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Published on 09/02/1996 All articles from this issue

Men beginning to get equal time at beauty salons

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By Clyde Noel / Town Crier Staff Writer

The Sept. 9 issue of "Fortune" magazine reports that American men spend $9.5 billion annually on cosmetics.

No man need suffer any longer the indignities inflicted on him by a whimsical creator: furry back, nose hair, ear hair, gray hair, thinning hair, no hair, big gut and on and on about how science has joined hands with cosmetology to give men new and potent weapons against ugliness.

Why do men do it? They are blasting every wad of gum and speck of lint off the alabaster loveliness of Self - to hang on to marriages and their jobs.

Gerry, a local Realtor who asked that his name be changed, drops in at a beauty parlor to get himself a facial. Why does he do it?

"They clean your face really well with exfoliates. Then they massage it, then put on different creams," he said. He does it for himself and he feels good about it.

The American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery and Fortune magazine figure $1.36 billion is spent on hair alone. Wigs and toupees account for $400 million, hair transplants, $789 million, and Ragaine, $67 million. Sales of men's hair dye have tripled in the past 10 years, according to Jim Kelly, director of marketing for Combe Inc. makers of Grecian Formula and Just for Men.

And then there are girdles and body foundations. According to Fortune, marketers are drooling among themselves wondering what men want to buy to retain their vanity.

Fortune magazine says that a man's cosmetic shortcomings are apt to be a career liability. The business world is prejudiced against the ugly person. A businesswoman who preferred to remain nameless said, "Any guy who goes into consulting has to be attractive. Every time I meet a good-looking guy and ask what do you do, he is a consultant. The ugly ones are all accountants."

Fortune says that women have suffered the torments of vanity for centuries and are delighted to see men coloring their hair, struggling into girdles, and getting fur waxed painfully off their backs. It's nice to see men suffer. It strikes women as the height of fair play.

Grooming, according to Packaging Facts and Fortune Magazine, total $3.33 billion. Of that amount, shaving totals $632 million, deodorants $537, and fragrances $1.6 billion to maintain a male's vanity.

When it gets to the body and keeping it in shape, $4.27 million is spent on the body to keep it slim. In a few short years, muscles have become a kind of public "holy grail."

From totally geek to totally chic - in one decade. International Health Racquet and Sports Club Association estimates that exercise equipment totals $1,306 billion, with ab machines and others totaling $145 million.

Maybe it's not a bad thing for men to remake themselves. But as Fortune Magazine cites, when they find they can do that, how will they know where to stop?

Right now, the surgeons, exercise machine manufacturers, perfumeries, salons and wig makers are doing great. The market for products and procedures catering to male vanity is huge.

With the oldest baby-boomers reaching the half-century mark, can there be any doubt that it's destined to get bigger?