Men Need a Little 'Me' Time, Too

Pedicures and Pampering at Manassas Spa

Bottles of O'Doul's sit on tables, and the pshssssst of soda cans being opened is heard as half a dozen men grab a drink. The low murmur of small talk about family, work and the weather fills the room, and the scent of buffalo wings lingers in the air.

Sounds like a night out with the guys at a bar, but it's not.

And the guys didn't show up by accident.

They walked into a different kind of guys' night -- one that included not only drinks and food, but shampoo, massages and, yes, even a little "manscaping."

"You don't have to be macho all the time and can enjoy the same things women enjoy," Manassas resident Kurt Schinnerer said while getting his hair cut. "This is relaxing, and I think the older you get, the more you like to pamper yourself."

The 50-year-old sales representative was one of eight men in smocks and swivel chairs Thursday for a men's night at Tranquility Design Academy, a school for hairstylists in Manassas.

Academy owners Gloria and Wayne Harding, who also operate Tranquility Day Spa and Salon with locations in Manassas and Haymarket, said they arranged the event to draw men into a ritual that is part of many women's lives: a day at the salon. The event, which featured discounted haircuts and other services, also raised money for Malecare, a nonprofit organization that educates people on prostate cancer, which Gloria Harding's father successfully battled.

"We are actually seeing an increase in men's interest" in salons services, Gloria Harding said. "Men are taking better care of themselves and find women absolutely love that. What's motivating them is probably what motivates men in most cases, and that's the woman in their lives."

Harding was right, in a sense. Two of the men at the event went because of a woman in their life, 18-year-old academy student Brittany Bombardier. Bombardier got her father, Jerry Bombardier, and stepfather, Joe Martin, to visit.

"She made the appointment for me," Jerry Bombardier said as Brittany trimmed his eyebrow hair.

"I'm not concerned [about the cut], because they have a lot of experts around here in case she makes a mistake," he joked.

Bombardier said he typically visits chain salons. But, he said, you "get what you pay for," and after experiencing the spa and salon, he said he might make a second appearance.