Will AI replace Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists?
AI reaches little of this job’s work.
6/100
Low exposure
More exposed to AI than 12% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 7% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 13% of the work
What the job involves
Provide beauty services, such as cutting, coloring, and styling hair, and massaging and treating scalp. May shampoo hair, apply makeup, dress wigs, remove hair, and provide nail and skincare services.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(1)
- Schedule client appointments.
Within reach(1)
- Update and maintain customer information records, such as beauty services provided.
Out of reach(18)
- Keep work stations clean and sanitize tools, such as scissors and combs.
- Analyze patrons' hair and other physical features to determine and recommend beauty treatment or suggest hair styles.
- Bleach, dye, or tint hair, using applicator or brush.
- Shampoo, rinse, condition, and dry hair and scalp or hairpieces with water, liquid soap, or other solutions.
- Apply water or setting, straightening or waving solutions to hair, and use curlers, rollers, hot combs and curling irons to press and curl hair.
and 13 more
Also called
Cosmetologist · Hair Stylist · Stylist · Beautician · Mortuary Beautician · Wig Dresser · Beauty Specialist · Hair Dresser
Related jobs
- Skincare Specialists8/100
- Shampooers10/100
- Barbers8/100
- Makeup Artists, Theatrical and Performance22/100
- Manicurists and Pedicurists6/100
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics