Then, "it's not pampering that's taking care of yourself."īryan said she rarely has time to enjoy her own spa, although she makes sure to have regular pedicures. ![]() Instead, her clients often feel the same way about the spa as they do about an exercise routine - there is always time for 30 minutes a day. Today, Bryan said, they want the spa not to be a special occasion but part of their routine. Years ago, it was not unheard of for Loudoun County women to drive to Washington for a day at a spa. "They can get in here and be on the ballfield by 9."Īnother growing service is the express package, which takes about as long as a leisurely lunch. ![]() Her most popular time slot, she said, is 7 a.m. "They used to say, `What does it cost?' Now they say, `How much time does it take?' " Bryan said. Gender aside, one of the biggest changes in spa consumers is the question they ask when they call to make an appointment. ![]() Indeed, Bryan, who still does hair one day a week, "is one of the very few hairdressers that is really knowledgeable about a razor cut," said Hopson, 52. He credits Bryan with putting men at ease. He also has had the occasional massage but thinks he's ready to step up his day spa usage. Tony Hopson has gone to Bryan for years to have his hair cut. "That's one of the primary benefits."īury said he feels comfortable at Hair Port, although he said Bryan might try keeping more men's magazines around. His wife suggested that he try it several years ago, and he liked the way it made him feel. "It was a well-kept secret," said Ron Bury, 59, who gets a facial every month or so at Hair Port. "Once a man experiences a facial, he's hooked," she said. Leavy said she is not surprised that men are getting bolder about the day spa experience. And she no longer relies as heavily on girlfriends and wives to persuade men to come in. In her latest marketing materials, she did away with the Men Only section. Of course, most men choose the Hair Port men's "sports facial," which takes 30 minutes as opposed to an hour and involves only the basics - facial mask, exfoliation and neck massage (no seaweed, for example).īut Bryan said her services for men and women are increasingly overlapping. They were worried about getting a sunburn,' " Berry laughed.) "They're beginning to realize you can still be macho and get a facial," said Hair Port spa manager Reid Berry, noting that several Washington Redskins players are regular clients ("People are going to say, `Now we know why they didn't do well. This reflects a national trend as the image of the day spa as a necessity for health and well-being takes hold, said Hannelure Leavy, founder of Day Spa Association in New Jersey. ![]() Male clients make up 20 percent of Bryan's day spa customers, up from zero five years ago. The frilly look is out, in part because it would turn off her fastest growing client segment: men. "If you notice in here, the colors are not feminine," Bryan said. The decor - Victorian-style furniture in muted colors and sponge-painted walls - was carefully chosen as a stress-reducer for people who spend much of their time fighting traffic. She realized that "people want one-stop shopping."īryan designed Hair Port's "quiet room," where clients wait between services, to reflect comfort and well-being - not luxury or pampering. She moved to a larger space in the Countryside Shopping Center in 1986 and, two years ago, turned it into a full-service day spa. "It is not self-indulgent to exercise, eat well." The same goes, she said, for getting a facial, a pedicure or a massage.īryan began gradually, adding such services as nail and skin care at the original Sterling Park shop. "We have to take away that feeling of `This is self-indulgent,' " she said. But they are slaves to what she calls "maintenance."įor Bryan, 49, the challenge has been to evolve with her customers, who are increasingly practical, time-pressed and tuned in to what their bodies need. Bryan, who opened her shop as a hair salon in 1977, said today's women - and more and more men - turn up their noses at the notion of beauty. The omission is intentional, said Karen Bryan, owner of the Sterling spa with her husband, Bill. The marketing brochure of Hair Port Ltd., the Salon and Day Spa, never mentions the word "beauty."
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