It’s definitely the age of the metrosexuals. Forget hair products and sarongs. More and more men prefer to relax at a spa these days.
First there was meditation, then there was golf and then came the spa. And first there were just the girls who loved to look after themselves who went there. Now, forget the weekend holiday home or a boys’ only diving trip to relax. These days, men head straight to the heart of the city, or to a busy suburb – whichever’s closer – to relax. For, the spa is the place to be if you want some R&R.

Those who aren’t really shy to tell us that they go to a spa for their much-needed down time spoke to us on why they could easily become spa addicts.

A room of one’s own
Viren Shah not only deals these days with a revamped clothes and lifestyle brand but also with reams of stress and deadlines. Ideal candidate for a spa, we think. “So many good things about going to a place like that – the atmosphere, the treatments, the time you get to yourself. Above all, I find that all treatments are under one roof, so I don’t have to spend time going to different places for a salon and then come back to get a massage,” he says. Shah is a member at Rudra, a top-end spa in South Mumbai. Their clientele includes the likes of Yash Birla and Vijaypat Singhania.

That a spa affords you a very private space of your own where you can be completely pampered and forget all that you’re worrying about is reason enough. Stressful jobs such as television, for example, find in its employees compulsive spa goers.
Fitness first

“I am an actor but I also work out. So that’s stress on two levels – physical as well as mental. Because when you work out, your muscles become really strong and massages at the spa are the perfect thing,” says TV actor Rohit Roy. He can easily be called a spa addict as he has been going to spas at The Club for the last six to seven years. His best yet? A spa at Four Seasons, Phuket, where the atmosphere was amazing and where he got the best Thai massage ever.

Shah seems to have the same philosophy when he says, “A body is like a car. Just the way it needs oiling the human body too needs regular care to stay in shape.” And designer Narendra Kumar Ahmed agrees. “One goes to a spa and comes back, of course, rejuvenated but also fuctioning better; doing things in a much better, more creative way,” he says. Ahmed has just discovered Sva in Juhu and says it’s easily one of the best he has been to. Sva, incidentally, sees the likes of John Abraham and Roshan Abbas as their clients.
While these men love their down time at the spa, they are very sure that they go to a spa to relax and to rejuvenate. “I don’t go there for the grooming because I think I should know how to take care of myself pretty well,” says Ahmed and Roy adds, “I am not into this whole metrosexual thing, so the salon part of it is out for me. I just go there for fitness.”

The other side
Though not all men seem to think spas are the best place to relax. “I go to a spa on an off but I honestly don’t have the patience to sit there for too long. An hour or two maximum,” says television actor Parmeet Sethi adding that it needs lots of patience to actually sit there and go through all the treatments, and he sure doesn’t have it. Builder Ashish Raheja backs him up. “I’ve never been to one even though we have our own spa. In fact, even in my friends’ circle I don’t really know anyone who is the spa-going kind,” he says. And we say to each his own, what?

“The fact that in such a busy city you have a place to get away from it all is enough to make frequent visits to the spa. And it’s addictive,” says Amit Dholakia, managing director, Rudra. “Look at the stress levels. That alone should tell you that the spa culture is going to sky rocket in the coming years,” he says.

What they say
“I am an actor but I also work out. So that’s stress on two levels – physical as well as mental. Because when you work out, your muscles become really strong and massages at the spa are the perfect thing.” — Rohit Roy, TV Actor

“I go to a spa on an off but I honestly don’t have the patience to sit there for too long. An hour or two maximum.” — Parmeet Sethi, TV Actor

So many good things about going to a place like that – the atmosphere, the treatments, the time you get to yourself. Above all, I find that all treatments are under one roof, so I don’t have to spend time going to different places for a salon and then come back to get a massage.” — Viren Shah, businessman