InvestigationDuring the first two confinements, some 65,000 hairdressing salons had to close in France, leaving their customers distraught. If some took the opportunity to experiment or find natural hair, all now understand the central role played by hairdressers.
Valentine preferred to shut herself up in her child’s room, so as not to expose herself to comments from her parents and brothers. Straight in front of the mirror, she traced with a comb a parting in the middle of her hair which she arranged on each side of her face, before settling down in front of her computer, at the agreed time. On the other side of the screen, the man asked him to space his thumb with his index finger, to estimate exactly the length to be cut.
Then, always on his indications, the 23-year-old youtubeuse, specializing in classical music and opera videos, slipped office scissors on her first knuckles: “I had to keep them parallel to the ground and cut through the air first, to learn to master the movement. “ Then, very slowly, the young woman began to trim her long blond hair. The ones she’s been braiding before going to sleep since she was little.
Remote consultation
It was in April 2020, a few weeks after the start of the first confinement. “I was bored, I wanted something new when we couldn’t experience anything, needed a little adrenaline …” The remote consultation with Sire Doré, alias Thomas Girard, hairdresser at Alexandre de Paris, on the second floor of Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, in Paris, lasted thirty minutes. Valentine was nervous. She says she concentrated so hard that she had “Limits the tongue between the teeth, like children learning to write”. But the experience pleased him.
“Hair is part of our self-image, of the little that remains visible in our head and that we can offer to others…” Michel Messu, sociologist
“Now I can say that in 2020 I cut my hair 5 centimeters, she adds. It was my event of the year, a great satisfaction. There are few opportunities to be proud of yourself when you are cloistered. “ Valentine shared her new hairstyle on Instagram… Like many others. Since spring 2020, the social network has recorded more than 72,000 posts under the hashtag #covidhair, dedicated to concerns, failures and hair performance during the health crisis.
In one year, the team of social listening of L’Oréal, a unit responsible for monitoring social networks, saw “Explode the flow of online conversations on the subject”, confides Alexandra Bolten Mercadier, in charge of the consumer hair department at the world’s leading cosmetics group, who does not hesitate to mention a “Freedom of speech”.
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