---
title: "Will AI Replace Hairstylists? (2026)"
description: "BLS rates hairstylists' exposure to AI as moderate. What that means, which parts of the work AI touches, and the 2025–2035 outlook (+7.7% projected)."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/will-ai-replace-hairstylists"
last-updated: "2026-10-15T08:19:32.066Z"
---

# Will AI Replace Hairstylists? (2026)

**Short answer:** Unlikely. BLS rates the work's exposure to AI as moderate, below the middle of the pack, and still projects employment to grow faster than average.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics places hairstylists in its moderate AI exposure category, below the middle of the pack: some of the work overlaps with what AI can do, much of it does not. BLS projects employment to change by +7.7% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 73,400 openings a year.

| Measure | Value | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| BLS relative AI exposure | Moderate | BLS Employment Projections, AI exposure categories |
| NueCareer AI-resilience score | 64/100 | NueCareer analysis of O\*NET 31.0 Database |
| Projected employment change | +7.7% | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Openings a year | 73,400 | BLS EP 2025–2035 |
| Median annual wage | $35,790 | BLS OEWS May 2025 |

## Exposure categories

| BLS category | Occupations |
| --- | --- |
| Low | 203 |
| Moderate (this job) | 194 |
| High | 190 |
| Very high | 199 |

Exposure means AI could be or has been used to assist with or complete some of the work. BLS says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains, automation probability or wage effects. Method: https://www.bls.gov/emp/publications/ai-exposure-categories.htm

## What holds up

- Face-to-face discussions: 4.9/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Performing for or working directly with the public: 4.3/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Assisting and caring for others: 3.9/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Dealing with the public: 4.9/5 (O\*NET work context)

## What AI reaches first

- Repetitive motions: 4.5/5 (O\*NET work context)
- Getting information: 3.6/5 (O\*NET work activity importance)
- Being exact or highly accurate: 4.1/5 (O\*NET work context)

## O\*NET tasks

- 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.
- Apply water or setting, straightening or waving solutions to hair, and use curlers, rollers, hot combs and curling irons to press and curl hair.
- Update and maintain customer information records, such as beauty services provided.
- Shampoo, rinse, condition, and dry hair and scalp or hairpieces with water, liquid soap, or other solutions.
- Schedule client appointments.

## FAQ

**Will AI replace hairstylists?**

Unlikely. BLS rates the work's exposure to AI as moderate, below the middle of the pack, and still projects employment to grow faster than average. BLS defines exposure as AI being able to assist with or complete some of the work, and says it does not imply job loss, productivity gains or wage effects. BLS projects employment to change by +7.7% over 2025–2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 73,400 openings a year.

**How exposed are hairstylists to AI?**

BLS sorts 786 occupations into four relative categories: low, moderate, high and very high. Hairstylists are in the moderate category, alongside 193 other occupations. The categories combine five public measures of where AI could be or already is used, and they compare occupations with each other rather than giving an absolute risk.

**What parts of a hairstylist's job can AI do?**

In O\*NET's description of the work, the parts that overlap most with what AI handles well are repetitive motions, getting information and being exact or highly accurate. The parts that hold up best are face-to-face discussions, performing for or working directly with the public and assisting and caring for others. These come from O\*NET ratings of how important each activity is to the job, read through NueCareer's AI-resilience method.

**Is being a hairstylist a safe career from AI?**

On NueCareer's AI-resilience score, built from O\*NET work activities, hairstylists score 64 out of 100, higher than 92% of the occupations we score. The job pays a median of $35,790 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025). No job is fully safe from technological change, but the federal exposure category and the projected openings are the two numbers worth weighing.

Full profile: https://nuecareer.com/careers/hairstylist.

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology