CHINA: There are at least 100,000 beauty salons in Beijing but few, aside from those doubling as brothels, are frequented by men. Today's modern Chinese man, however, has lifted the lid on moisturizing cream and decided he likes what's inside.
Businessmen, many working up to 14 hours a day in the city's finance district, think it's fine to spend several weekend hours having face mask and anti-ageing cream applied.
China's beauty salons are moving upmarket, emerging as luxury spas offering skin treatments and cosmetics advice. They offer expensive imported brands of cosmetics unavailable at popular beauty salons.
Salon owners are responding to the needs of a more sophisticated and wealthier society, says Jia Xiao Rong, manager of the Charming Beauty Spa, opened earlier this year in an upmarket Beijing apartment complex.
Most customers of luxury spas are professionals aged 30 and over. Women receive most of the facial treatments but "body-care" sessions are sought by equal numbers of men and women.
Open 12 hours a day, seven days a week, Charming Beauty Spa "tries to bring nature to customers" says Jia Xiao. Staff in smart uniforms walk amid flowers, soft lighting and classical music. "People have more stressful lives. We reduce that stress," says Jia Xiao Rong.
The 250-square metre complex offers a range of water treatments, such as flower baths. But the bulk of the Charming Beauty Spa's 200,000 yuan (€19,473) monthly turnover comes from product sales says Jia Xiao Rong. The best selling product is a 50ml bottle of Japanese-made Top Pretty skin conditioner, priced at 380 yuan (€37).
It's obvious that spas are not for everyone: a brick-layer earns 500 yuan (€48) per month on a Beijing building site, hardly enough to pay for the most basic of treatments at Charming Beauty Spa.
Meanwhile, the Golden Corolla, a 200 square metre spa near Beijing's main business district, traded as a "regular beauty parlour" for four years before converting to a spa early this year. "Our customers are very successful . . . business people mostly," says manager Jin Jiang Shan.
The Golden Corrolla offers spa and skin treatment techniques which have been imported from Korea and Thailand but depends on cosmetics treatments and sales for most of its turnover.
The staff of 20 see an average of 30 customers a day. "Nearly all of the customers are aged over 30. Most are women and all of them are familiar with European brands and will pay for the most expensive products."
A 90-minute Guinot Beauté Neuve treatment at the Golden Corrolla costs 690 yuan while a one-hour application of Matis skin-whitener costs 380 yuan.
An national market survey issued in April by the government-run China Association of Fragrance, Flavour and Cosmetics Industry (CAFFCI) showed that 68 per cent of women in China today opt for international cosmetics and hair care brands with 41 per cent already using them.
Luxurious skin care products and spa treatments are in demand among professionals in their 30s, says Jin Jiang Shan.
"The need for specific skin treatment matters more than just for health. Our customers are really focused on psychological and physical well being. Quality spas fill this need."
Running hard to cash in on the wellness trend, several fitness chains with new outlets in Chinese cities have added spas to their facilities.
UK chain Fitness First runs a mahogany-panelled spa centre at its flagship Beijing gym. The spa uses and markets expensive Maria Galland and Ella Bache creams, imported from Paris and used by celebrities like Madonna, Cindy Crawford and John Travolta.
"Spas are the latest trend in Chinese cosmetics. It's a boom area," says Yuan Hao, a spokesperson for the China Association of Fragrance Flavour and Cosmetics Industry (CAFFCI).
"They cater to high-income customers but even low-end salons are trying to cash in and call themselves spas. But they don't offer the services of a spa and sometimes the products they're using are counterfeit. The market is demanding international brands and spa owners have recognized that," says Yuan Hao.
Statistics recently released by CAFFCI confirmed that China has become the second largest cosmetics market in Asia, ranking eighth in the world.