A NAME IS A NAME IS A NAME

Years ago I wrote an article about this with a bit of humor as to what we as professionals call ourselves. For a long time there was actually no consensus. It varied from state to state, my first license read Facial Specialist and then I had one that read Cosmetician. I commented that to be taken seriously as a professional by the mainstream we might want to determine what our name is.

About 25 years ago, both spellings started showing up - Aesthetician and Esthetician - I was told in a conversation that one reflected the American and progressive direction of our profession and the other was the origin of European skin care. I liked the first version and, although in the minority over all, I from that time on used the spelling "aesthetician". Especially since aesthetics is about art and my entire journey has been about the art of skin.

If you look up either in Webster's dictionary, you get the same definition - what is interesting is that when you type in aesthetician, it shows up that way, however, when you type in esthetician, it shows up with the former spelling and that second. Below is the definition given in Webster.

A person who is knowledgeable about the nature and appreciation of beauty, in art
Beautician

When you research in Wikepedia and type in Esthetician, the word Cosmetology comes up and offers both spellings for the same meaning.

So either way is accepted and used and yes, the majority of companies and other industry sources spell with the E only. I however, have always done it a bit different and still like the feel and perception of spelling with an A.

There you have it in case you have ever wondered about that.

At the end of the day, most clients really don't care what we call ourselves as long as we do good work because after all that is what the ART OF AESTHETICS is all about!!