Actors and athletes are taking the globe’s current hairy situation into their own hands and shaving it all off.
With salons, barbershops and beauty parlors closed indefinitely due to the novel coronavirus, the hottest new haircut for sheltering in place is the buzzcut. Numerous celebrities have taken to social media to share their freshly home-buzzed looks from quarantine.
“Lockdown locks!” tweeted “This Is England,” actor Stephen Graham, 46, with a video of his son shaving his head in their kitchen.
“Stay home, enjoy the sun,” tweeted Spanish soccer star Héctor Bellerín, 25, with a photo of his shorn scalp.
And 48-year-old “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp recently uploaded startling before and after images on Instagram from his own shearing, which was done with help from his fiancé, Ken Ithiphol. “I’ve always wondered what I would look like with a totally buzzed head. Well, what better time to discover the result than while I’m staying home?” he wrote, adding the hashtag #StayHomeSaveLives to suggest that folks follow experts’ advice to avoid gathering outside of their abodes.
Not all celebrities are going to be happy with the results of their DIY home haircuts, however. “Don’t try new lewks during quarentine [sic],” hairdresser and “Queer Eye,” grooming expert Jonathan Van Ness recommended in an Instagram caption for a photo showing his hair pulled back.
“Anyone else do a #Stayhome haircut that got outta hand?,” wrote “The OA” actor Riz Ahmed, 37, with an Instagram photo of himself with a close-cropped ‘do, adding, “Least now it feels like there’s someone else here when I look in mirror.”
Meanwhile, Jim Carrey hasn’t shaved his head yet, but has been having some follicular fun documenting his beard growth as he shelters in place. “Day 3. Beard growth seems slower in isolation,” tweeted the 58-year-old actor. “Already yearning for the life I had before all the stubble began.”
Those looking to grow out their facial hair while social distancing should consider the CDC’s warning in February. They cautioned that should growers contract COVID-19 and need breathing assistance, some kinds of beards and mustaches could potentially conflict with life-saving respirators.
That’s not to say impulsively shaving your head is a much safer bet from a beauty standpoint.
“You need a lot of symmetry in your head in order to make a shaved head really work,” British GQ style and grooming director Teo van den Broeke recently told the Guardian. “Long heads, bumpy heads and narrow heads don’t really suit a shaved head.”
That said, if your hair is making you anxious, cutting it off could help you better handle quarantine.
“There’s no one to judge you at home, so why not remove one extra stressor — namely your hair,” said van den Broeke.
The rich and famous aren’t alone in trying a new look while stuck in their homes. Bored women have been giving themselves bangs and buying drugstore hair dye during the pandemic.