The Biggest Beauty Money Makers

By analysing the cost of training and starter kits for 60 popular beauty treatments, along with the average price charged by professionals, we reveal the most profitable beauty earners.

Millions of women have a ‘side hustle’ job to pursue their passions – and make a few quid on the side, but how do you know which direction to take?

If you’re a beauty addict who wants to stop spending and start earning, there’s a lot of money to be made in the industry, as its current worth is over £30 billion in the UK alone.

To help you get started, Fragrance Direct explored the cost of training courses and starter kits for 60 popular beauty treatments, along with the average price charged by professionals around the UK.

As a result, we reveal the beauty side-hustles that make the biggest profit, along with the treatments that are the trickiest to train in.

Top of the class

The treatments with quickest profitability

Hair extensions are the quickest side-hustle to profit from, as you don’t have to be a qualified hairdresser to train up, and the start-up costs are very low. It costs just £194.00 to go on an accredited training course, meaning you’ll pay your course cost off after just two appointments if you charge the average £100 per application.

Reiki is another trending holistic treatment that’s easy to train in, and if you want to train to become a teacher, the average course cost in the UK is just £97. If you charge the average £37.20 per session – you’ve made your money back in no time.

The treatments with quickest profitability

The biggest money makers

Semi-permanent makeup would make you the most money on average. If you specialised in eyebrow tattooing you could earn up to £207,740 a year, if you had 10 clients a week.

Overall, eyebrows are the facial feature set to make you the most money – but that’s no surprise, as brow loving Brits are obsessed with keeping them tame.

The biggest money makers

The cheapest to train in

It costs just £97.70 to become a qualified Reiki teacher, which is the cheapest treatment to train in from the 60 we analysed. Hair treatments that don’t need an NVQ or equivalent qualification are also very cheap to train in. So if you love doing updos and think you’ve got the skills to go professional – why not give it a go?

The cheapest to train in

A pain to train

The hardest hustles

Whilst many ladies are offering dermal fillers, it takes a LOT of training, with a cost of £10,595 if you’re a total novice with no medical background. Not only that, it would take over two years to qualify and you’d have to carry out 78 treatments to earn your start-up costs back.

The hardest hustles

The cheapest treatments

Regardless of training costs, you need a treatment that pays a good amount of money. If you’re looking for a high earner, steer away from more traditional methods of threading and waxing – they are so 2010. If you specialised in eye-brow threading, you’d only earn £98 a week from 10 treatments.

The cheapest treatments