Your license says what you may do. Your policy says what it will pay for. They are not the same list.
Liability cover for estheticians — employed, booth-renting or on their own — including the excluded procedure schedule that decides whether the treatment you actually perform is insured.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
What esthetician businesses actually need.
Professional liability
Injury caused by a treatment — burns, scarring, reactions, pigmentation, nerve injury.
Without it — The whole exposure of the job, and the one general liability does not reach at all.
General liability
Slips, falls and damage to a client’s property in the treatment room or the waiting area.
Without it — Required by every salon lease, booth rental agreement and suite operator before you work.
Abuse and molestation
Allegations arising from hands-on treatment in a private room.
Without it — Excluded from general liability and rarely included by default on a cheap online policy.
Products liability
Reactions to products you applied, and to anything you retail.
Without it — Selling skincare puts you in the chain of supply for it, separately from applying it.
Business personal property
Your equipment — the laser, the steamer, the table, the stock — including at a rented booth.
Without it — A salon’s policy covers the salon’s property, not the equipment you brought and own.
Business cyber
Client records, before-and-after photographs and the booking system.
Without it — Treatment records with photographs are among the most sensitive data a small business holds.
The claims we actually see.
Ordered by how often we see them, not by how dramatic they are. Each one names the coverage that answers it — and the policy people wrongly assume already does.
Most common
A chemical peel or laser treatment burns a client
Covered by Professional liability
General liability answers a slip in the lobby, never a treatment injury. And check the depth: deep peels are commonly excluded unless performed under physician supervision.
Most common
A reaction to a product or a treatment nobody patch-tested
Covered by Professional liability
The defense turns on the consultation record. An intake form with contraindications and a signed consent is what makes this defensible; memory is not.
Common
A treatment you performed turns out to be off your schedule
Covered by Nothing — this is the exclusion
The excluded procedure list is where these claims die. Adding a service to the menu without checking the endorsement is the single commonest way an insured esthetician is uninsured.
Less common, severe
A client alleges inappropriate touching during a treatment
Covered by Abuse and molestation
Excluded from general liability, and hands-on work behind a closed door is exactly the circumstance. Career-ending to defend without cover.
Common
A client slips, or their belongings are damaged
Covered by General liability
The one most people already have, and the only one a salon landlord or booth agreement usually requires — which is why it is often the only one people have.
What esthetician operators ask us.
Which procedures are typically excluded from an esthetician policy?
More than most people expect, and the list is longer for an esthetician than for a cosmetic nurse. A representative schedule excludes: laser liposuction, lipodissolve, lipolysis, mesotherapy and any injection-based fat reduction; autologous fat transfer and lipoinjection; silicone injection; thread lifts and mini facelifts; surgical hair transplant; sclerotherapy and vein stripping; IV infusion therapy and vitamin injection; hormone therapy and weight loss therapy; non-cosmetic ultrasound; platelet rich plasma except when part of a microneedling treatment; stem cell therapy; prolotherapy; carboxytherapy and gas injection; chelation therapy; colon hydrotherapy; ozone therapy; acupuncture; deep chemical peels without physician supervision; tattoo removal by multiple punch biopsy; non-prescription HCG; extracorporeal shockwave therapy; intimate rejuvenation procedures of every description; and any treatment under general anesthesia or deep sedation. This is one carrier’s list and yours will differ — the point is that a list exists, that it is long, and that nobody reads it until a claim.
What gets denied that has nothing to do with the procedure?
Three things, and they are the ones almost nobody reads for. First, work performed by a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who is not actually named on the policy — the medical director being real is not the same as the medical director being a named insured, and the exclusion is written on the name. Second, any warranty or guarantee of how well a treatment works, expressly or by implication, including one made through advertising or social media. That is a marketing exclusion, and aesthetics marketing is built on guarantees: "guaranteed results", "permanent", "you will lose X inches" can each be the sentence a carrier points at. Third, anything performed outside the supervision your state law and your license require — a treatment that is technically covered becomes uncovered because of who was in the building. Fix all three on paper before you worry about the procedure schedule.
I rent a booth. Am I covered by the salon’s policy?
Almost certainly not, and this is the commonest gap in the trade. A salon’s policy insures the salon: its premises, its property and its employees. As a booth renter you are an independent business, so their professional liability does not extend to your treatments, their property cover does not extend to your equipment, and their general liability answers for the building rather than for you. Most booth rental agreements say so explicitly and require you to carry your own and name the salon as an additional insured — which is a specific endorsement, not a note on a certificate. If you have never been asked for one, that is worth checking rather than enjoying.
Is a cheap online policy enough?
It depends entirely on what you actually perform, which is the honest answer rather than a sales one. For facials, waxing, brows and standard skincare, an inexpensive membership-style policy is often genuinely fine and we will tell you so. The moment the menu includes lasers, medium-depth or deep peels, microneedling with PRP, body contouring devices, injectables under someone else’s direction, or anything sold as a medical or wellness treatment, the excluded procedure schedule starts doing real work and the cheap policy is frequently the one that excludes exactly the service that generates your revenue. Read the schedule against your menu; the price difference is small next to the difference in what is covered.
How do I find out what my own policy excludes?
Look for an endorsement with "excluded procedures" or "cosmetic procedures exclusion" in the title, and read the list rather than the policy summary — the declarations page will not tell you, and the certificate certainly will not. Every carrier writes a different schedule and the same carrier writes different schedules for different license types, so a colleague’s answer is not yours. Then compare it line by line against your actual service menu, including the treatments you added this year and the ones you are about to. If you want, send us the endorsement and the menu and we will mark up where they disagree — that comparison is most of what we do on these accounts, and it is the reason people move.
Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.