Ok, here's one for the boys. I know there are a few of you on here, so we'd love to hear your thoughts.

We are currently looking at the growing role of male therapists, in all fields of nails, beauty and holistics.

As a male therapist what are the biggest obstacles you have come up against, and how have you overcome them?

What do you think are your biggest advantages?

Do you find it easier to work in certain areas of the industry than others?

We would love to know any experiences of being a male therapist in today's industry. Feel free to post your thoughts, or PM me if you prefer.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Louisa, these are my experiences - I've shared some of this already in another thread, so please accept my apologies if I repeat myself!

I initially started out as a massage therapist before deciding that the world of beauty needed a fella’s influence, mainly out of frustration over the lack of services for male customers in the UK at the time.

My biggest problem was finding a college that would train me, as none of the local FE colleges would accept me as a ‘mature’ male student. This was a few years back, and I can see the need to safeguard the well-being of all students by vetting applicants, but it got frustrating to be turned down time after time solely on the basis of my gender (and I'm not being paranoid, the colleges were actually remarkably forthright in saying "we don't accept male students for beauty”…!)

In the end I trained with a private college in Southampton called The Holistic Training Centre, and loved every second - and I wasn't spared any of the practical units, from waxing to make-up and eyelash perming, I had everything done, lol! In fact there was a queue to wax my chest if I remember rightly.... ouch!!

Public clients were given the option of whether they preferred not to be treated by a male therapist, but I was never without practice models and had no problems with fellow students either. I was lucky to have a fantastic and forward-thinking tutor in that respect, the wonderful Helen McGuinness.

Since then I’ve set up my own male grooming business and am about to venture into the training side of things as well, in a concerted effort to encourage more male students into the industry.

I decided very early on to utilise my gender as a selling point rather than let it become an obstacle, and that helped to keep me sane on the rare occasion when a customer would walk out the door because he didn’t want a male therapist. Thankfully those days are long gone, and the majority of my clients appreciate the fact that as a chap I can often relate directly to their specific skin care issues and needs, and they trust my advice and recommendations – there’s a bit of a brotherly bond going on there!

I do still get a bit of stick from my mates, but the ones who give me the hardest time are usually the same ones asking for my advice when they think no-one else is listening!

Hope that helps

Andy x

Thanks for that Andy. It's good to hear that you have managed to turn this into a positive story.

What first attracted to you to massage and beauty as a career?

Do you find that your male grooming business is popular, and are there any particular treatments that are more popular than others?

How do you promote your business?

Hi Louisa,

I became involved in beauty almost by accident - my ambition had originally been to study osteopathy, and I was working part-time as a massage therapist to help raise the funds. Over time, I noticed that more and more of my male clients were asking for recommendations on where to go for various beauty treatments (particularly waxing), but there were very few places in the UK offering grooming services for men at that time. It was a frustration I also shared in the hunt to find decent face and body treatments for myself!

Seeing a need for good quality services designed specifically for men, I trained in waxing before going on to do my full beauty NVQ. Hair removal is still my most popular service and an area I specialise in, with some folks regularly travelling over an hour just to get their monthly defuzzing. As a result my osteopathy course has taken a back seat, and instead I'm on a mission to rid the south coast of unwanted back hair by the year 2020!

The business has grown considerably over the last few years, and I've definitely noticed a wider range of men from all ages and backgrounds coming in for treatments compared to when I first started. I'm lucky enough to be based within a barbershop, so I get a lot of cross-referrals and nobody bats an eyelid if a customer pops downstairs for a spray tan or a massage after their haircut. The internet is my biggest asset when it comes to advertising - I've found that men are far more likely to Google something than ask for recommendations from their mates, and I get a lot of initial enquiries via email.

The future looks very promising. Certainly the taboo of men taking pride in their appearance has dimished as chaps realise that looking good is less about being girlie and more about getting the girl (or boy!), and I firmly believe that male-friendly salons have an vital role to play in that process. I still don't think it's the cash cow that some would have us think it is, however - I reckon it'll be another few years before we see enough business to sustain men-only salons in every town, but we're definitely on the right track.

Andy x