Times are changing in the City of London, if a story in today’s Evening Standard is anything to go by.
In possibly the most surprising manifestation of the ‘cult of youth’, the Standard reports that grooming salons have reported a huge surge in the number of male bankers, brokers and lawyers booking treatments such as massages and back waxes. The rag reckons that this sudden conversion to male grooming has come about because high-flyers need to look young at a time when 'grey-haired' workers are being culled, while marriage breakdowns also mean that many middle-aged men are on the hunt for new partners and want to look their best.
Emma Sharples, skincare manager at The Refinery grooming centre, said: “We get a lot of people who travel a lot to America and the Far East or who spend all their time in front of a screen and end up feeling mega-stressed and just terrible. Sometimes we get four or five guys coming together for a massage before going out for a meal. Five years ago, that just would not have happened."
Apparently, some banks (such as Deutsche Bank) have even opened corporate accounts with their salons, while some bankers take their clients for a treatment as a form of corporate hospitality. Communal back-wax, anyone?
