Emer O'Callaghan: My advice to people thinking about a career in beauty 

Love is the most powerful emotion of all, and to love something is to really mean you have a strong emotional bond to it. So when I say that I love my job, I mean it.

I started as a 19-year-old greenhorn on the lowest step of the ladder, and I am so proud to have worked my ass off to get to the top of my profession and be one of the very few certified beauty doctors and skin specialists.

I don’t do fake anything, so I simply couldn’t fake doing a job - often long 12-hour days - and not love it.

For some, a job is a case of going through the motions. Na, feck that for a game of soldiers, I say, life is just too short to be unhappy and spend your life working in a job that doesn’t fulfil you.

I see this too when I am out and about as a customer, you can tell a mile away when the love is gone in a job or business.

I don’t waste time, I choose to do a job that makes me happy.

The Leaving Cert results will be out in a few weeks, and as someone who did hers twice, I tend to be fond of doing things over in life. But the perfectionist in me wanted higher points, and looking back I did a very good first Leaving, but I ran the gauntlet again and got up the few points - even though I genuinely had no idea what I wanted to do.

That was another good reason to buy myself more time in taking another year, I really feel it’s hard for any 18-year-old to know what path in life to choose.

I often get asked by clients would I recommend becoming a beautician to others and I say of course I would, but like every job, are you cut out for it? Because it’s a tough profession and it’s full on, it’s all go and so busy.

There is no time to stop, you spend your day running to a clock and juggling ten other things in the process. There are no breaks - well, I don’t get them anyway - but if you love it, then it’s very rewarding and fulfilling for sure.

Only last month, I got a lovely email from a girl who told me she called me in the clinic to ask advice on what avenue would be best for her in the beauty profession, and we had a quick chat and the few answers helped her know which route was for her. She was so glad - I was that young girl one time too and I was very glad of the older, more experienced beauticians who helped me.

Now I am that older beautician, I do my best to guide and advise younger beauticians all the time.

I am forever banging the drum that we need more of the training days we have to do every year in Cork. It’s always in Dublin, so finally they listened and Dermalogica for the first time came to Cork the other week, and to Douglas. I was delighted.

It was a brilliant training day as they shook things up for us, which I love. We were asked to arrive in gym wear and did a full pilates class first and then we had our class. The training was on body sculpting and, boy, did we get put through our paces.

It was so funny to see all the younger girls up the front row like elastic bands and us older ones trying to hold the poses and not keel over! We were once that flexible too, we reminded them.

I love chatting to the younger ones on days like these, and we all earned the goodie bags afterwards.

The beauty industry is booming, we are constantly getting new treatments and products out so we are always training and learning.

My brothers still laugh at me when I say I must go home and study, but they know I have to. I am a nerd, I have no problem admitting it!

Many girls are signing up for beauty courses, but I think very few really know what the job entails.

Of course, our industry has been fragmented, today’s girls are picking one treatment and focusing on that - nails, lashes, laser, skin... in my day there was no option to just do one segment, it was all or nothing.

My qualifications are full CIDESCO and I also have CIBTEC and ITEC qualifications, but it’s rare to see training to that level today. So this is what you need to comprehend if a career in beauty is for you.

LOOKS

First off, it might seem obvious, but how pretty you are is irrelevant, clients are coming for a service to make them feel better, how good you look is of no interest.

You don’t need to be pretty, but you most certainly do need to be smart. So if you think beauticians are bimbos, more fool you.

TIME

Good time-keeping is a must and, trust me, I learned this one the hard way. You simply cannot be late in this job, all appointments are time-based so if you don’t learn to manage time, you will struggle to keep up - and clients keep on coming.

CLEANING

This is half our job, like it or not, and I’m shocked at how many quit our profession because they are not willing to clean.

Hygiene and sanitation are the core of what we do, so when you’re not doing treatments you are scrubbing the treatment room, trolley, tools, bed, floor, display stand, the toilets, everywhere, you must clean, you must be willing to roll up the sleeves,

UNSOCIABLE HOURS

We do long days and late nights, Saturday is the busiest day, and you will often end a week exhausted,

TRAINING

This and upskilling are constant, some of this will be on Sundays and your day off, but you must do it, you must stay updated and in the know.

SOCIAL MEDIA

It is now a huge part of our job, partly to combat the barrage of unqualified information out there.

UNIFORM

This is very important, you must look the part, and once you put on that uniform, you leave everything about your own life at the door, you must be the ultimate professional.

PERKS

There are many, but certainly not the ones your friends will be getting in the big corporate world. We are certainly not paid enough for all that we do in this job, especially when we start out. You do get treatments and product discounts sometimes.

I never once regretted choosing this profession and starting Emerald Beauty Clinic in 2008. Credit is due to all those beauticians out there.

If you are starting out in the profession, I hope you will love and enjoy it as much as I have the past 25 years; I’m looking forward to the next 25. Stay beautiful.

Emer O’Callaghan is a beauty doctor and skin specialist who won Irish Beauty Therapist of the year and works at Emerald Organic Beauty Products Ltd, trading as Emerald Beauty Clinic, 021 4365949. A Multi Award Winning Gold Standard Clinic, 2008-2025, www.emeraldbeautyclinic.ie, follow us on Facebook/Instagram/TikTok pages now.

SPECIAL OFFER: All next week, our award-winning Dermalogica Pigmentation and Sun Damaged Facial is reduced from €125 to €95. Includes full skin analysis, eyebrow shape, complimentary samples and treats. Appointments necessary, to book call Emerald Beauty Clinic on 021 4365949. Free parking for clients.