First day working at a salon, feeling a little weird
I’m feeling very conflicted at the moment with my new esthetician job.
I shadowed a long time esthetician today at this 5 star fancy spa I landed a position at through talking with the owner on Facebook, we did an interview and are entering a training period. I’m being paid 19 an hour in California for this period and was promised a raise after training. They do things like hydrafacials and infrared.
This place has steady clientele, a professional environment, nice management so far, and I felt pretty good about everything. However, some things I noticed were that the girl I shadowed did not sanitize her equipment/devices in between treatments. She wiped them off with a wet wipe and that was it. For her last client, she even reused the bed liner. That was a bit of a shock, but I guessed that I would want to do things differently when I get my own room.
Secondly, I noticed that the products and packages are expensive, upsold, and clients are paying more for the luxury experience or high end feeling rather than good products for a reasonable price point. We sell devices for 5-10k and a basic cleanser can go up to $300. That doesn’t really sit well with me, but if they’re paying for it, they’re paying for it, I guess. It’s brands like Nefertiti and Formidabless and the like.
The clients seemed relaxed and the esthi was friendly with them and everything, but these things just made me a bit uneasy. There’s a lot of returning clients and people buying the packages and it’s an extremely highly rated salon. I just don’t know if this is a common thing that is seen in the spa world.
I prefer doing hair removal and not being able to do that here is kind of a bummer, but if said pay raise is given and I start earning tips and commission while being able to rise above because of my hygiene standards, that will be OK with me. Also if the management doesn’t turn out to be insufferable and if the hygiene standards aren’t a systemic issue, that’ll be fine with me as well.
Advice would be appreciated. Thank you!