K1K
The Prince of Wales’ COVID-19 diagnosis has
Britons a bit worried. Page 6B
Royals report: Prince Charles
keeps calm and carries on
Gaga, Britney, Carly and Robyn also bring the
tunes that will help beat the blues. Page 7B
Dua Lipa’s ‘Future Nostalgia’
tops playlist to ease isolation
USA TODAY | FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2020 | SECTION B
LIFE
LIFELINE
Ranking as of March 26
1. Tiger King
2. All American
3. Self Made: Inspired by the
Life of Madam C.J. Walker
4. The Platform
5. Tom Segura: Ball Hog
NETFLIX
Top shows on
Netflix in U.S.
USA TODAY SNAPSHOTS ©
The meme rattling around Face-
book is supposed to be a joke: A car-
toon face of a girl with a glum expres-
sion and a cap pulled down over her
hair stares out from a black back-
ground: “Feels like we’re 3-4 weeks
from learning everyone’s real hair col-
or,” it says.
That’s what passes for a sardonic
witticism when the coronavirus pan-
demic is forcing the closure of count-
less barbershops and hair and nail sa-
lons across the country.
But it’s no joke to potentially thou-
sands of hairdressers, barbers, color-
ists, nail technicians and shampoo
workers facing uncertain futures.
And their clients aren’t yucking it
up either, especially women and men
accustomed to spending big bucks for
professional hair-color services every
month. Maybe you can put off a hair
cut or a manicure for a few more weeks
but what will you do when your roots
begin to show?
“My clients are calling me and
they’re freaking out,” says Rick Well-
man, a busy colorist at his salon in
Saks Fifth Avenue in New York, which
like most businesses in the city has
been shut down. “A lot of my clients
come in every four weeks when their
roots come in, it’s like clockwork.”
It’s not clear exactly how many sa-
lons are closed or closing among
America’s estimated 1.3 million beauty
establishments, which range in size
from a few chairs and independent
stylists to huge chain operations with
hundreds of employees.
(The industry is regulated by each
state, though most states have similar
laws on licensing, inspection, safety
and sanitation.)
In Ohio on March 18, Gov. Mike De-
Wine ordered all hair and nail salons,
tattoo parlors and barbershops to close
statewide.
“I braved Target last night and
heard a conversation: ‘How on earth
can they think that hair salons are
nonessential businesses?’ Warmed
my heart,” says Leslie A. Young, an ex-
ecutive at Colorado-based Profession-
al Assist Corp. representing more than
100,000 massage therapists, body-
workers, estheticians, hair and nail
stylists.
Still, she said, “We’ve recommend-
ed they put their practices on hold.”
In other states, many salons are
closing because of the risks: It’s hard
to keep social distance sitting in a
crowded salon while someone is cut-
ting or coloring your hair, painting
your nails or waxing your eyebrows.
Two of the biggest names in the
beauty biz, Sephora and Ulta, which
offer makeup classes and other beauty
services, have announced they have
closed or are closing all their stores at
least through the end of March. “I want
to make sure that our guests and asso-
ciates know there is nothing more im-
portant than our collective health and
safety,” said Ulta CEO Mary Dillon in a
statement.
Salons that do remain open are
seeking to reassure clients and em-
ployees by adopting even more strin-
gent sanitation and spacing practices
CORONAVIRUS
Hair, nail
care can be
a big, hairy
problem
Maria Puente
USA TODAY
See HAIR CARE, Page 8B
A hairdresser cuts the hair of a client
in Brussels, Belgium, on March 18.
THIERRY ROGE, BELGA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Two years after their “Project Runway” exit, Heidi Klum and Tim
Gunn want to give fans fashionable escapism with their new Am-
azon Prime reality competition show “Making the Cut.” ❚The
new series (now streaming), comes amid anxiety and worry as
the global coronavirus pandemic continues to spread. So that
makes it a perfect time for fashion escapism, say Klum and Gunn,
chatting by phone from their homes in Los Angeles and New York
City, respectively.
“Given how challenging this time
is and how worrisome it is and how
uncertain everything is, people
need to have their spirits lifted up,”
says Gunn, who moves from “Run-
way” mentor to “Cut” co-host. “It’s a
feel-good show, it’s a wonderful,
much-needed distraction. It’s in-
spiring and it’s uplifting, so we actu-
ally like the fact that we’re premier-
ing at this time.”
Her own COVID-19 test came
back negative, but Klum says, “ We
have to stay home. It’s important to
the elderly, and it’s important to
people who are not as strong with
their immune systems.”
They’re self-isolating – Klum in
an Adidas tracksuit as Gunn opts for
a sweater and jeans – and they know
fans forced to do the same can use a
welcome distraction.
“Making the Cut” takes viewers
back to happier times, before streets
were barren and popular monu-
ments shut down. Contestants fly to
Paris for a runway show or to Tokyo
for sushi and fashion designs.
The show features a star-studded
panel of judges, including super-
model Naomi Campbell, actor and
designer Nicole Richie, former
Vogue Paris editor-in-chief Carine
Roitfeld, Italian social-media influ-
encer Chiara Ferragni and designer
Joseph Altuzarra.
“It was very moving for me to see
how much they really care about the
designers,” Gunn says.
The duo’s latest endeavor has
been critiqued as a copy of “Project
Runway,” which Klum and Gunn
STREAMING
Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn rom Amazon Prime’s “Making the Cut.”
AURELIEN MEUNIER/AMAZON STUDIOS
Escape with
Klum, Gunn
who make the
best of ‘Cut’
Anika Reed USA TODAY
“I want (fans) to feel like
they’re a little more
knowledgeable about the
fashion industry and what
goes into the whole
process, from A to Z, of
what it is they’re wearing.
I hope they’re inspired by
the work.”
Tim Gunn
See CUT, Page 8B
Attorneys for 14 parents, including
actress Lori Loughlin and her husband
Mossimo Giannulli, asked a federal
judge to throw out the case against
them in the nation’s college admis-
sions scandal. In a filing Wednesday
supporting a motion to dismiss, law-
yers again singled out notes Rick
Singer, the mastermind of the
scheme, took on his iPhone following
discussions with the FBI in 2018 about
recorded phone calls they directed
him to make to parents. The defense
attorneys argued the notes prove
their clients’ innocence – that parents
thought they were making legitimate
donations to college programs, not
bribing college officials, to get their
children admitted into elite colleges.
But the lawyers said the government
“knowingly withheld” the evidence.
JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
MAKING WAVES
ADMISSIONS SCANDAL
The former actress is returning to
the entertainment world. Days
after she and Prince Harry are sched-
uled to officially step back as senior
members of the royal family, the
Duchess of Sussex’s voice will appear
as the narrator on the Disneynature
film “Elephant,” marking her return to
Hollywood. The feature-length film
will premiere April 3 on Disney Plus.
“Elephant,” directed by Mark Linfield
and co-directed by Vanessa Berlowitz
and Alastair Fothergill, follows a
mother-son African elephant duo “as
their herd make an epic journey hun-
dreds of miles across the Kalahari
Desert,” according to a news release.
CHRIS JACKSON/GETTY IMAGES
HOW WAS YOUR DAY?
DUCHESS MEGHAN
Quentin Tarantino is 57. Pauley Per-
rette is 51. Mariah Carey is 50.
IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY
WHO’S CELEBRATING TODAY