Hair

Give me 'down to there' hair,

shoulder length or longer.

Straight, curly, fuzzy,

snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty,

oily, greasy, fleecy,

shining, gleaming, streaming,

flaxen, waxen

I'm just a hairy guy

Is hairy-ness a new fad?
The answer is .... NO, all the salons and barber shops are closed, and everyone knows why that is!

To stem the corona virus spread our governmental leaders ordered a shutdown of non-essential businesses. So, add frequenting your favorite establishments, and seeing your favorite folks within them, to the list of taken for granted things we enjoyed in pre-corona time. All of that is now off the table. Keeping one's hair perfectly and regularly trimmed, coiffed, blow-dried, and colored (even if only your hairdresser knows), is but one more Covid-19 affected necessity you once knew. Maintaining the perfect 'do' may be deemed essential for you, but in the eyes of the government, an essential business for your persona remains non-essential for the public's health and welfare. So what does the future holds as weeks stretching into months of shutdown continue and the gray starts to show and controlling your locks goes beyond  a 'comb-over' remedy?

I don't know how this will play out, but I have a prediction. It's based on a reliable model which appeared in the venerable Farmers' Almanac concerning weather forecasting. In that august publication, which coincidentally also hits the newsstands each August, the year's long-range weather outlook was as follows - several months of gradually cooling temperatures followed by several months of gradually warming temps, then the gradual return of cooler weather. Regardless of which TV weatherperson you swear by, and his or her track record in forecasting, you can definitely bet your firstborn on the perspicacity of that Farmers' Almanac forecast. So how does this perspective relate to hair?

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It's very simple. As the time for everyone's customary visit to their go-to stylist goes by the wayside, each 'do' will as expected become increasingly fuzzy, snaggy, shaggy, ratty, and matty. I then predict spotting our neighbors, even from mandated social distancing, as having more and more bad hair days. If image is everything, mounting self-consciousness and maintaining good grooming frustration will lead to more desperate instances of amateurish home trims. These valiant attempts might be either self-inflicted or abetted by significant others. Manufacturers and retailers could view this as good economic news as demand for hats of all kinds skyrockets to join the ranks of toilet paper in popularity.

Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair

Flow it, show it

long as God can grow it.

On a positive note, if you enjoy sporting facial hair, expert self-grooming is already a perfected skill ...

... at least for some folks.

In all seriousness, toss aside the lighthearted hirsute angst for a moment and let's circle back to the beginning of this post, i.e., all the salons and barber shops are closed! The closures put those favorite folks who have tended to our needs out of work, impacting not only their livelihoods, but their families' welfare and their futures. Granted, some will roll with the punches and creatively find ways to navigate the storm until inevitably it too will pass. But for many, the small operation shops they own will remain shuttered. Both owners and employees will suffer; their lives as they knew them will not return. 

How can we help - buying gift cards now to provide an infusion of cash to offset revenue loss, or paying for services now as if we had them as scheduled? Please share your thoughts in the Comment section at the bottom of the post to create a forum of ideas.

Thank you, stay safe, and continue to be well.

all images © David Greenfield

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