Wrinkles come with age, no doubt.
And though no one has found the fountain of youth, baby boomers seeking to hold back time are casting their focus — and their wallets — on the $40 billion a year global spa industry.
As the first wave of the nation's 78 million baby boomers turn 60 this year, those health- and age-conscious consumers are contributing to the fastest-growing sectors in the spa and wellness industry.
They're visiting medical spa clinics, planning spa vacations, moving to spa communities, transforming their bathrooms into at-home spas, and snapping up the plethora of anti-aging products now on the market.
"Baby boomers have taken to the message of healthy living, more so than a generation that came before them," said Susie Ellis, president of New York-based Spa Finder Inc., an international spa media and marketing company.
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"They are critical in continuing to fuel the spa boom."
Medspas
After raising four children and seeing them off into the world, Myra Proctor, 60, found a bit more time to treat herself to regular massages.
"After raising households, having careers and taking care of the family, women usually got to spend whatever money was left for themselves," said Proctor, an Oro Valley resident. "Now we can pamper ourselves."
Proctor recently visited the Radiance Medspa, 2870 E. Skyline Drive, which offers facials and massages along with more intensive wrinkle-fighting services such as Botox and Restylane Fillers.
"Medspas," which combine spa-like environments with services by licensed medical practitioners and plastic surgeons, are among the fastest-growing areas in the spa industry. There are six of them in Tucson, offering services like pulsed-light skin rejuvenation treatments, microdermabrasion procedures and facial peels.
"Our focus is the baby-boom generation," said Jane Bakos, a co-partner at Radiance Medspa, where three-fourths of the clients are ages 42 to 60.
Depending on the service, costs average $300 to $475. Radiance also sells cosmetics, lotions and medical-grade skin care products for $29 to $350.
"A key attraction for medspas are their noninvasive surgical procedures," said Tucson facial plastic surgeon Dr. Jerold J. Olson, who is also the physician partner for Radiance.
"Boomers are used to keeping up appearances. But they want a little down time," he said. "We see nothing but growth in the future."
At-home spas
There was a time, when the kids were still at home, that baby boomers turned their attention to their kitchens.
"Now they're also looking at their bathrooms," spa marketer Ellis said.
With a $25,000 budget, Linda Kadel, 54, said renovating her Northwest home was number one on the project list.
"After the kids moved out, we saved and I got my dream bathroom," she said. It has a whirlpool tub, a glass block shower and a redesigned interior that creates "a clean, calm atmosphere," she said.
Local contractors and home builders expect to see more such remodeling jobs.
Boomers are paying $1,000 to $10,000 for luxury bathroom fixtures, said Jerry Holmes, general manager of Westar, 6421 N. Thornydale Road, an upscale kitchen and bath showroom.
"The bathroom isn't just a biological break," Holmes said. "It's a lifestyle for people who like spending time in their bathrooms because of all the amenities they have."
With master bathroom remodels ranging from about $10,000 to $40,000 and up, baby boomers are going to be big business, said Greg Miedema, president of Dakota Builders Inc., 4861 E. 29th Street. Dakota is working on 15 to 18 remodeling jobs — most of them for baby boomers, Miedema said.
Spa communities
Industry experts expect to see more boomers moving to the "Southwestern spa belt," where more than 2,450 spas operate.
The spa belt — which is growing partly due to demand from active retirees locating to warmer areas — includes Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah.
Southwestern spas already see the highest number of visits in the country, with 15,715 per spa compared with the national average of 11,577 visits. They also boast more revenue, with about $1.5 million for larger resort spas, compared with the overall average of $950,000.
Two wellness industry leaders — Canyon Ranch and Miraval, Life in Balance — are developing residential components at their Tucson sites.
Canyon Ranch is spending about $700 million to create "living communities" in Tucson and Miami Beach. Offering an on-site wellness clinic, the Tucson community will feature two-bedroom homes starting at close to $1.5 million, while the Miami Beach version will have two-bedroom condos starting at close to $2 million.
Miraval also is adding residential components, upgrading 102 casitas and adding 30 one-bedroom villas and 20 two-bedroom villas for part-time occupancy.
Guests at both Canyon Ranch and Miraval tend to fall in the younger end of the baby boom generation, executives said. The spa communities are expected to attract boomers, but are not intended specifically for them, they said.
Still, "it's hard to ignore 70 million people who are redefining just about everything," said Harley Mayersohn, vice president of branding and marketing for Miraval Life in Balance.
Destination spas
It's a dream vacation Dale Martin is saving up for — a getaway to Palm Springs for a long weekend of golf for him and spa treatments for his wife.
"We've always wanted to go. We're hoping to get away from it all," said Dale, 47. "Now that the kids are gone, it'll be a little easier."
Local resorts want to attract guests like the Martins.
"Baby boomers come from a generation not afraid to spoil themselves and have no guilt spending on themselves," said Michael Dominguez, director of marketing for the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, 7000 N. Resort Drive.
At the Spa at Ventana Canyon, guests can choose treatments such as $100 reflexology massages and $120 vitamin C facials.
"When you look at today's baby boomers, they also are working much longer — meaning they want to reward themselves more with spa services," he said.
It's a similar story at the Red Door Spa at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa, 3666 E. Sunrise Drive, said Mark Lindsey, director of marketing and sales.
"Our guests like to indulge themselves. The spa is the perfect getaway," Lindsey said, noting that most of the Red Door's clientele are boomers.
Ventana Canyon's guests range from the young 30s to late 50s, but the resort also is starting to focus on the younger Generation X and Generation Y, Dominguez said.
"They are the next wave we're going to see."
● The spa/health industry is thriving on a generation's desire to maximize youth, health, and attractiveness.
78.2M
Number of baby boomers in the U.S. (ages 42-60)
10,000
Number of baby boomers who turn 50 each day
$2 trillion
Estimated annual disposable income of baby boomers
$480B
Annual revenue generated by the healthy living and aging industry
$40B
Annual revenue generated by the global spa industry
$20B
Annual revenue generated by the U.S. anti-aging market