Software for estheticians: consultations, treatment series and consent forms

An esthetician's calendar mixes one-off facials with treatment series: six peels four weeks apart, a monthly facial membership, brows every three weeks. Each series needs a consultation, a consent form that matches the treatment and a way to get paid before the last session. Your license comes from your state's board, and what you're allowed to offer depends on it.

From consultation to a paid treatment series

1. Create a 30-minute "Skin consultation" meeting type, paid at booking (for example $40, credited toward the first treatment) and refunded if canceled 24 hours ahead.
2. Keep booking questions cosmetic and administrative: main concern (acne, texture, pigmentation), current products, preferred days. Medical history and medications go on your paper intake at the consultation.
3. After the consultation, send a proposal for the series: 6 chemical peels at 4-week intervals, the home-care kit as its own line item and a 50% deposit.
4. When it's accepted, the treatment consent goes out for e-signature: what the peel does, expected reactions, aftercare and your right to stop if the skin isn't ready. Each signer gets a certificate with the audit trail.
5. Invoice the deposit from the proposal and, before session 4, the balance from the same proposal.
6. For the sessions, send one-time links to a "Peel series" meeting type you've turned off, with a 15-minute buffer for room turnover.
7. Monthly facial members get a repeating invoice on the 1st with a pay link. When it's paid, you send that month's one-time booking link.

A typical week

• Monday: two consultations booked from Instagram over the weekend, both paid.
• Tuesday: a client accepts a 6-peel proposal and signs the consent on her phone before she leaves the suite.
• Wednesday: of the 14 membership invoices sent on the 1st, Invoicing shows 3 still unpaid, and their reminders go out on their own.
• Thursday: you share the post-peel aftercare PDF with this week's clients and see that two haven't opened it yet.
• Friday: you log the distributor order and the suite rent in Expenses.

All 13 tools, one by one

How an esthetician uses each tool. Scheduling, Proposals and E-Signatures do the heavy lifting for treatment series.

• Link in Bio: your bio link with the consultation, your treatment menu as a PDF, and a signup for last-minute openings and seasonal offers.
• Short Links: a QR code on the aftercare card that leads back to booking, with a click count so you know whether the cards get used.
• Forms: a pre-consultation form for skin goals and current routine. Medical history and medications stay on your paper intake.
• Scheduling: a paid consultation, single facials with a turnover buffer, and a hidden series meeting type booked only through one-time links.
• Proposals: a treatment series with each session and the home-care kit as line items plus a deposit; the client accepts with her name.
• E-Signatures: a treatment consent written for each service (peels, dermaplaning, waxing) and your cancellation policy, signed before the first session.
• Document Tracking: aftercare instructions as a tracked PDF, so you can see the client opened them before her next peel.
• Screen Recording: limited for hands-on work, since it records a screen. It helps for a short video, up to 5 minutes, that shows a client how to reorder her home-care products online.
• Notes & Boards: a board card per treatment series with the next session date and what's left to pay. No photos or skin notes.
• Time Tracking: barely relevant when you price per service. It's useful if you also teach at a school or work events by the hour.
• Invoicing: the series deposit and balance from the proposal, membership invoices that repeat, and product lines with a sales tax rate if your state charges one.
• Expenses: suite rent, backbar products, disposables, license renewal and CE classes, each with its receipt.
• Automations: three weeks after a brow appointment is booked, an email with your booking link invites the client to schedule the next one.

Licensing, scope and consent

• California: the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology licenses estheticians, whose services include facials, hair removal by tweezing or waxing, makeup and false eyelashes. The Board says estheticians can't provide medical or laser services. Services are performed in a licensed establishment, and a Personal Service Permit allows certain services outside one.
• Texas: TDLR licenses estheticians after a 750-hour esthetician course and written and practical exams, and has separate rules for medical spas. Check them before you offer anything beyond what your license covers.
• Other states: check your board for your scope of practice and whether you can work from a suite, a client's home or an event.
• Write a consent for each treatment with your lawyer or from your liability insurer's template, and send it through E-Signatures so you keep the signed PDF and its audit trail.
• Skin photos and health details tied to a treatment are sensitive. Keep before-and-after photos and medical history in the system you use for client records, not in SoloWOS.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules vary by state; check yours with a lawyer or your licensing board.

SoloWOS or Acuity: which fits

Choose Acuity if:

• You want series sold as packages that count down inside the scheduler, and text reminders.
• You also sell retail and want a point of sale. Then look at salon software such as Vagaro, GlossGenius or Square Appointments, and check each one's site for POS and inventory features.

Choose SoloWOS if:

• Your treatment series start with a consultation, a proposal with a deposit and a signed consent, and you want those in one account.
• You'd rather send the balance invoice from the accepted proposal than build it again.

Prices and features checked on October 17, 2026 on each company's site.

Start with these three

Scheduling for the paid consultation, Proposals for treatment series with a deposit, and E-Signatures for your consent forms. Invoicing follows on its own, since the deposit and balance come from the proposal.

Free tools that help

• Profit margin calculator for a peel series after product costs.
• Freelance rate calculator for what a facial needs to cost after suite rent.
• Payment fee calculator for card fees on a series.
• Customer lifetime value calculator for a monthly facial member.
• QR code generator for aftercare cards.

What SoloWOS won't do for an esthetician

• No before-and-after photo storage, skin analysis or treatment records.
• No retail checkout, point of sale or backbar inventory.
• Forms can't receive photo uploads, so clients can't send a picture of a breakout through a form.
• No automatic membership charges: members pay each invoice from its link.
• Reminders by email only, not SMS.
• SoloWOS doesn't file taxes, issue 1099s or collect sales tax for you. Invoicing sends the invoice with a pay link (card through your Stripe account) and your other payment details; your accountant or tax software handles the rest.