How to Become an Esthetician

How to become an esthetician starts with a state-approved training program, not a job application. Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts each require at least 600 hours of aesthetics training and a passed exam before you can practice. A cosmetology license does not replace that path. This guide covers the training, the license steps in each state, and what to do in the first weeks after you are licensed.

Apply for esthetician roles with MjjM Salons

How to Become an Esthetician, Step by Step

The path is the same shape in all three states, even when the paperwork differs. You train, you pass an exam, you apply for the license, and only then do you look for a chair. Skipping a step usually means restarting the application, not a faster start date.

1. Confirm you want the esthetics license, not a cosmetology or barber license. Each license covers a different scope of practice.
2. Enroll in a school the state recognizes, or an apprenticeship the board accepts where that option exists.
3. Finish the required hours. In these three states the school minimum is 600 hours.
4. Apply for exam approval, pass the exam, and submit the license application with the fee the board lists.
5. Keep the license current, then look for a first role that matches the services you are actually allowed to perform.

People often ask how long this takes. A 600-hour program is commonly several months of class time, not a weekend course. Maine's statute says the 600-hour course must be completed in not less than three months, or as trainee experience of up to 1,000 hours over at least six months. Your school calendar, not a national average, sets the real date.

What Training You Need Before the Exam

Esthetics training covers skin analysis, facials, hair removal such as waxing, sanitation, and client consultation. It does not train you to cut, color, or chemically treat hair. If your goal is the styling chair, the cosmetology path is the one to read instead. MjjM's guide to how to become a cosmetologist in New Hampshire is written for that license, not this one.

Choose a school before you count hours. Hours from a program the board does not recognize may not count toward the license. Ask the school, in writing, which state board approves the program and whether the hours meet that state's current rule. Also ask what the tuition includes: kit, exam fee, and books are often extra.

Compare the school with your week

A full-time program finishes the hours sooner and leaves less room for a current job. A part-time program stretches the calendar and is easier to pair with work or family care. Either can be the right choice. The wrong choice is a schedule you will drop halfway through, because incomplete hours do not transfer as a license.

If you already hold a related license, ask the board about credit before you pay for a full program. New Hampshire may give hour credit to a licensed cosmetologist or barber when an approved school certifies the overlap. A licensed massage therapist can also ask the board whether massage hours count. Credit shortens the course. It does not skip the exam.

What to ask before you enroll

Five questions separate a program that leads to a license from one that only leads to a certificate the board will not accept.

• Which state board approves this program right now, and for which license title?
• How many hours are in the esthetics curriculum, and are they all counted toward the 600-hour minimum?
• Does tuition include the kit, books, and the state exam fee, or are those billed later?
• What share of recent graduates sat for the exam within six months of finishing?
• If you leave early, which hour records will the school send to the board?

Write the answers down. A verbal promise about state approval is hard to use later if the board rejects the hours. The same habit helps with cost. A lower sticker price is not cheaper if the kit and the exam fee sit outside it.

License Requirements in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts

Rules below come from each state's own statute or licensing page. Boards change fees and forms, so confirm the current application on the state site before you pay. None of these licenses is a medical credential, and none of these services is billed to health insurance.

Use the primary source for the state you will work in. Maine's rule is Title 32, section 14228. New Hampshire's rule is RSA 313-A:13. Massachusetts publishes the path on its page for how to become an aesthetician. Read the page, then come back here for how the three compare.

Maine

Maine licenses the practice of aesthetics under Title 32, section 14228. Eligibility rests on two things you can plan around: the training block above, and a passed approved examination. The state removed older age and general-education gates from this section in 2019. Do not rely on a blog summary for the application packet. The Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation publishes the current practice-by-examination steps.

The trainee route is not a shortcut around the hour count. The statute allows experience as a trainee of up to 1,000 hours spread over at least six months. That is more hours than the school course, over a longer minimum calendar. People who already work in a salon sometimes prefer it because the hours happen on the job. People who want a fixed end date usually prefer the 600-hour school course. Either way, the exam still sits at the end.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire issues an esthetics license through the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification. RSA 313-A:13 requires the 600-hour course, or a board-approved apprenticeship in its place, plus a passed examination. You also have to meet the general conditions in RSA 313-A:11. A narrow grandfather rule covers people who practiced professionally in the state for at least three years before July 1, 1989. That rule does not help a new student.

If you later move and need to carry a license across a state line, read how to transfer a cosmetology license for the transfer idea, then check the esthetics rules in the new state. Transfer steps for hair licenses are not the same packet as an esthetics application.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts uses the title aesthetician for this license. The Board of Registration of Cosmetology and Barbering says you complete a 600-hour course in an approved program, apply for the license, and pass a written theory exam. The board's published aesthetician application fee is $68. PSI administers the exam, and you need the board's approval before you can schedule it.

