TORONTO -- As lockdowns ease up in parts of the world, seats in barber shops and hair salons are among the most coveted in a reopened economy.
Watching those seats fill in other countries might even elicit envy in self-isolated populations who have yet to take clippers to their own heads.
Even as physical distancing has kept people more apart than ever, there鈥檚 still an apparent desire to keep up appearances and get a haircut. That鈥檚 because our hair holds a lot of symbolic power, says Allan Peterkin, a cultural historian of grooming and a psychiatrist with the University of Toronto.
鈥淵our own haircut is part of your public face to the world,鈥 he told CTVNews.ca. 鈥淢any people have a trademark cut or look. The fact that you can鈥檛 maintain that strikes to the heart of the self, that you can鈥檛 present the image that you鈥檙e used to.鈥
VITALITY AND FREEDOM
Not only is that part of someone鈥檚 personal brand growing increasingly unkempt, but hair for both men and women is a symbol of youth, he said. It鈥檚 why some people might choose to colour their hair. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a symbol of health, vitality and sexuality,鈥 he said, which is why many people 鈥渇eel like a hundred bucks鈥 after a fresh cut.
Perhaps most paradoxically for a time of widespread lockdown, hair is also a symbol of freedom, he said. Most people in western countries are able to wear their hair however they choose, and under self-isolation and quarantine, that sense of freedom might feel more threatened than ever. 鈥淏eing able to go to the salon or barber shop is a freedom. When it鈥檚 taken away it really does affect people,鈥 said Peterkin.
SENSE OF COMMUNITY
For many cultures, salons and barber shops have also offered a powerful sense of community for generations, and can even provide a mental health boost. A University of London paper from 2016 found that black men in particular find 鈥渨ellbeing benefits鈥 beyond the haircut itself in a visit to the barber shop.
鈥淗air salons and barber shops are hubs of social activity and gossip and news,鈥 said Peterkin.鈥漃eople have a real connection with their stylist 鈥 almost like a pseudo therapist. You may tell things to your stylist that you don鈥檛 tell your friends.鈥
BACK TO 鈥楥LEAN鈥
Even with all that long-established meaning, haircuts could take on entirely new significance in the age of COVID-19. More than ever, a new haircut could feel like another kind of deep clean.
鈥淪ymbolically, the whole culture is feeling dirty, infected,鈥 said Peterkin. 鈥淎s (the pandemic) lifts, the whole idea of being allowed to go to your dentist and get your teeth taken care of and then getting your hair taken care of and maybe your skin 鈥 that will be part of the cultural, ritual cleansing. We鈥檙e back to clean.鈥
Peterkin thinks the idea of 鈥渃lean鈥 could go even further for men after the pandemic. Though the last 25 years has seen a sustained movement favouring 鈥渟cruff鈥 and beards, he thinks the 鈥渃lean-shaven man鈥 could come back into style, though it can be difficult to predict.
鈥淎s part of this face of cleanness and rebirth and youth, we might start seeing shaving again,鈥 he said.
