The plan: primping, prepping, plucking
A summer body takes some work, and men are getting into it, too
Ready? Deep breath now.
One, two, three.
Riiipppppppppp.
YEOW!
Oh, the excruciating sounds of summer.
While some people flop down on beach towels looking like hairy, pasty-skinned winter beasts, many won’t step foot on the stand until they’ve made an appointment at a local salon to get plucked, waxed, scrubbed, soaked and sprayed.
Baring it on the beach often means stepping up the beauty routine.
When the season of skin gets underway, Devon Tucker, owner of Covet Spa in Hockessin, said she sees an uptick in grooming services, such as manicures, pedicures, spray tanning, body exfoliation and facials.
“Every quarter there is something you must do,” said Tucker. “Getting ready for summer is not different than getting ready for any other season.”
And it’s no longer just gals doing head-to-toe primping.
“Men are getting into everything,” said Katie Soyka, a make-up artist and skin care specialist at Bad Hair Day in Rehoboth Beach and Lewes. “Not just gay men, but straight men, too. They are caring about themselves, too.”
Young men are an important and growing sector of the health and beauty care industry, representing a potential market in 2008 of $2.8 billion, according to a report by Packaged Facts at Market Research.com.
Chris DiStefano, 42, of Wilmington, started getting spa treatments after some convincing from a former girlfriend.
So far, the 42-year-old, who has a house in Dewey Beach, has had facials, pedicures and a chest wax.
“I think more men should [go to the spa],” said DiStefano, who has pedicures to soften his soccer-hardened feet and finds facials soothing. “The only problem is it gets expensive.”
Services at some salons can cost anywhere from $15 for a basic pedicure to $135 for a full facial.
But that’s only part of the daily, weekly and monthly regimen to think about before you tie on a bikini, pull up the board shorts and slide into flip-flops.
To Brazilian or to bikini?
Hamlet never had to wrestle with a question so intimate and a survey of local salons reveals an array of euphemisms and opinions when it comes to intimate hair removal.
So what is the difference between a bikini wax and a Brazilian wax?
“Ummm, it’s almost like a bikini is a double scoop ice cream cone and a Brazilian is with the jimmies and the frosting,” said a coy Soyka of Bad Hair
Day.
Monika Hibbard, esthetician at Wilmington’s Michael Christopher’s Hair Salon and Day Spa, and owner of the latter half of the title, is a little more direct.
“A Brazilian is not a hair left from stem to stern. Not one hair left on your genitalia,” she said.
That includes the back part too, by the way.
“People come in with all sorts of craziness,” Hibbard said.
But, it’s not any “craziness” Hibbard has to deal with. The day spa does not do Brazilians because “we don’t think it’s necessary,” she said “It’s not a good thing to do because, for one thing, it’s mucus membrane down there and could give you folliculitis.” (That just means a sprouting of those nasty red and white-
headed pimples. Yuck.)
Soyka and Tucker said Brazilian waxes are still popular at their salons, but, because so many people have different ideas, estheticians handling the wax are always careful to talk about what a client thinks they want.
“It’s a delicate thing, but it’s handled professionally,” said Soyka.
Christine Givens, 23, of Elkton, Md., said she gets waxed, but when pressed for details, she retorts, “I can’t tell you all that!” The mother of two does admit she doesn’t always get the opportunity to do the regular maintenance she requires.
Men who opt for the service — a recent US Weekly article included this too-much-information-tidbit from Sean “Diddy” Combs: “I wax my privates” — usually request a bikini, rather than the Brazilian. A basic bikini wax is often enough to cover any embarrassing pop-outs.
Fashion magazines have said that the Brazilian is going out of style. Having a simple but groomed “down there” hair is good enough, said Hibbard.
Bikini waxes start at $25 at Michael Christopher’s and run to $35 at Covet Spa for a basic bikini and cost $45 for a partial brazilian. At Bad Hair Day, a bikini wax is $30 and $65 for a Brazilian.
Hair removal isn’t limited
“We also have a few male clients who do their backs,” said Hibbard of Michael Christopher’s.
So how to do they deal with the pain that sometimes feels like hundreds of Band-Aids are being removed from your body at one time?
“We have a bar next door, and [some men] have a drink before their appointment so they’re feeling good and happy as clams,” Hibbard said. “Men can’t handle pain.”
