Qualifications
If you're looking to become an esthetician, you'll need skin a whole lot thicker than your eyelid—the thinnest part of your skin (source). You'll need skin as thick as the palms of a Depression-era, hay bale-making farm boy from the Ozarks.
The basic path to becoming an esthetician shares a lot of similarities with many other careers: GED or high school diploma (those things are important), a training program of some sort, and some sort of state-administered exam to prove that you learned the things you needed to learn from your training.
Sound vague? Looking to know a little more? Let's slow down a bit. In high school, worry less about your books and more about your looks—and everyone's looks. No one ever became a successful esthetician because he or she knew the circumference of the earth; instead, research your skin products seriously.
The amount of training you'll need will depend on the state you're in. In the hippie, loose-flowing state of Oregon, you only need 250 hours to qualify for state board exams. In Alabama—the heart of the esthetician world—you need 1500 hours (source). One thing is sure, though: the exam will consist of two parts: a written part and a practical exam using a live model (source). What the exam and license looks like will depend on which state you're in.
How do you get that many hours? Beauty school. (No dropouts allowed.) For $5,000, you can take classes in hair removal, aromatherapy, and skin disorders (source). If you're really loving it, you can take "Master" classes to become a "Master Esthetician."
Keep in mind, though, that there's no resting on your laurels when you're a master; you'll have to take advanced courses every couple of years to keep up with the latest developments in the esthetician world (source). Hey, you wouldn't ask a master ninja to stop training once they got to the top. You're no different.