USA Today - 27.03.2020

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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