Once every two weeks, more than 527,000 Londoners wake up and head to their trusted beauty salon for a manicure. Just under a million (966,668) get a haircut while more than half a million (527,273) relax and unwind with a massage [1].
These are some of the trends that emerged from a national survey into the country’s health and beauty habits, commissioned by international Insurer Hiscox. The UK-wide results, which can be accessed from a bespoke interactive page created for the campaign, put Londoners at the top of the spending league for health and beauty treatments. With a median monthly spend of £120 per person, the capital’s beauty treatments aficionados outspend the rest of the nation’s customers by 12-fold. On top of that, more than 1.1m of the capital’s residents are happy to fork out more than £1,000 a month to get their health and beauty treatment fix.
Price, in fact, is not the most important aspect of a beauty treatment for Londoners, with 39% of respondents valuing quality of treatments over cost. Surprisingly, however, Londoners, who aren’t among the best known in the country for their friendliness, are the ones least likely to consider the relationship with the beauty professionals that they have treatments from as purely transactional. Quite the opposite, in fact, they are the ones most likely to consider health and beauty professionals as their friends (36%) or even close friends (24%).
In terms of treatments, the most enjoyed by our city’s dwellers are massages and the most hated one, surprisingly, is teeth whitening. Despite its unpleasantness, only 6% of Londoners would actually sacrifice teeth whitening, if necessary.
The top three reasons why hundreds of thousands of Londoners go through a myriad of beauty treatments every month are that it gives them confidence (36%), makes them feel relaxed and makes them feel physically more attractive (28%).
