Quarantine makeovers and why people are drastically changing their look

Drastic hair makeovers can be stressful. Yes, they can provide a stunning new look but sometimes, they can also backfire and leave you with a hairstyle you are less than happy with. And while hair maintenance falls low on the list of things to worry about— in the face of the novel coronavirus, there’s no better time to muster up the courage and try something completely new. And if you don’t like the new look, you can at least take comfort in knowing that many people won’t see it due to the lockdown measures put in place to help stop the spread of the virus.

Recently on The Beat 5@7, Claudia Marques mentioned she was thinking about drastically changing her look and asked Cat Spencer for advice. It turns out, she’s not alone as many listeners sent us feedback about their own personal quarantine makeovers.

The fact is, the pandemic has millions of people itching to change up their look. The evidence is all over social media with many people taking their appearances into their own hands and chopping off their long bangs, completely shaving their heads or even, dying their hair with funky colors.

Obviously, the pandemic has given people the motivation to try something new because quite frankly, if they don’t like it, they don’t need to worry about too many people seeing a bad hair job. With so many of us working from home, wearing masks, and limiting our social interactions with friends and family— one could easily hide a bad haircut and nobody would even know you made the change.

But according to several psychologists, there’s another reason why most people are changing things up…

According to Kim Johnson, professor at the University of Minnesota (an expert in the social psychology of fashion), the urge to change your appearance (especially during a pandemic) can also be a desire to change the one thing about your situation that you have total control over.

“Women who were sexually assaulted often change their appearance after the assault. It's a renewed sense of control,” Johnson told Wired. “Applied to coronavirus, the reasoning could be ‘I cannot control the virus, but I can control my appearance.’”

So, there you have it. If you’ve drastically changed your look recently or have been tempted to, you’re not alone.