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More men enter the beauty industry

The Young Reporter (2008, December), 41(03), pp. 8.
Author: Isa Kwok Ling. Editor: Jan Cheng Tsz-man.
Permanent URL - https://sys01.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/bujspa/purl.php?&did=bujspa0007450

Isa Kwok Ling

Strolling round shopping malls and taking glances into cosmetic products shops, not only some men skin care products have sprung up in beauty counters, but also some salesmen gently selling skin care and make-up products to customers.

In Hong Kong, not along before has men begun to work in the cosmetic industry, which used to be dominated by women. They work as make-up artists and beauty consultants who promote different skin care products and give advice to customers.

The now-available job opportunities to men encourage them to try their hands at make-up.

A beauty consultant of Biotherm, Mr Man Wong who has been working in this field for five years believes that the number of male beauty consultants in Hong Kong will continue to be on the increase. As he mentioned, 80 per cent of the Biotherm shops now have salesmen.

“When male customers do shopping in our shop, they will be more comfortable if there is a salesman in the shop rather than those with only saleswomen. We can talk to them like peers and thus they won’t feel so embarrassed.” Mr Wong said.

Apart from working for men’s line, salesmen have to serve female customers too.

“Some female customers like to be served by salesmen and they will take our advice because they want to keep themselves beautiful as to please their boyfriends or attract males,” Mr Wong said.

Mr Recardo Yeung, a make-up artist of Estee lauder said, “When I graduated from the secondary school, I couldn’t choose my own career. Since my sister was working in this field, she encouraged me to give it a try as she thought I had a little talent.”

However, in the very beginning, Yeung as well as other salesmen had the psychological barrier. Many of them were afraid that people would discriminate them and label them as poncy men, or even gay.

As women contribute to over 90 per cent of this business, the ways they think and feel towards the salesmen are crucial.

“It’s very strange to be served by a man and I prefer a saleswoman more,” Ms Tam Yee Na, a doctor who does shopping in beauty counters occasionally said.

“I feel very embarrassed when we have body contact, such as when they test the products onto my hand,” Ms Tam added. “And I don’t like being critised by a guy and listening to his critics like your skin is bad and your pores are huge.”

In reality, some awkward situation did happen between salesmen and female customers.

Yeung recalled an “unforgettable” experience in which the customer who was originally very friendly to him suddenly changed her attitude when he put lotion on her hands to try the product out.

“She yelled out something like ‘Don’t touch me! You ask other saleswomen to serve me’ and it was so loud that people in the whole shop was staring at me and suspecting what I had done,” Mr Yeung said with a smile.

Though the above situation embarrassed Yeung, there are customers who really enjoy being served by him.

One of his customers who is about a middle-age woman likes him very much and she visits him every day and introduces him to her friends.

“I felt a little bit happy and surprise about that because she did bring me more businesses, but I was also afraid that she misunderstood something, like our relationship,” Mr Yeung said.

Ms Kitty Yuen, a saleswoman of Biotherm said the duties of both salesmen and salesladies are almost the same but salesmen may have to give more help when handling and loading heavy goods.

Though some salesmen can work as well as saleswomen, still women have the distinct advantage in working in the beauty business.

“Saleswomen definitely have advantages not only as they are more acceptable for most of the customers but also because of their prospective of staying in this field,” Ms Yuen said.

“It is commonly seen that many over 40-year-old saleswomen can be seniors in the company while over 40-year-old salesmen who don’t look young anymore cannot stay in this business. That’s why they (the salesmen) actually cannot treat this as their lifelong career,” Yuen added.

Edited by Jan Cheng Tsz-man

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