The aesthetician applies hot wax onto a small area of skin with a large tongue depressor called a spatula, spreading the wax in the direction that the hair grows. Ordinarily, there is a woman whose full-time occupation is to tend the wax, but she is out today. He's checking on a bubbling vat of hot wax. Outfitted like a penguin in his white lab coat and black baseball cap, Michael Pressner, who waxes Elizabeth Arden's male clients, is the first male aesthetician in the 85-year history of the international institution. This former domain of the dowager is now decorated in handsome burgundy and gold the salon's pale pink past is only present in the uniform dresses of a few employees. Not so long ago, the only men I was waxing were drag queens."Īt the luxe Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon in Friendship Heights, there are many male clients.
"We're waxing about 30 to 40 men a week," reports a local salon owner. The removal of unwanted body hair now has gone mainstream, sending men who once were too embarrassed to get their hair "styled" in search of salon services. Soon after, the '90s saw Madison Avenue wholeheartedly embrace the hairless aesthetic, proving that it's no accident that ex-underwear pinup Marky Mark has less body hair than waify Kate Moss. The trend began with the workout explosion of the late '80s, when avid gym-goers began to ape what competitive bodybuilders had been doing for years - shaving and waxing their bodies to optimally display muscle definition, cuts and lines. Apparently, a smooth body is becoming de rigueur in the pursuit of buffdom the cutting edge of men's fashion. Area aestheticians, electrologists, and fitness instructors are reporting that ever-increasing numbers of men are shaving, waxing and electrolyzing their body hair. Indeed, body hair seems to be going the way of the pince-nez. And "waxing," whether in reference to floors or body hair, was again alien terrain to men altogether, evoking, if anything, perhaps a vague wince. For men, the mere mention of the removal of body hair conjured up images of furtive feminine rituals involving strange-smelling potions and scary tools. Not long ago, "depilatory" was a word whispered only by discreet ladies behind closed red doors.