VANCOUVER -- After almost a month of working from home and practicing physical distancing, a new survey finds Canadians are paying less attention to their appearance and are foregoing makeup, shaving, and sometimes showering. But we are washing are hands nearly twice as much.
Field Agent Canada talked to 652 people on Easter weekend, and asked them how their routines have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic precautions started taking effect.
"We have a lot of clients in the health and beauty industry, and they were kind of curious as well as to why we were seeing some products sell quickly and other products not selling so quickly over the last couple of weeks," says Jeff Doucette, the general manager at Field Agent Canada. "So we checked in and asked people what they were doing in terms of their beauty and grooming routines."
The survey found that while handwashing is up 94 per cent, other practices have fallen by the wayside. Women are wearing makeup 62 per cent less than they did before physical distancing kicked in, while men are shaving their faces 34 per cent less.
"We are getting a lot hairier, at least for the men," says Doucette. "Hair’s getting grown out, beards are growing out."
Women are shaving their legs less too, reporting a 34 per cent drop.
Some people are even foregoing showering – the survey found a 10 per cent drop in this essential hygiene practice. And we don’t seem to be worried about stinking up the home office – not only are we skipping the shower, there’s been a 16 per cent drop in the use of deodorant.
Like B.C. Public Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, some of us are taking the risk and cutting our own hair – with, according to social media, mixed results.
"I think we’re starting to see some interesting techniques," Doucette says. "About 65 per cent of Canadian men said that they’re going to cut their hair or get a family member to cut it."
But women aren't as willing to take the scissors into their own hands. Seventy-four per cent still planned to wait until salons reopen to get a haircut.
And we may be looking a little unkempt in our Zoom and Skype calls, with a 54 per cent decrease in the use of hair-styling products reported.
But some beauty products are flying off the shelves. Walmart says in its stores, hair colour is a hot commodity. With salons closed, the demand for hair dye has gone up. Eleven per cent of the women Field Agent Canada surveyed said they usually get their hair coloured in the salon, but are now going to try at-home dyes.
Our teeth aren’t in as bad shape as our hair. There’s a zero per cent change in frequency of brushing teeth, though a nine per cent decrease in flossing and seven per cent decrease in using mouthwash may mean our breath is less than fresh.
