures, and other beauty treatments. They work in various trades of the beauty industry, such as hair, skin, or nail care.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, licensed cosmetologist responsibilities require skills like "retail sales," "product sales," "appointment scheduling," and "make-up." Meanwhile a typical braider has skills in areas such as "braiders," "ran," "scheduling appointments," and "assembly line." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Braiders tend to reach lower levels of education than licensed cosmetologists. In fact, braiders are 6.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.8% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Licensed cosmetologist vs. Beautician
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that licensed cosmetologist responsibilities requires skills like "product sales," "cosmetic services," "state board," and "product knowledge." But a beautician might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "cosmetology," "beauty shop," "compassion," and "customer care."
Beauticians earn a higher average salary than licensed cosmetologists. But beauticians earn the highest pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $37,525. Additionally, licensed cosmetologists earn the highest salaries in the education with average pay of $37,827 annually.In general, beauticians achieve similar levels of education than licensed cosmetologists. They're 4.2% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for licensed cosmetologists in the next 3-5 years?
Charley Sain
Cosmetology Instructor, Program Coordinator for Cosmetology, Esthetics, and Manicuring, Cleveland Community College
Licensed cosmetologist vs. Hair designer
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from licensed cosmetologist resumes include skills like "make-up," "cosmetic services," "nail care," and "state board," whereas a hair designer is more likely to list skills in "cosmetology," "salon services," "perms," and "pos. "
Most hair designers achieve a similar degree level compared to licensed cosmetologists. For example, they're 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Licensed cosmetologist vs. Assistant hairstylist
Types of licensed cosmetologist
Updated January 8, 2025