Shane Plumley, 35, a bartender at Baxter’s Restaurant and Lounge next to Michael Christopher’s, said he doesn’t always know if guys are finding courage in a glass pre-appointment but he adds “I’d definitely have to have lots of vodka before I get waxed.”
For those unable or unwilling to imbibe before the Big Rip, taking ibuprofen half an hour before the appointment helps reduce pain and inflammation.
DiStefano said he wished he knew about downing a shot of liquor or popping ibuprofen before he had his one and only chest wax.
“I went in hardcore,” said the teacher, who vows never to have the service again. “It looked great but I felt numb.”
Leave the roasting for the grill
Slathering up with sunscreen is a no-brainer. Healthy skin is always in style.
“If you’re properly protected, you can gradually build your tan,” said Hibbard, of Michael Christopher. “I believe in sun, it promotes Vitamin D. I think people are lacking in that ’cause they are so crazy about diets.”
But Tucker said spray tanning is a popular option at Covet, which starts with a 30-minute exfoliation to prepare the skin for the airbrush. An organic spray tan system with a number of specific shades is used and it lasts seven to 10 days. It costs $48 per 30-minute session, with packages available.
Self-tanners and bronzers are also a good idea, but not all bottles are created alike.
Meredith Coons, 23, of Hockessin, said she prefers the Estee Lauder Sunless SuperTan ($22.50 for a 1.7 ounce bottle) or, for a cheaper brand, any of the
Jergens Natural Glow products (from $5.59 to $7.99).
“I used to tan, but my mom screamed at me for doing that. It’s so bad for you,” said Coons. Finding a good self-tanner is about trial and error, she said, something a family member discovered when trying an over-the-counter self-tanner.
“I made my sister do it, and she turned orange. It was right before prom,” said Coons. “Luckily it was on her back, and I was able to wipe off most of it.”
Soyka, of Bad Hair Day, said she doesn’t recommend tanning salons.
“What’s going on in tanning salons is also skin cancer,” said Soyka, a big believer in gorgeous, floppy sun hats.
She scoffs at the notion that pre-tanning helps prepare skin for constant exposure to the sun. “What are you preparing, to burn more? Tanning is just burning your skin brown instead of red.”
New birthday suit
Like salt left crusted on the side of the road, the skin also has a lot of winter residue left, namely a crust of dead skin.
Tucker, of Covet Spa, said the build-up is why many people break out during the change of seasons, and it’s also why the skin feels drier. For the summer, she recommends switching to a cleanser that has more astringent to cut through sweat and perspiration and using a lighter moisturizer with sunscreen.
Hibbard recommends a good facial for men to help prevent ingrown hairs along the beardline.
And a good sloughing never hurts.
“Do a body scrub,” said Tucker. Basic body scrubs at Covet run from $50 for a 30-minute treatment to $135 for a 90-minute treatment and include an application of after-bath cream. Some include a hydrating mask and coconut milk spray and after-bath that, she said, “mimics the lining on the inside of your mouth and encourages skin regeneration.”
Hibbard said keeping a sugar or salt scrub or loofah or exfoliating glove in the shower and gently using it two to three times a week can slough off dead skin and keep skin glowing. Exfoliating can also prevent ingrown hairs, especially in that sensitive bikini area where the elastic band of underwear can put pressure on the skin.
Foot fetish
Walking in the sand does not equal a pedicure. Soaking and sloughing off dead skin will reveal a bright new nail bed.
Indeed, pedicures “bring your feet back to life,” said Soyka, especially for removing that nasty white stuff from your heels.
Katie Davis, 27, of Wilmington, said she prefers bright colors when getting her pre-shore pedicure, while her friend Tasana Pattaratara, 31, of Wilmington, prefers natural color on her toes. Tucker said bright, primary colors such as reds, blues and green are in style this summer.
Sokya also sees more men than ever getting their toenails trimmed. They’ll usually forgo the color though “some like a clear gloss or something without the sheen,” she said.
Plumley, the Baxter’s bartender, said he always gets a manicure and pedicure before going on vacation to Provincetown, Mass. He likes to have his nails done, especially when he is wearing sandals.
Polish is always part of the service. “I think this year I’m going to get a midnight blue,” Plumley said.
But some men will only go so far when it comes to primping and preening.
Andrew Austria, 30, of Wilmington, said he would consider getting a manicure or pedicure, but he hasn’t yet made the jump.
“Apparently a lot of guys want to do it, and I’ve had friends who’ve done it and liked it,” he said . “But it’s not a top priority [for me].”
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