Life without a barber, parlour

Shafayat has not shaven for almost two weeks now. The shutdown had begun to grow on him, and on his face too. He had tried to pull off the John Krasinski look from "A quiet place". How he ended up looking like a young Santa Claus, he did not know. 

A staunch believer in inner beauty, Rubaba knows that everything has to come from within. Shame on all these companies selling bleaches and fairness products! To maintain her inner glow, Rubaba goes to a beauty salon once every week. 

After all, what is inner beauty without an outer layer of face pack or hair dye?

But with every salon and grooming place closed down due to the coronavirus, people like Shafayat and Rubaba are having to grow their beards, and moustaches, and use products from the kitchen shelf to clean their faces. 

"I did what I thought was the best alternative to my regular barber. I handed my wife the trimmer. And now, a chunk of my hair is missing, and I have hair sticking out from the back. I look like Friar Tuck from Robin Hood," sighed Shafayat. 

As for Rubaba, she bought a hair colour from Bhai Bhai General Store, the only grocery shop that was open in her area. With an orange-golden sheen, her hair looks like it is on fire. Well at least now, her inner glow is visible.  

But not everyone is worried about not being able to go to the salon. Rifath Chowdhury, a high school teacher, said, "Frankly speaking, I do not mind my unruly hair and beard. I know I look like a bear straight out of hibernation, but I am okay with it." 

A finance manager by profession, Tausif Quader, gets finicky when his hair grows back even by an inch. Every two weeks, he goes to a barber shop in Bashundhara to trim his hair and moustache, and get a facial and a pedicure. 

Tausif is irritated about the shop closing down. "I have a trimmer but I cannot use it, I am scared about cutting my ear lobes or something. My toenails are not buffed and my hair is itching behind my ears. It is annoying!" he complained.     

Meher Afroze works at an international NGO in the city and goes to a local beauty parlour at least once a week. "I used to get my eyebrows done and my roots re-dyed. Since the shutdown, I have not gotten out of the house or met anyone. Right before office opens, I will get small touch-ups. But for now, I am basking in grey hair glory."

Nazia lives in Dhanmondi with her mother and both of them do not prefer going outside their home for beauty care. Every month, an assistant from a local parlour comes to their house and gets things done for them. 

Nazia said, "I trim my bangs and get quick facial clean-ups every month. I have not been able to do so since the shutdown. I have realised how these small things matter so much in life. But I am not overly worried about it, it is crooked bangs over public health safety!"

Social media has not remained quiet about beauty regimes that can be done at home. However, one should be extra cautious before following these, because some of them seem unrealistic, and just plain silly. For example, one of the videos showed how cooking oil can be replaced with hair oil, and another asked melted crayons to be used for waxing hair.