Last Updated: June 16th, 2022 by
People go to beauty parlors and salons for all sorts of treatments and enhancements like piercings, hair treatments, acrylic nails, and skin treatments.
However, when it comes to those for the eyelashes, in particular, they require the expertise of a lash technician.
Learning how to become a lash technician can be a rewarding experience for many.
This guide will show you what that process looks like and the rewards you can expect from a career as a lash technician.
Visit our Career Guide for a list of all our job insights for an in depth look at the new career path you are considering.
Job Description
As a lash technician, your primary responsibility is to apply cosmetic eyelash treatments to clients. That includes lash extensions, false eyebrows, and other skin or facial treatments.
Your job begins with understanding client needs. Consulting them will help you know what they want and allows you to manage their expectations.
Throughout your interactions with clients, you’ll also advise them on treatment options and any necessary aftercare.
That way, they can enjoy the results of your work for as long as possible.
Lastly, you must also maintain the hygiene and cleanliness of your work area throughout the day.
Read More: Cosmetics Jobs. These jobs are a great place to start while you work your way up to a Lash Technician!
What Does an Average Day for a Lash Technician Look Like?
The best way to decide if you want to learn how to become a lash technician is to understand what they do on the job daily.
Here’s what an average day will look like for you as a lash technician:
Check Day’s Appointment
You’ll begin each day by checking how many appointments you’ll have that day. That way, you’ll know which clients are coming in and anticipate what you’ll need to do for them.
Depending on where you work, you might also work with walk-in clients who don’t have appointments.
Clean and Disinfect Equipment, Supplies, and Workspace
Throughout your workday, you’ll clean and disinfect everything within your workspace.
That includes any equipment or supplies you use, even if they’re the smallest pair of tweezers.
Generally, you’ll do this to keep your clients safe and healthy. However, you’re also doing this to follow state rules and regulations, so you don’t risk getting a fine.
Consult with Clients
Clients will come in to meet you and explain what they want to do with their eyelashes.
As a lash technician, you’ll then provide them with options and help them make the best decisions possible.
Carry Out Eyelash Procedures
When the client makes a decision, you can then carry out the eyelash procedures you need to.
That might include applying fake eyelashes, extensions, and any other service you provide.
Provide Post-Treatment Advice
Lastly, you’ll also spend some time providing post-treatment advice to your clients.
For example, you must ensure that clients don’t get their lashes wet for 48 hours or use the wrong products to maintain them.
Besides that, you’ll also answer any questions or concerns that your client might have before they end their appointment and leave.
Process for Becoming a Lash Technician
Your journey to learn how to become a lash technician will involve at least some classroom learning.
However, you’ll spend most of your time learning through hands-on training and experience.
Here’s what you’ll go through to become a lash technician:
Read More: How to Become a Perfumer. If you like experimenting with different scents, check out our guide to careers in scent!
1. Start Preparing in High School
You can begin your journey to become a lash technician as early as in high school.
You should look for courses you can take to contribute to your overall learning later in cosmetology school, beauty school, or similar institutions.
According to the Ogle School, high school courses that’ll help you later in beauty school are:
- Anatomy: Being a lash technician means working on a specific part of a client’s face. Still, you must have a strong understanding of human anatomy to appreciate how your work contributes to the client’s overall beauty.
- Biology: Learning biology can also help you understand the human eyelashes you’ll work on, such as their growth patterns.
- Chemistry: You can also benefit from building a basic understanding of chemistry. That’s because the many beauty products you’ll use have chemicals in them. You must understand how they’ll react with your client’s skin and also how the chemicals in one product interact with another.
2. Pursue a College Course
Next, you may need to complete a cosmetology course in a junior college, a vocational school, or a beauty school.
The course will award you with a certificate, diploma, or associate degree.
The college education requirements for lash technicians will depend on the state you plan on working in.
That’s because some states will require you to have a license to work, and those licenses require you to pass a relevant college course.
For example, California only allows licensed cosmetologists to apply eyelash extensions on clients.
To get that license, you must fulfill the requirements of completing an apprenticeship in cosmetology, or complete a cosmetology course at an approved school.
3. Gain Hands-On Experience
Getting practical experience is crucial as you pursue this career path. You’ll gain most of your experience during your cosmetology course.
Alternatively, you can also pursue a lash technician apprenticeship as well. In this role, you’ll work under the supervision of a qualified and experienced lash technician.
They will mentor and teach you everything you need to know about the job.
4. Get Licensed (if Necessary)
As mentioned earlier, some states (like California) will require you to have a license before you can work as a lash technician.
Another example is Texas. To work as a lash technician in that state, you must apply for an Eyelash Extension Specialty License from the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation.
That license also requires you to at least be part of a licensed beauty school before you can begin the application process.
5. Pursue Training and Certification
Even after you’re licensed and working as a lash technician, you should continue to pursue further training and certification from time to time.
Doing so will keep your skills sharp and expose you to the latest techniques and products in your line of work.
Are You Suited for a Lash Technician Career? Skills, Credentials, Tools and Technology
The process of learning how to become a lash technician involves more than learning about eyelash products (though that’s still very important).
You must also have the right skills and proficiencies to succeed when following this career path.
Here are some of the skills and proficiencies that you’ll need to go far as a lash technician:
Personality and Skills
Your communication skills, artistic skills, and eye-hand coordination are three of the most important skills you’ll need for this role.
As a lash technician, you’ll be working in a client-facing role. That means you’ll need excellent communication skills to understand what the client wants and to manage their expectations.
Besides that, being a lash technician also means you’re somewhat of an artist. Your artistic skills will also come in handy to help clients achieve the amazing lashes they expect.
Lastly, working on a patient’s eyelashes will require you to have excellent eye-hand coordination to ensure that you perform your tasks correctly without hurting the client.
Credentials and Proficiencies
Lash technicians like you must also develop proficiencies in cosmetic procedures, product knowledge, and facial aesthetics principles.
Your role specializes in improving the aesthetics of a client’s eyelashes.
That means you’ll need to have a strong understanding of cosmetic procedures, especially those that apply to the eyelashes.
Next, you must also have strong and up-to-date product knowledge, particularly about products that you’ll use on your client’s eyelashes.
New products come out on the market all the time, so you must keep yourself updated on them, as well.
Overall, you must also understand principles of facial aesthetics.
Remember: the eyelashes that you work on are one part of a person’s facial beauty.
You’ll provide your clients with much better results when you understand how the lashes you work on fit into their overall look.
How Does a Lash Technician Find Work?
As part of your journey to learn how to become a lash technician, you must also understand how to find work in that role.
Here are the 3 ways you can find work as a lash technician:
- Self-employment: You can choose to work for yourself as a lash technician. For example, you can start with friends, family members, and acquaintances as your first clients. At the same time, you can also advertise your business and market yourself through word-of-mouth.
- Beauty salons and similar establishments: Salons help clients maximize their beauty through several offerings including eyelash products and services.
- Spas and similar establishments: Clients go to relax, unwind, and receive skincare services. Some also offer services related to eyelashes, and therefore need your expertise as a lash technician.
- Boutiques and stores: Some boutiques also provide makeup application services for clients. Clients will go to those boutiques typically before an important event to get those services, which include those provided by a lash technician.
You can search for lash technician job openings online and apply for them that way. However, most, if not all employers will want you to demonstrate your skills.
Alternatively, you can visit potential employers and inquire about lash technician job openings.
What is the Average Salary of a Lash Technician?
Learning how to become a lash technician will require you to commit a significant portion of your time and resources.
So, you should also consider the potential earnings you might get from working in this role.
Sadly, it’s challenging to get accurate data about average salaries as a lash technician.
That’s because organizations like the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) do not track salaries for lash technicians in particular.
The BLS does, however, group salary data for related jobs like hairdressers, hair stylists, and cosmetologists in one category which you can use as a reference.
That information shows an average salary of $35,990 a year, with the top 90th percentile earning $59,070 and the bottom 10th percentile earning $20,860.
