Quarantine has many people wondering if they should alter their hair. Here’s what hairdressers have to say.
Few things represent change more evocatively than a haircut. It’s the scene from Mulan, where our title character chops her locks, that people remember the most for a reason. In real life, people visit the hair salon, bond with their hairdresser and leave feeling fresh and resolved. New bangs or a fresh bob lets people feel ready to embrace the coming stage of their lives with an added dose of confidence. Sadly, in quarantine there’s no hair salon, so it’s up to every one of us to cut our own hair or, God forbid, shape our bangs.
If you’ve been feeling the urge for change lately, you’re not alone. All sorts of people on social media have uploaded photos of their post haircut/bleached hair results, so much so that it’s become a meme. Most of the results are not pretty, but some are quite nice.
ugh all these egirls are dying their bangs pink and i’m gonna do it by like day 5 of quarantine pic.twitter.com/WwkafPOAfS
— Rebecca Jennings (@rebexxxxa) March 9, 2020
THIS IS NOT GOING WELL pic.twitter.com/bA6Acp1DzT
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) March 29, 2020
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While many experts and horrified internet users are urging people not to do this, listing the many things that can and will go wrong when bleaching your own hair or when trying to shape a bob with no hair cutting experience, others are more positive and supportive. Just learn some stuff before you start cutting.
“I see people trying to make the big jump from having no bangs to bangs and they end up cutting them so short and they freak out,” says hairstylist Brad Mondo in an interview with Vox. “Start off by wetting your hair, cutting it, then styling it how you usually style it. Then cut it again in the style that you would usually wear your hair.”
Changing your hair is a straightforward way of altering your perception of yourself, if only for temporary results. It’s also fun to try out new things, especially when faced with a situation that makes you realize how insignificant a bad haircut is. Hair grows back, even if it takes some time to get there.
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If you’re someone who gets stressed out over changing your look yet still have the itch to go for that quarantine haircut, do some research and go for it. Purchase some cheap scissors from Amazon or acquire the proper tools needed for decent bleached hair. You can always get a buzz cut if things go wrong. That’s a quarantine thing, too.