Applications go through the eLIPSE system on MyMassGov. The board holds an incomplete application open for 180 days from the day it is received. After that, the application is treated as abandoned and you submit a new one with a new payment. Build the document list before you start the online form. That way the 180-day clock is not the thing that resets you.

Massachusetts is also explicit that this is a written theory exam. The board's how-to-apply page does not describe a separate practical exam. Study the theory the school assigns, then wait for the PSI email before you book a date. Sitting the exam without board approval does not move the application forward.

What an Esthetician License Lets You Do

An esthetician license is for skin services the state puts in that scope, such as facials and waxing, inside a licensed setting. It is not a license to diagnose skin disease, prescribe medication, or perform medical procedures. If a service sounds clinical, it belongs with a medical provider, not on a salon menu.

It is also not a hairstylist license. Guests who want a cut or color still need a licensed cosmetologist or barber. MjjM Salons is the employer behind participating Supercuts locations in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. The core work in those salons is hair. An esthetics license does not by itself qualify you for a stylist role. Read the posting for the license it names before you apply.

Keep the two careers separate in your own plan. Someone who wants both skin services and hair services needs both licenses, or a cosmetology license whose scope includes the skin work they want to do. Do not assume the longer cosmetology program covers an esthetics posting. Ask the board which license the service requires.

MjjM operates 27 salons across those three states: 12 in Maine, 5 in New Hampshire, and 10 in Massachusetts. You can see the current list on the MjjM salon locations page. Openings vary by salon, and a skin-service role is not the same posting as a stylist role.

First Job Steps After You Are Licensed

The license gets you eligible. The first job still asks for proof, a clear service match, and a schedule you can keep. Do these before you send applications.

• Save your license number, school certificate, and exam result where you can attach them. Employers ask for the license, not a description of the program.
• List the services your license covers and the ones it does not. That list keeps you out of roles written for cosmetologists.
• Decide the state you want to work in first. A license is state-specific until a transfer is approved.
• Compare schedule, training, and benefits, not only the posted pay rate. A separate guide covers esthetician salary and what to compare in an offer.
• Apply to the employer, not to a job board brand. For MjjM, that application is one conversation that covers the salons you are willing to join.

A first offer is easier to judge if you separate three numbers. The posted rate is one. Tips and retail are a second, and they move with the book of guests. Benefits are the third. For eligible full-time roles, MjjM describes medical and dental coverage, paid vacation and holidays, sick time, license-fee reimbursement, and student-loan help. Those items are not automatic. They depend on the role and on eligibility, so ask which of them apply to the job in front of you.

New graduates often do better in a structured salon than in a booth they have to fill alone. Entry-level salon jobs for graduates walks through that first-role choice for people leaving school. If you are still building hours or coming from outside the industry, how to get a job at Supercuts with no experience covers what a franchise salon asks of a new applicant. License rules in that piece are about hair services. Use this page for the esthetics license.

Bring a short list to any conversation with a hiring team. Which license does this role require? Which services would you perform in the first 90 days? How is the schedule built, and how far ahead is it posted? Who pays for license renewal? Those questions tell you whether the role matches the license you just earned.

A simple order for the first month

Week one is paperwork. Confirm the license is active in the state where you will work, and save a photo of the pocket card or the online record. Week two is the service list. Write what you are ready to perform on day one and what you still want supervised. Week three is the search. Apply only to roles that name your license, and say which cities you can reach. Week four is the comparison. Put two offers next to each other and score schedule, training, and benefits before you score the posted rate.

That order keeps you from applying on the day you pass the exam and then discovering the license is not issued yet. In Massachusetts, the board still has to process the application after the exam. In every state, an employer can look the license up. A pending application is not the same document as an active license.

When you are ready to talk with MjjM, use the careers page to see who the team hires and how the salon-suite model works, then apply directly. The MjjM Salons careers page is the overview. The application itself is a guided chat that asks for your location and walks through one application for the salons in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

Apply with MjjM Salons

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to become an esthetician?

Plan on the 600-hour minimum in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, plus exam scheduling and application review. Maine requires the school course to take at least three months. Part-time calendars and exam wait times can make the full path longer than the hour count suggests.

Can I become an esthetician without school?

Not by skipping training. New Hampshire allows a board-approved apprenticeship in place of the 600-hour school course. Maine allows trainee experience of up to 1,000 hours over at least six months. Massachusetts describes a 600-hour course in an approved program. Confirm the current option with the board before you start hours that may not count.

Is an esthetician license the same as a cosmetology license?

No. Cosmetology training in these states is a longer, different program aimed at hair and related salon services. An esthetics license covers the skin services that license allows. Holding one does not automatically give you the other, though New Hampshire may credit some overlapping hours toward esthetics training.

Does MjjM Salons hire estheticians?

MjjM hires licensed salon professionals for participating Supercuts locations in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Read each opening for the license it requires. A stylist posting is not an esthetician posting. Apply directly to MjjM Salons and name the state you want to work in.

Start your application with MjjM Salons