If you are among those men who loll around the couch defenselessly awaiting the onslaught of time and gravity on your pate, face and physique, please do not read on because this is not for submissive couch potatoes who are quite content to pile on the weight, counting their layers of jowls and tracing their web-work of wrinkles while wrestling with the TV remote control, watching CNN, BBC and Deal or No Deal.
This is for those who have taken up arms against time and fate and are devoted to taking care of themselves, staying healthy and looking good but are uncomfortable about the radical idea of going under the knife. The anti-aging measures discussed here are war plans; they are the last line of defense on the battlefront against aging – the final option before the surgeon’s scalpel.
I know what we women go through in our fight against the ravages of time. In the interest of brevity, let’s just say that it puts the battle plans in the movies The Last Samurai, The Lord of the Rings and Troy to utter shame!
I was curious about what men do in this race against time. So, like a nosy neighbor, I trooped to the Makati branch of Svenson, Facial Care Centre and Marie France, a triad of international wellness companies devoted to health, fitness and beauty. It was a go-see mission. I wanted to check if this man-beauty business is as serious as what we women have for ourselves.
The three treatment facilities were all conveniently located on the 15th floor of the GT Tower Building on Ayala corner H.V. de la Costa St. I entered Facial Care Centre first and was immediately impressed with the tasteful interiors, peaceful ambience and courteous staff. I harassed the staff with rapid-fire queries on what they could possibly do for the average Joe to turn him into Brad Pitt. They took the barrage with lots of good humor and declared that they might not turn regular men into Brad Pitt, but they do make them better versions of themselves. "Good enough," I said, and we proceeded to talk about the juicy stuff. They were generous enough to hand over insider information – the industry’s well-kept male-grooming secrets. They even whipped out before-and-after photos of bald heads-turned-hairy and rough skin-turned-smooth, but I drew the line and said, "Too much information for my unsettled stomach, too early in the morning."
Facial Care Centre manager Rosie Maceda proudly says that Svenson is an international enterprise with 40 years of expertise and 90 branches worldwide tucked under its belt. It offers the most advanced hair-replacement technology and hair-loss treatments. An initial consultation is required for a thorough assessment of the clients’ needs. Svenson clients fall under two categories: those with thinning hair and those who have already lost a lot of hair – in other words, bald or balding!
An important thing to keep in mind is to come for treatment immediately once hair thinning becomes apparent. Dilly-dallying causes loss of precious time. Svenson offers topical application treatments to stimulate follicle growth, corrective treatments for scalp problems and stimulant treatments to strengthen hair strands. But if the problem is the B-word (baldness), Maceda recommend hair weaving. This is a process where strands of human hair that match the client’s hair exactly, making it a perfect blend, are attached and anchored to the remaining hair in order to cover bald spots. After attachment, the client comes for monthly maintenance such as haircuts, color and reattachments. The hair weave is treated like natural hair and can be shampooed and blow-dried every day. The advantages of having the process done are its reversibility and its resistant and enduring quality.
Maceda tells of a client who wore a toupee for years before coming to them for treatment. He was initially quite happy with his toupee until he was once in windy Alabang and it literally blew away. He has since been "accident-free" with his hair weave. Many of their clients are avid sportsmen and that vigorous activity has no adverse effects on hair weaves. They proudly claimed that one of their clients is an avid hang-glider – imagine that! I was getting the hang of this information-disclosure bit and promptly bribed them with an offer they couldn’t possibly refuse – pizza with everything on it and extra cheese – in exchange for the names of famous men who’ve had hair weaves. They agreed but quickly added that if they told me, they would have to kill me right after. I looked toward the only visible exit and saw the guard, who was within earshot of this entire conversation, tighten his grip on the door, so I quickly rescinded my offer and dashed out of there.
I slinked into Facial Care Centre, which was right next door. The Centre offices offer facial treatments tailor-made for men to free them of their naturally occurring rough skin, scars, age spots and wrinkles. Men’s most common skin problem is roughness and this is rectified by their famous four-layer Repechage Facial. They have laser treatments for scars and for what we know as "crater-face." They have diamond resurfacing peels and Fraxel for skin imperfections and pigmentation.
"After just one or two treatments, men see more dramatic results compared to women because they take less care of their skin so that the difference is more pronounced," says Maceda. If you are cursed with a monkey’s chest or back, the Centre will transform it into a smooth and hairless torso with their permanent hair-removal package.
Some of these options are also offered by other establishments, but the setup of Facial Care Centre is such that they closely guard your privacy. They have individual treatment rooms and are able to whisk you in and out quickly. Out of their total clientele, 30 to 40 percent are male. This makes the atmosphere male-friendly and reassuring to those who don’t want to be in woman-dominated environments.
If your problem area is your physique, or more specifically, your mid-section, hop on over next door to Marie France for Men. I did just that and saw why they pride themselves on their beer-belly buster program. They use what is called FMS, or fat mobilization system. It is a cold wrap with menthol liniment that is applied for 30 to 40 minutes. It mobilizes the fat cells to expend energy to regulate body temperature, so the body stays heated up. This is a no-exercise, no-pills, no-diet and definitely no-surgery method. It is ideal for middle-aged men who are not inclined to sweat it out in the gym. But for exercise buffs, it turbo-charges the speed with which they lose unwanted weight.
"It is surprising how men who enter the treatment programs stick to them more diligently than women do. Once men make the commitment, they tend to get less distracted and therefore stay strictly on course. The problem men face initially is their reluctance to seek help and submit themselves to the programs for fear of the perceived stigma attached to male vanity," says Maceda. But the staff in the treatment centers say they’ve seen revolutionary increases in the number of male clients in recent years because society has become more open to public patronage of the health, wellness and beauty industry, regardless of whether one is male or female.
Men are quite clueless about anti-aging regimens. Maceda explains that their male clientele are mostly referred by their female regulars, who encourage their spouses and boyfriends to go for treatment. Men apparently need more convincing and reassurance about the programs and they need the consultants to hold their hands and guide them through the processes.
Svenson, Facial Care Centre and Marie France have made client confidentiality and privacy a strict policy to make men feel at home in their centers. In fact, I didn’t bump into any men at all in the several hours I was there. I asked them why that was. They smiled and said, "That’s precisely the point. We guard their privacy fiercely. Besides, men, unlike women, don’t care to hang out and chat and spill their life stories to members of the staff before or after their treatments. Men come in, they do their business, and leave promptly."
Amen to that!