The Club: Beauty care for city's elite
The Club: Beauty care for city's elite
By Rita A. Widiadana
JAKARTA (JP): Beauty was once thought to spring from a fountain of eternal youth, but today we are told it awaits us at hundreds of beauty salons or spas.
Salons that offer beauty, facial, hair-removal, skin care and slimming courses are mushrooming on every city street.
Commenting on the abundance of beauty salons in Jakarta, psychologist Sartono Mukadis once said that women always hold on to exacting standards for beauty. Society, men and the women themselves set these standards.
Today, most Indonesian women worry whether their bodies are curvy enough. More often than not, judging themselves from western beauty standards, they decide that they aren't, he said.
Salons therefore capitalize on the modern obsession with female looks. There are, of course, women who take the obsession too far, he commented.
Mukadis explained that Indonesian society's emphasis on the importance of women's beauty is symptomatic of its devaluation of their other attributes.
Rosiani, a marketing manager at a prominent publication, knows the importance of being clever and beautiful in the working world.
"It's a man's world, no matter what they say." Rosiani stressed.
"Men tell women they are free to do any work they want, but really only allow them to enter certain jobs. And, when it comes down to it, men treat slim, weak-looking women much better than women who show their strength."
She said, that nobody can blame a woman who spends her money on making herself beautiful. Salons and fitness centers may help these women achieve their dreams, she remarked.
A newly opened beauty salon called The Club is one example. Dubbed the first exclusive club for metropolitan women, it offers a variety of services to beautify its clients.
The salon caters to women too young for wrinkles and too thin for cellulite. It attracts clients who will pay through the nose to look even younger and thinner.
Marina Joesoef, technical and marketing manager of the Club, boasted that the salon is the first of its kind in Jakarta.
"Our target market ranges from teenagers, housewives and models, to busy executive women," Marina, a teenage pageant queen in the early l980s, declared.
Sandy Harun, a noted model and the Club's general manager, conveyed that the Club is only for women. "Men are prohibited from entering the Club," Sandy explained.
She added that this is not to say that they are against men.
"Our intention is to create a place where women are at ease and feel really relaxed," Sandy remarked.
Located on Jl. Walter Monginsidi in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, the three-story building is painted white and it effortlessly attracts potential clients with its elegant Art-deco exterior.
The hair and beauty salon and the Club's administrative office is on the first floor of the building. The second floor is where clients get beauty and physical treatments using modern as well as traditional cosmetics. Various hi-tech equipment is available to shape figures and smoothen skin.
A well-equipped business center, including a meeting and a conference room, is available for busy executive women on the third floor of the building.
"Often, they don't have enough time to have overall beauty treatment. Here, they are still able to do important planning while sitting with their faces covered in a mask," Sandy said.
Secretarial, telephone and fax services enable these busy women to continue working, she added.
The Club concentrates on handing out proper information on beauty and physical treatments to their clients.
They employ a nutritionist, a dermatologist and a psychologist to provide appropriate advice for their guests.
Dr. Lili Soepardiman, a nutritionist in charge of the diet program at the Club, explained that dieting has become an large part of the female culture in Asia. This is despite the common perception that Asian women are, by nature, thin.
Many women diet to conform to society's expectations, she said. The most common reason behind the decision to diet is not based on an objective assessment of weight and health but the conviction that one's body does not look as it should, Lili remarked.
She continued to say that most women who go on a diet end up breaking it. Some hope that they can obtain a perfect figure. Women who enroll in commercial slimming courses have typically tried to go on a diet on their own but are usually unsuccessful.
She maintained that what is good for one woman might not be so good for another. "Each person should be treated in accordance to their physical condition. Its necessary to be assisted by an expert while you're on a diet," she asserted.
Although this new club offers everything a woman wants to look beautiful, to have an overall beauty treatment you will have to check your bank balance. Membership costs US$500 a year which includes basic treatment.
You can also enroll in special programs, like a ten month long post-natal treatment. The special programs cost between Rp 5 to Rp 7.5 million. Special hair treatments are also costly.
Salons like The Club prove that beauty can depend on how much you spend and how much money you have.