Men Are Discovering the Salon & Spa

October 5, 2003

Moisturize all the time,” said Rob Debrauwere, 37, who was getting a manicure on a recent Saturday afternoon at the Peter Frank  Salon & Colour Group  in Rockville Centre. “I use certain facial products. I buy custom-made suits.”

Mr. Debrauwere, a media lawyer from Oceanside,   married with three children, is a part of a trend: the suburban man who uses grooming products other than deodorant, who patronizes salons and spas, and whose idea of accessories goes beyond a  baseball cap.

And he is not alone.  Even after the East End crowd has thinned out, there are still men with buffed nails to be found on Long Island.

“Thirty percent of my clients are men,” said Frank Rumore,  the owner of the Peter Frank Salon. Mr. Rumore has been in the business for 35 years and has noticed more men taking advantage of services once considered feminine, like manicures, hair coloring and waxing.

A study done earlier this year by the International Spa Association in Lexington, Ky., reflects that trend. It found that 29 percent of spa clients were men.

Lynne Walker McNees, the group’s executive director, said: “Men are frequently exposed to the benefits of spas by their wives, girlfriends or moms, and once they have that first spa experience, they are hooked.’’

That might apply to Ron Covelli, 45, of Rockville Centre, who has been getting manicures regularly for the last three years, along with an occasional facial and body massage. “Manicures are great,”  said Mr. Covelli, the owner of Capital Land Services, a title company in Valley Stream.  “I didn’t realize my hands are so nice.”

All this man-scaping isn’t new  it’s just more prevalent. Denise Dorfman, a manicurist from Island Park, recalled a different scene 20 years ago when she worked at Rene’s House of Beauty in Oceanside. “Thursday night was men’s night; women were banned,” she said, explaining that men could get manicures, hair coloring and waxing in private.

For some men, manicures and pedicures have their practical and professional aspects. “I got my first pedicure today,” said Joseph Gautieri, 50, of Huntington. “And it won’t be my last. It’s beyond pampering. It’s hygiene.”

Mr. Gautieri, a wholesale insurance broker at Stewart Smith East in Manhattan, was at the Maximus Spa in Westbury. His wife, Donna, was home with their 20-month-old son, Aidan.

John Mancuso, 52, of Oceanside, the executive chef at IO restaurant in Brooklyn, has a business reason for getting a manicure every week. “As a chef, I’m always presenting my hands to people,” he said. “It’s like putting the garnish on a plate that you’re sending out to a customer. It’s the finished look.”

For men, dyeing the gray was one of the first barriers to fall. Anthony Gullo, 64, of Malverne, an independent financial consultant who works with Montauk Financial Services, started having his hair colored 10 years ago. “It makes a big difference,” he said, referring to his appearance. His wife encouraged him. “It seemed to improve her libido,” he said and laughed.

Mr. Gullo’s 31-year old son, Christopher, gets a blond streak every once in a while “and thinks nothing of it,” Mr. Gullo said.
Henry Gavilanes, 29, of West Hempstead highlights his hair. “It started with the whole top and little by little it turned into highlights,” he said. “It’s not a big deal.”

Richard Calcasola, the owner and president of Maximus Spa Salons in Westbury, Merrick and Manhattan, said:  “At one time hair coloring for men meant covering up gray. Now it’s about fashion. Young guys are changing the color of their hair. Eleven- and 12-year-old boys are getting blond tips. That’s a whole new generation of men that are doing hair color.”

Hair coloring brings men into salons on a regular basis, and 
women have introduced and encouraged their men to take advantage of salon services. The popularity of day spas and spa vacation destinations has exposed men to the pleasures of body treatments like facials, masks and massages.

Mr. Covelli, who has visited the Canyon Ranch spa, said of his manicures, “My wife gave me the idea.”

Mr. Calcasola estimated that nearly a quarter of his clientele is male. “Young men are very comfortable with their egos,” he said, and they think nothing of sitting side-by-side with women when getting hair color, manicures and pedicures.

Ryan Ciccimarro, 25, of Island Park started highlighting his hair when he was 18, interrupted only by a stint in the Navy. “They don’t allow hair coloring,” he said. Mr. Ciccimarro, a banquet manager, gets regular manicures and has his eyebrows waxed and shaped. “I get made fun of by the older crowd,” he said. “My mom calls me Ricky Martin. They always comment on my nails and hair.”

Hair has been an issue for men for centuries (consider Samson and Delilah).     In the 70’s, sons wanted to grow it longer than their fathers’. Now they want to cut it off.

“I can’t stress how important hair removal has become for men, everything from getting rid of the unibrow to unwanted hair on their backs,” Mr. Calcasola said. “And with such a body-conscious generation, hairless seems to be the buzz of the day. Guys don’t want to be seen at the beach like they’re wearing a sweater. Girls say, ‘My boyfriend forgot to take off his vest.’”

With men’s meticulous attention to their appearance, it’s only a hop, skip and a tuck from facial to facelift. “Men are the highest growing demographic,” said Dr. Pamela Gallagher, a plastic surgeon affiliated with Long Island Plastic Surgical Group, which has its main office in Garden City.    “Men are going for plastic lite. They’re doing the bags under their eyes or the skin under their necks.”

But there may still be some stigma attached to cosmetic surgical procedures for men. “A lot of men in their 50’s come in for Botox, but they are very private about it,” said Dr. Thomas Davenport, a plastic surgeon in Garden City. “One older man comes in after hours.”