Beauty Therapist - Try it for 5

As a beauty therapist, it's my job to make people look and feel fantastic. Does that look all right to you? Yes. Excellent! Some people can be quite shy and are embarrassed by coming in, so you have to be a little bit sensitive towards them. Just the slightest bit -- if you take the slightest bit out, just under there, you know -- the better. Most of our customers are women but more and more guys are starting to take care of their appearance. It's great to see a guy who looks after himself. Just close your eyes for me, please. My day usually starts at 8.30 in the morning. I have to set up all the equipment and turn things on. I check messages ... I can actually book you in for one o'clock. ... return calls, put the sign out. Hmmm, think I might have a cuppa before I start. No time for that, Elena. Keep moving. My job can be pretty full on at times. Some days can be very draining if you have a lot of clients. The job is both mentally and physically demanding. You at school, Annette, or are you ... ? At TAFE. At TAFE. I love having a chat and enjoy the variety in my work. An eyebrow wax and tint. An eyelash tint, thank you. We don't get to pick the type of treatments we do for the day. The client tends to choose the beautician they want and we go from there. OK. We just want a light colour just to go over the whole eyelid. I do all sorts of beauty work -- nails, waxing, pedicures, facials and even make-up. You could say I beautify everything -- from your head to your toes. OK, now this is just the lip liner I'm going to put on. There's no one treatment that's my favourite. I like them all. I do a lot of waxing and acrylic nails. They seem to be very popular. What can I do for you today? Eyebrow shape and wax. It's always good to learn new skills in the salon, so we can offer our clients a greater range of treatments. The next thing I'll probably learn is Bowen therapy or reiki. I've wanted to be in the beauty industry ever since high school. I did work experience at a beauty salon in Year 10 and loved it. Ever since then, I've never looked back. I'll just get you to close your eyes for me. Beautiful. To become a qualified beauty therapist, I studied at TAFE for two years and completed a Diploma in Beauty Therapy. Alana Dawn Potts. I'm also a qualified nail technician, thanks to the traineeship I did here at Dazzlers. You're always learning in this job. Even now I've qualified, I'm still asking Sue questions. Paraffin wax ... She's been a really great mentor. There's a lot of theory when you're studying. You have to know all about the bones and muscles and how the skin works. I didn't realise you had to learn all about this but it's really interesting. Hmmm, your legs are very dry too. Been moisturising? Not too bad? No, not really. To be successful in this job, you need great communication skills This is half the fun of going to a ball. Yeah, that's it -- getting all pampered and your make-up done. We share life experiences and chat about anything from beauty products to beauty problems with our clients. I actually pluck that one occasionally but it comes back. Just need a trim People tell you all sorts of things, so to survive in this job, you have to learn not to take too much on board and try to keep things on a professional level. Hi, Elena. How are you going there? Your next client's in. Do you want a hand or ... ? On the job I've learnt how to manage my time effectively and how to be a team player. The pay is not too bad to start with. As you grow in experience, so does your pay. All right? So we'll see you then. Yes. Bye. See you, Tim. There's always someone in the world that needs pampering, so this line of work is great if you want to travel. I might do the travel thing but my goal for the future is to end up owning my own salon. It's been a busy day for me today so the girls are giving me a treat. It's nice to be on the other side of the table every once in a while.