Young Crowd Gives Skin, Nails Attention
Peeked into a man’s medicine chest lately? Chances are good that there’s more than Vitalis and Old Spice sitting there.
I’ve seen eye cream, soothing lotion, advanced formula for combination skin, skin smoothing lotion, skin perfecting lotion and peach toner on the most masculine of vanities.
“Men are realizing that there is more to improving their looks than just a haircut,” says Leeza Fisherkeller, owner of Leeza DFK Salon in Walnut Creek, Calif.
Men are becoming big business for salons and day spas, says Fisherkeller. “We’ve had men come in here for every service,” she says. “They come in, discover how good it feels and they want to come back.”
But it isn’t just men who are enjoying primping. Younger guys are enjoying the magic of the salon as well.
You can tell when it’s prom season, says Fisherkeller. “Guys will come in for a haircut and manicure, and sometimes a facial. They are in here more than the girls before some proms.”
She’s also seen grooms come in for makeup so that they’ll look just so in the wedding photos.
Michael Montano of Walnut Creek has already found that maintaining his skin helps keep it healthy and clean. Always meticulous about his appearance, Montano, 13, started getting facials last year, when mom, Edie, suggested he seek advice from a professional when the normal signs of adolescent acne started to appear.
Some of the crossover trends are so mainstream that no one notices anymore. Lots of guys already bleach, highlight and/or dye their hair. They pierce their ears, among other body parts. They get facials and face lifts. They wax their backs, pluck their brows. They get pectoral implants and fat injections to make their lips more kissable.
But the latest guys painting their fingernails - is, thankfully, still rather isolated.
We’re not talking that clear coat you sometimes get at the end of a manicure, but serious nail polish with dark, metallic colors that you notice, and names like Dog for purple, Oedipus for forest green, Testosterone for a shade described as “steel gun,” and Libido, a teal coloration made just for San Jose Sharks fans.
Candy Man is the name of this first line of nail polish aimed specifically at men. Priced at $12 a bottle for 0.45 ounces, it hit cosmetics counters in February.
Jim Evans of Berkeley, Calif., is one taker. The 23-year-old self-described hard-core raver started wearing nail polish for rave parties, because he liked the look.
“Everyone else was doing it, so I thought I would try it,” says Evans.
Eventually, he started leaving it on and now he wears it on a regular basis. It does seem to go with the rest of his look: various piercings, a stud collar, and dark, shaven hair.
As for Paul Klumpey, 20, of Berkeley, he had three words to describe why he brandishes his nails with color:
“Girls dig it.”
A former girlfriend turned him on to nail lacquer. He got so much attention, he figured he was on to something and started playing the field again.
But one habitual polish-wearer says: “I try to keep fingernail polish remover at the office because you’ll get people who’ll go, ‘Oh my God, why are you doing that?’ I go, ‘It’s just for fun. That’s all, for fun.”’
Fellas, you could groom your little selves into a frenzy. You can seaweed wrap, exfoliate and herbal rinse. But don’t show up at my door wearing green nail polish.