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Man and his mane
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Though highly conscious about personal beauty, the men in the city are yet not confident to carry funky styles in haircuts and beard trims. SUNANDA KHANNA, on the men's beauty saloons, doing brisk but customary business.
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TIME WAS when you strayed into a man's bathroom all that you encountered were a frayed toothbrush, a half-finished tube of paste, a cake of some mundane soap that doubled up as a shampoo, a razor, and a worn-out bar of foaming lather. And if you peered deeper, chances were you still wouldn't find anything else. But times are a changing; so are the men and their acquisitions. Without a sense of remorse, the graceless bar of foaming lather has been hurriedly dumped. You don't want to be seen dead with that one! Instead the elegant male boudoir is replenished and how. Chock-a-block with Super Max and Gillette foaming gels; Mach III and Remington electric shavers, Cool Water, Eternity and Kouros after shave lotions, and the list doesn't end there.
In the number of beauty items in their possession today, men are giving women a run for their money. Time was when you associated beauty with women. Men couldn't be bothered with such things. All that they did was to appreciate it. It was fair enough to be seen with a well-kept woman. And then television came along and put paid to all that. In one stroke it bombarded the couch potato with images that came to worry him. Those great bodies didn't only belong to women! Further it was torturous if you didn't have one. In cohorts was the friendly beautician persuading men that the perfect spot to be pampered was the beauty salon. It's the place, he informed you to escape from the daily grind. Besides it offered you a full array of services from manicures, pedicures, facials, massages and customised body treatments.
Sixteen years ago Putheran Paul became a trendsetter of sorts when he introduced the word beauty in the context of male grooming; he named his parlour Gents Beauty Clinic. Initially his initiative met with only a smattering of clients but with a little cajoling and some coaxing, the man sitting on the fence jumped into the bandwagon. And then there was no looking back. Twenty-one year old Boney has been popping in and out of `Uncle' Paul's parlour since he was in the 8th standard. It started with haircuts but now the monthly calendar calls for facials and oil massages too. "Besides uncle is not at all like a businessman; he is more of a guide giving us tips on skin and hair care; encouraging us to look good and improve ourselves urging us not to rub our skin too hard, only pat it dry; and even dissuading some enthusiasts from getting a facial done more than once a month." Paul is straightforward when it comes to the serious business of beauty. Sometimes men don't match up to their made-up wives; he feels there is no harm if they apply some pancake that compliments their skin type and chest colour. For smokers, he recommends lip colour/guard to conceal the dark pigmented lips. Even as there are almost six different types of facials to choose from, most men opt for the cheapest. Paul starts with bleach for a client who comes in with stubble; completing it with an herbal after a shave.
Ashish Verma, manager at Taj Malabar's The Salon rues the fact that his clients in Kochi will just not try anything new with their hair. It's always the same, a short haircut. No streaks, no gels, no highlights But with their genetic tendency towards dry and curly hair, anything trendy would require too much maintenance and men just don't have time for that. Verma has another explanation. A city like Mumbai is full of stars and glitterati and the man on the street wants to be in with it. He is not afraid to even try out body waxing. Kochi on the other hand, has no role models for youngsters to emulate. So he is content to lead a safe, low-risk life.
The ingredients for the facials offered at the Taj come all the way from Tibet, are packaged in Gujarat and then distributed to the hotel's outlets. While most clients are pusillanimous when it comes to trying a new face cream fearing that it would mean a commitment for a lifetime, some will go to any lengths to get a fairer complexion. For a few to look fair becomes a thriving passion when even money doesn't matter so much. While most clients are particular about getting a facial done every month, if the skin problem demands they will come more often, says Verma. He likens the concept of a good facial to buying a new car. If you don't maintain it well it won't last for long, he warns. A client at the salon who is into investments and finance insisted he wasn't here for vanity's sake. "I just want a regular haircut, with a neat look. In my kind of work, it is extremely important to portray and project a clean image. Moreover at 35, I may be quite out of sync with the latest in skin and hair care and when I come here, I know I am getting the best. So it could be a subconscious thing!" His brother and he find the experience at the Salon truly rewarding. "We've been to salons abroad but what is lacking there is the human touch."
The changing social attitude to looking good comes at a price. Sophie and Rohit at The Trident's salon speak about their gold facial, which comes at a whopping Rs 1,200 for a session. "We use special crèmes that have fine gold properties", explains Sophie. Combined with special face wash, gels and mask, and high frequency treatment complete with rollers on the face, it improves the blood circulation and succeeds in lending a glow to the skin. And then there's the galvanic facial to tackle skin pigmentation. They begin with a full skin analysis and customize the treatment with appropriate cleansing, black/white head extraction, hydrating masks and round it of with a face and neck massage.
Rohit says men should be convinced that highlighting their hair would make their facial features look sharper and even fairer. There is hype about ayurvedic spas as a new concept of health and beauty care. Explaining the different oils and their properties that are used while massaging, Dr Hemlata of the Taj says, Dhanavantara is a muscular toner; Pindatellum imparts lustre to the skin; and Narayantellum acts as a pain reliever. She adds that the term rejuvenation, which has been terribly commercialised, misleads most men. And they actually come looking for sensual pleasures. But the physiology of a massage is more therapeutic than anything else. When done correctly, it is meant to speed up the blood flow and increase the oxygen supply to the body. Rajan at Grand Hotel's Ole insists that business is brisk. There are anywhere between 50 to 60 patrons a day at his parlour. It's the hair, which is the crowning glory. They come either to get it trimmed or dyed or massaged.
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