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The leader of this worldwide trend are young people who are
quick to react to changes in fashion. But now this trend has gone
beyond the generation barrier and reached middle-aged men. For
instance, the world market for men's cosmetics has grown nearly
40% in the past five years. Convenience stores are stocking more
and more facial masks and pore cleansing products for men.
Under this kind of trend, men's aesthetic salon's are coming
out of the "closet." TBC, Tokyo Beauty Clinique, the leading aesthetic
salon chain in Japan, opened its first men's aesthetic salon in
January, and expects to open twenty more within two years.
People's opinion about cosmetic surgery is changing as well.
One out of three clients are male (up from one out of twenty,
five years ago) at the Harley Medical Group, a clinique for cosmetic
surgery in London. DARRICK E. ANTELL, M.D., A TOP COSMETIC
SURGEON IN NEW YORK CITY, U.S.A. said "Several years ago,
people considered men's cosmetic surgery feminine, but I think
the situation has totally changed." In America people's consciousness
of looks is quite high because importance is attached to appearance
in a business situation.
It's not out of the ordinary for middle-aged business men to
go to an aesthetic salon and have their teeth whitened. According
to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the number of men
undergoing "facelifts" has increased more than three fold between
1992 and 1997.
Can't stand getting old
Allen Lovnick, a consultant in New Jersey, goes to an aesthetic
salon every other week. His massage and haircut takes 3 hours.
He also receives facial treatments with aromatherapy after those
treatments. Lovnick says, "I'm totally addicted to these treatments."
Aesthetic salons that accept men like Lovnick are increasing
as well. A New York aesthetic salon, "Bliss Spa", started promoting
"Macho Mondays" (only for men) as a trial. They serve clients
beer instead of orange juice after treatment and also supply Sports
magazines in the lounge on Mondays. The promotion was greatly
successful. As a result, they doubled their space to accommodate
male clients anytime during their business hours.
English and Japanese people are less appearance conscious than
the Americans. Masaharu Miyagawa of the cosmetic department of
SHISEIDO, says "Middle-aged men are 10 years behind young people.
Unless it becomes a society standard, they are not eager to respond."
However, Japanese middle-aged men today are changing. According
to research by SHISEIDO, the Japanese cosmetic market for men
over 50, was approximately 50 billion-yen in 1991, and 70 billion
yen in 1997.
Plantan Ginza department store opened a men's eyebrow trimming
salon in September last year in Tokyo. Now 40% of their customers
are middle-aged men. Tomoko Mitsui said, "We are really surprised
because we never expected customers of this age."
What drives middle-aged men to pursue beauty? First of all, it
meets business needs. According to Mitsui, many middle-aged men
who visit the eyebrow trimming salon work in sales. Mitsui says,
"Many of them want to appear clean and give good impressions."
They don't need to be beautiful.
However, the major reason for it is resisting getting old. Though
it is common in any generation, especially the Japanese "Dankai"
generation and American "Baby Boomers," they are unwilling to
admit that they are already in middle age. DR. ANTELL says,
"They feel they are much younger than they really are and they
don't like what they see in the mirror."
by Lee Danuff
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