Where Do Lash Technicians Earn the Highest Salaries?
Again, organizations like the BLS do not track salary information for lash technicians in particular.
However, using salary data for hairdressers, hair stylists, and cosmetologists as a reference, here are some of the potentially highest paying states for lash technicians:
- District of Columbia: $72,530 a year
- Massachusetts: $44,240 a year
- Michigan: $44,070 a year
- Washington: $43,590 a year
- Hawaii: $43,370 a year
How Do You Earn More as a Lash Technician?
Whether you’re a self-employed lash technician or work as part of a salon, there are a few ways you can increase your potential earnings.
Here are 3 ways you can earn more as a lash technician:
- Professional development: The industry for eyelash technicians is always evolving. You can make yourself more valuable to employers and clients by regularly attending training sessions and other professional development events in the industry.
- Build relationships: Your relationships with clients and industry peers are critical for your success, especially when it comes to how much you make. That’s especially true with clients, most of whom will prefer to work with a lash technician they know and trust.
- Offer value-added services: Providing services for eyelashes is your specialty. Still, you can earn more by providing your clients with other closely related services. That could include skincare solutions, make-up services, and much more.
Lash Technician Job Growth
Unfortunately, organizations like the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) do not track career statistics for lash technicians in particular.
However, a helpful way to decide if it’s worth learning how to become a lash technician is to consider data about related roles.
In the case of lash technicians, you could consider the BLS’ career data for barbers, hair stylists, and cosmetologists.
The BLS expects these jobs to grow as much as 19% by 2030. They describe that growth rate as being “much faster than average”, because there will be an additional 119,800 jobs by the end of the decade.
That’s excellent news for you and anyone else interested in learning how to become a lash technician.
Not only can you expect more available jobs when you begin your job hunt later, but you can expect to face only a moderate level of competition for those lash technician positions.
Top 5 Value-Added Services to Provide as a Lash Technician
Your work as a lash technician is closely related to many other cosmetology and beauty services.
That’s why it would be an excellent idea for you to provide your clients with closely-related services.
Clients will appreciate that because they wouldn’t have to go to several different places to get beauty services.
Instead, you could potentially make yourself a one-stop shop for all their needs.
On top of improving a client’s eye lashes, you can also offer them more value with services like:
Makeup Services
Firstly, you can provide your clients with a whole suite of makeup services that go beyond just their eye lashes.
You’ll use suitable make-up products that improve the client’s overall facial aesthetics while complementing the lashes that you’ve also done.
Read our related article, Mary Kay Careers for more information on jobs in makeup.
Manicures
This service will have you shaping, trimming, filing, and buffing your client’s fingernails.
You may also offer nail painting and hand massages on top of all the options that fall under this service.
Pedicures
Pedicures will have you focusing on your client’s toenails and feet.
The attention you’ll provide to these parts is similar to that of manicures, including trimming and shaping toenails, among others.
Event or Wedding Stylist Services
As a lash technician, you don’t necessarily have to wait for clients to come to you.
Instead, you can offer to go to where your clients are, especially during special events and weddings.
There, you can provide your clients with stylist services to make them look their best. That could include make-up, pedicures, manicures, and of course, eyelash extensions as well.
Skincare Services
Last but not least, you can also provide your clients with skin care services.
Some closely related examples to your work as a lash technician include brow lamination, microblading, and more.
Professional Associations
Like any other industry, learning how to become a lash technician doesn’t just happen in a vacuum.
Instead, you will learn best from peers and mentors within the overall beauty industry.
You can connect with your fellow lash technicians and other people in the industry through professional associations like:
National Association of Lash Artists (NALA)
American Eyelash Association (AEA)
Professional Beauty Association (PBA)
Association of Cosmetology Salon Professionals (ACSP)
State-level associations like:
California Cosmetology Association
Top Colleges and Universities
There are no strict education requirements for learning how to become a lash technician.
Still, you can benefit from investing in a cosmetology course or something similar after high school.
Here are some of the top colleges in the country that offer cosmetology courses:
