Grooming: Ahead of the pack

By Janetta Mackay

My guinea pig enjoyed his first taste of a mini-facial and said his skin felt more toned and looked clearer afterward.

For men who are already familiar with skin treatments, a spa is an enticing rather than a scary place, offering rare "me" time. Frequent long-haul fliers are apt to check-in to their hotel spas for a post-flight massage and facial to help relax and rehydrate. Couple treatments, where you and a partner are both massaged in the same room are a nice experience.

Check out the new Chuan Spa at the Langham Hotel for Auckland's newest luxury experience.
DIY grooming

A good basic at-home skincare regime of cleansing, shave care and moisturising with use of sunblock should be a given, and you can add on extra products such as an eye cream or refining masks.

Man makeup: This is not much in evidence in marketing, but it's not uncommon for cosmetic consultants to help men find a subtle face base within women's ranges to even out their complexions for a healthy natural glow. A few men's ranges include tinted moisturisers or self-tanning products. (If applying self-tan exfoliate and moisturise first to guard against a blotchy application).

Brush-on mineral makeup, used in broadcasting for its barely there, natural looking coverage, is easily obtainable via female supermarket ranges such as Maybelline and L'Oreal. Concealer is another trick of the trade, with Yves St Laurent one of the few to have a men's version with its under-eye brightening Magic Touch pen.

Brow and lash tints in salon are a way of defining these areas, without the daily drag of applying makeup. But that's not just for K Rd queens as All Black Ma'a Nonu and Top Model's Colin Mathura-Jeffree show. If you want to experiment with makeup, ask your BFF or try fashion forward ranges like M.A.C where you're most likely to feel welcome.

Extra help

Spas and salons such as the Forme and About Face groups welcome male clients, stock specialist skincare ranges and say men are adding advanced skin rejuvenation and laser treatments to their waxing, facial and manicure appointments. Leanne Dore, owner of The Beauty Connection on Broadway, Newmarket, is also finding men moving on from regular maintenance to anti-ageing treatments. "Men are really embracing the science of having treatments." This includes light therapy and lasers, used to treat scarring and veins and
remove hair.

Big appearance medicine clinics, the Skin Institute and Caci, report a similar upsurge.The Skin Institute's Sally Ellison, says: "We find IPL (Intense Pulse light) for skin rejuvenation and hair reduction are very popular." Laser hair removal works best on dark hair and pale skin and can permanently nix 80 per cent or more of hair after around six treatments. Popular areas include chest, back, neck, face, nose and ears with costs depending on area.

"IPL is fantastic for reducing brown pigmentation, rosacea, flushing, visible red vessels, birthmarks, while also boosting collagen within the skin." To achieve good colour correction you will need 2-3 treatments, one month apart. Costs vary from $300 plus a treatment.

Botox is used by men to rejuvenate their look, with popular areas being the frown, forehead and crows feet. Cost vary, but range from $180 to $360 per area.
Caci is doing more work with botox and fillers on men from all walks of life. Salesmen are signing up to maintain a youthful edge in a competitive market.


Source

Skin treatment are commonly use for reconstructing to be smoother and look great. Some men are using it already.