‘People think I’m a blond.’ Every day is a bad hair day as Miami quarantine drags on
Turn that Zoom camera off.
Because your hair is a mess. Seriously.
It’s also getting grayer. Or a lot less blond. Hello, darkness, my old friend.
Want to cut it yourself? Good luck.
After this is all over, we are going to appreciate our hair salon and barber shop that much more. And we are going to start redefining what an “essential business” should be.
So how is image-conscious Miami coping?
CBS4 entertainment reporter Lisa Petrillo has started to practice her hair cutting techniques on her dog.
WSVN anchor Craig Stevens started trimming his own hair and turned to a colleague for some quick sprucing before delivering his evening reports.
And these are people who are used to appearing at their best on camera.
What about the average person who suddenly find themselves on Zoom teleconference calls or in online classrooms or using WhatsApp for virtual consultations with doctors?
Six weeks have passed since Tatiana Solorzano, 46, of West Kendall went to the salon. “I got my roots done. I alternate between highlights and roots. Now I am missing both my highlights and my roots. It’s so sad,” she said.
Solorzano, who works in sourcing for the Gap and has been quarantined at home with her two school-age daughters for the past three weeks, doesn’t know what to do about her emerging grays. “How am I supposed to match my color? Only my stylist knows it. And I am not going darker. Everybody thinks I am blond.”
Is Miami ready to go old school and return to the days when your mom planted a bowl on top of your head and just cut around the edges? It seems like quarantine has us starting to consider desperate measures.
Local businessman Jose Boza tried the DIY route, bless his heart. As a joke to amuse his bored friends on April Fool’s Day, the Miami man grabbed his electric razor and fashioned himself a “buzzcut.” The Boza Agency owner attempted to put in some stripes for extra “Tiger King” appeal, he said. His wife ended up eventually fixing his WFH look.
Some industrious stylists have taken to offering virtual lessons on hair grooming online or giving tips on Instagram like Sean Donaldson salon in Miami Beach. They have to. They, like millions of others, are out of work nationwide and won’t want to lose their carefully groomed customer base when their shops are once again allowed to open.
We obviously all need it.
“This is a huge thing for all of us,” Petrillo says, laughing while recounting a recent conversation she had with her sister on the phone. “I’m practicing on my dog and cut her bangs and around her toes, too. I’m nervous to cut my own hair.”
Even television reporters are working from home these days, conducting interviews via Zoom, and editing remotely, but they have to look like you’re used to seeing them. Hair and makeup is now part of their job.
“Everyone is trying to figure it out,” Petrillo said. “We are going to tutorials online. My friend showed a picture of her husband retouching the gray on her roots. We are doing Zoom interviews and that’s a whole other thing. They go on the air and I’ll see myself in a Zoom interview and go, ‘Whoa!’ That looks really weird. We notice our bad hair and everything else and there’s nothing we can do. It is what it is.”
Companies are doing their part. Each R+Co salon, for example, is offering home delivery. Find your spot at https://www.randco.com/salon-locator.
“Staying at home is a great time to take care of your hair, nourish thirsty strands and experiment with products, natural texture and new styles,” says Miami-based Daniel Langer, president of R+Co. “We’re looking at this ‘found time’ as a wellness reset. Sit with a hair masque for an hour, do a scalp scrub, or try a new look every day and break out of your routine.”
Blondes may also have the most fun, as the old saying goes, but they also have a particular challenge.
“When you have dark hair you can color it in. But blondes have highlights and lowlights and you can’t just buy a bottle. It will get rough in a couple days.”
Stevens is also trying to figure out how to keep his coif looking good in the coronavirus era.
“There are obviously more important things going on but it does become a consideration. I’ve learned some people are actually good at cutting their own hair. Unfortunately, I am not one of them,” Stevens said.
“I hadn’t really given it much thought until I realized I needed a haircut. I’m a guy. I don’t have a lot of hair. At first I trimmed it myself as best I could. And then yesterday I had someone at the office clean up what I tried to do. I think everybody is sort of making it up as they go.”
As hair stylists follow your lead and shelter in place, some are getting creative and finding way to serve their customer base.
“We are still sending out supplies we have on shelves,” said Paulette Lopez, a stylist who works at Bonaparte in South Miami.
Before the stay at home rule became the norm — first in the counties, then this week by state rule — Lopez and Bonaparte’s Michael Curran, were providing some in-home hair styling service for clients.
That’s changed. “We all need to comply so we make it through this healthy,” Lopez said.
But can we really be healthy when our tresses could soon look like a Lhaso Apso’s?
“When our customers need advice we send tutorials so they can achieve their look and maintain. That is the best we can do so far,” Lopez said. “We are looking forward to better times to reunite with our customers who have turned into good friends. We will get through this in just a matter of time.”
But a DIY makeover is not going to happen for Solorzano, the quarantined mom, she insists.
“I am not going to mess with my hair. I am just not going to look in the mirror.”
Miami.Com editor Amy Reyes contributed to this story.
This story was originally published April 6, 2020 at 4:42 PM.
