Esthetician Hands-On Practices in Virginia: What Every Student Should Know

What are hands-on practices?

Practical performances, often called hands-on practices, are the real treatments you perform as a student, such as facials, body treatments, makeup, and hair removal, while a licensed esthetics instructor supervises. They are where you learn to work with clients, products, and equipment with confidence.

What Virginia requires

Esthetician students must complete at least 220 practical performances:

Master esthetician students have their own requirement of at least 215 practical performances:

Source: Virginia Board for Barbers and Cosmetology, 18VAC41-70-200.

Basic plus Master bundles

Basic and master esthetics are two separate licenses. Each has its own 600 hours and its own hands-on practices: at least 220 for basic and at least 215 for master. Be careful with a low-priced bundle of both. Ask what you will actually be taught in each program, who will teach it, and how your hands-on practices are tracked.

Permanent cosmetic tattooing

A permanent cosmetic tattooing program in Virginia must be at least 200 clock hours and include at least 60 performances:

A master permanent cosmetic tattooing program is also 200 clock hours, with at least 55 performances. Source: 18VAC41-50-290. Ask any permanent makeup school how many of your performances will be on live models and how many on practice skin, and how each one is recorded.

Why hands-on practices matter

A certificate on paper is not the same as hands-on skill. A graduate who finished the hours without doing the treatments can struggle to work with real clients, and employers notice. Hands-on practices are the part of your training that builds experience.

How a school should track your hands-on practices

Look for a school that can show you:

• A written record of each hands-on practice, with the date and the supervising instructor’s signature.
• Your progress in each category, so you know how many you have left.
• Access to your own record at any time, not only at the end of the program.

Be careful about a sign-off at the end

Some schools ask students to sign one form at the very end of the program confirming that every hands-on practice was completed, before handing over the paperwork needed to apply for the state exam. By then you have little choice but to sign. Ask how your school handles this before you enroll, and never sign that you completed something you did not.

Questions to ask before you enroll

• How is each hands-on practice recorded, and who signs it?
• Can I see my hands-on practice record at any time?
• How many of my hands-on practices will be on real clients, and when do they start?
• Who supervises me while I perform treatments?
• What paperwork will I receive to apply for the state exam, and when?

How Lillique handles hands-on practices

At Lillique Training Institute, practical performances are completed in our student clinic, with a licensed instructor supervising. Every client who books a student clinic treatment helps a student toward these requirements.

For permanent cosmetic tattooing, our program includes 60 practices. Students learn first on practice skin, then their instructor demonstrates on a live model, and then students can bring their own model to work on for every practice. We have also added tattoo removal and pigmentology training to the curriculum.

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Sources

• 18VAC41-70-200, Practical performance requirements (Virginia Administrative Code)
• 18VAC41-70-190, Curriculum and hours of instruction requirements (Virginia Administrative Code)
• 18VAC41-50-290, Hours of instruction and performances (permanent cosmetic tattooing)
• Virginia Board for Barbers and Cosmetology, part of DPOR. Phone (804) 367-8509.