Glossary
Esthetician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential esthetician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key esthetician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in esthetician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Chemical peel
- An acid treatment that exfoliates.
- Client intake form
- Health and product history.
- Comedone
- A clogged pore.
- Contraindication
- A reason not to do a treatment.
- Exfoliation
- Removing dead skin cells.
- Extraction
- Removing clogged pores.
- Fitzpatrick scale
- A classification of skin types.
- Hard wax
- Wax removed without strips.
- Hyperpigmentation
- Dark spots on skin.
- Lash extension
- Synthetic lashes attached to natural lashes.
- Microdermabrasion
- Mechanical exfoliation.
- Retinoids
- Vitamin A products that affect waxing safety.
- Skin analysis
- Assessing skin type and conditions.
- Soft wax
- Wax removed with strips.
- SPF
- Sun protection factor.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Esthetician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Esthetician training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.