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Beauty is in business

INCREASED AWARENESS Women want the latest in hairstyling, make-up and beauty treatments

A visit to a beauty parlour has become part and parcel of practically every woman’s lifestyle, breaking barriers of class and age. The clientele for the beauty business today is no more elite or gender-biased, unlike in the past when only upper middle class and professional women visited parlours.

“It is a little surprising that Mangalore, known for its beauty-conscious women got its first parlour only in 1974. From about four parlours in the Seventies to about eight in the Eighties, the city slowly picked up in the Nineties with 15 parlours. But the last decade saw a boom with parlours growing to an approximate 300 in number,” says Lisa D’Souza, who owns city’s first beauty parlour. She bought the parlour from its first owner, Yashoda Shivkumar in 1989.

Women woke up to beauty therapy. The last decade has seen beauty parlours mushrooming to an extent that there are examples of a single building housing more than one parlour.

People visited parlours only for trimming of hair, waxing and bridal make-up in 1970s. While in the late Eighties people moved on to facials, manicure and pedicure. However, the city is yet to pick up on the concept of beauty studios. Owning a studio also means creating awareness on beauty through workshops. According to beauty expert Kent Meera, “From regular beauty parlours, people are slowly moving towards beauty clinics that provides not only beauty treatment, but also therapy, in a scientific manner. The family beauty clinic is gaining ground with children coming for pedicure and haircut or styling,” she said. “However, the rise in the number of children in their early teens visiting parlours for facials and bleach is alarming and we do not encourage them,” Lisa adds.

Women want the latest in hairstyling, make-up and beauty treatments. Now overall wellness is taken into consideration. For men it is services such as feet treatment, face treatment and hair-colouring. Undoubtedly, a change in trend in Mumbai automatically affects Mangalore. While localites form a major portion of the clientele, there is a good chunk of Coorgis as well. With the introduction of sophisticated equipments for beauty treatments, the cost too has gone up. For instance, bridal make-up that used to cost an approximate Rs. 200 to Rs. 250 in the 1970s, depending on the customer’s need can go up to Rs. 4,000 today. Moreover, the customers visiting parlours have also increased. Party animals love to visit a parlour before going for a night out.

Lisa was also the first to open a salon for men in Nandigudda in 1992. The demand for men’s beauty salon is increasing and men are also trained in facial, pedicure, manicure, bleach. There are an approximate eight parlours for men in the city.

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