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Friday, March 29, 2024

Jonathan Van Ness’s Keys to "Gorg" Self-Maintenance

Credit: The New Yorker
Duration: 06:58s 0 shares 4 views

Jonathan Van Ness’s Keys to 'Gorg' Self-Maintenance
Jonathan Van Ness’s Keys to "Gorg" Self-Maintenance

The “Queer Eye” grooming expert speaks with Rachel Syme about how to take care of yourself while you’re stuck in the house.

[gentle music][electric shaver buzzing][upbeat piano music]- [Rachel] Men growing outtheir hair versus buzzing it.Like, I feel like there's a big--- Grow!Please grow.- Yeah?

You think that...But what about thatweird in-between stage?And like, what about the molting stagewhere like, it's not longenough for a top knot?It's just kind of like this.- So what?We all have a middle stage.It's just...I did, we all do!Like, just do it.I mean, 'cause I feel like we all knowwhat most people look likewith a buzzed head, right?[dance music]- Obviously, I'm sure peopleare like turning to you,or thinking about what they wannavis a vis grooming insideduring the quarantine.What should people be doing?- I think everyone is gonnahandle this in different waysand they're gonna wannafeel different ways.If you, if it really makes you feelmore, you know, at peace in this situationto do a full face of glam on a daily basiseven if you're not going somewhere?Do it![ding]Never had the time to get into it beforeand now you do have timeand you have the resources[phone notification]to do that?Go for it.But if you don't want to, andit doesn't make you feel good,and this is, and you've beensomeone who's doing that a lotand you wanna take a break?That's okay, I just think everyoneis really trying to navigate theirway through all this, and--- Yeah, what are you doing personally?- At the beginning, I thinkI was a little bit likeoh my gosh, I don't haveto blow dry my hair.I don't have to, you know, do...I had just been filming,I had just been on tour,and I'd also just kindabeen on the back ofbeing on two years of likenon-stop go, go, go and so I was,I was kind of like, oh my goshI'm gonna let my hair air dryand not have to worry about it right now.And then in the last couple weeks I'm likeoh my God, I miss doing hair.- Have you cut your own?- Yeah, I did like a littlebit of a fringe trim on myselfwith Emily Hampshire the other day.We wanna make this a U.- Yeah.- So you can go like,kind of a U.- Okay.- Okay, so I wanted to seeif I could ask you a few likesort of lightning roundy type questionsabout what people should do.Do you think people shouldbe covering grays right nowor just like let it ride?- Okay, I don't know thelegality around this,but if your colorist thatyou have a normal relation,or a regular relationship withcan like get you your colorin like that cute little bagand then you can like[cash register ding]Venmo them and likeget some contactless[car engine rev]pick it up[doorbell ring]and mix it up so that you're just...I just don't want you toput box color on your hairif you've not been doing that[buzzer]'cause again, I just don'twant you to get into the thing.So yes.- Yeah.And I mean, what would you say to like,I mean, this is a classic sortof like Queer Eye question,but it's like to straight menwho are starting to experimentgrowing out their hairand they're like maybeshould I put it in clips?Should I put it up?If they want to get it off their face,should they be wearing a headband?- I also don't think thatthis is a heterosexualspecifics question.I think that there's like lots of, like,homosexual to asexual tobisexual and pansexualpeople who are growing out their hairand women for that matter,who maybe have had short hairand maybe, I think everyone could use it.I love the following thingsfor growing out your hair,and I'm gonna do it as a lightning round.- [Rachel] Yeah- A lightweight summer hat.You need a lightweight summer hat.Sometimes you just don't have time to dealand you just can't even do it,so you just need that good old fashionedlightweight summer hat.- What's a lightweight summer hat?Like a bucket hat?- A light...Is, I like to do kind of like a beanie,but it's extremely light.It's like, you know, t-shirt material--- [Rachel] Wanna see mine?- Yes, you could alsoeven do a bucket hat.- I'm living my like fly girl fantasy.- Love,love that.You just need like alightweight summer hatthat you can rely on.Okay, you look so cute in this hat.I love it.- Thank you.- Also,I also loved a headband.I loved like a fierce, youknow, just, a fierce headband.You just wanna be careful of--- But I feel like yourisk like really lookinglike Josh Brolin in The Goonies.- Is that a bad thing?[dramatic music]- [Sloth] Hey you guys![laughs]- Last beauty question ishow are we feeling about eyebrowmaintenance in quarantine?- That is, I feel reallyfirm about letting that grow.- Mmm!- That is like such aslippery slope, you know?Next thing you know, there'slike three survivors,and you don't know what happened, and...- You're just Louise Brooks, just like...[sad piano music]- Just don't, I mean, andI know, generally likethat's only like a 15 minute appointment,and I'm no scientist,but I just feel like,I feel better about a brow.Like, I mean you're in andout, like, cut, cut, cut,and then you're gone, you know?Like, just wait.Brows take forever to grow back.- So, what's happening atyour, the salon right now?Is that, it's closed, right?- [Jonathan] I think they are closed,but I know that like allmy hairdresser friendsin L.A.

And New York aredefinitely not working.- What are people gonna do now,that are in that profession,to survive?- In the future, that's, I think,that there's gonna bea much bigger premiumon like stylists' time.As we're seeing new regulationsfor how salons are gonna functionin a post Corona virusworld, it's like, you know,no blow dries and likeno more dry hair cutsand like I think, andobviously like not packing in,like we won't be able to do someonewhile you have your color processing,which like I was the queen of that,and I think all of usare the queen of thatbecause that's what we have to dolike with raising demandand like how expensiveeverything is, like you--- Right, multi-tasking.Getting people--- Exactly.- Through the door, yeah.- This is going to cause,like prices just to go upin hair salons.- When you can finallyget back to Queer Eye,who knows when that will be,probably next year, right?Something like that, but like,have you thought about how this experienceis going to affect the advicethat you give people at all?Like this idea that what youbring to the show is that likethe internal transformationcould be matchedby an external transformation, right?Or that there is somethingwhere they're in dialoguewith one another.- Yeah.- In some essential way,right?How are people transforming,especially when their externalmaybe isn't being transformed as much,or they don't have theopportunity to be seenor appraised or that kind of thing?- Okay so, I obviously love to do hair,and I love to do a transformation.- [Rachel] Yeah- Sometimes,but I feel like mypassion and myrole is more about accepting who we areand embracing who we are.I think I'm kind of like the,I'm a lot of times more oflike the anti-transformationlike beauty expert?Like, I really wanna, I'm always like,"Well why do we wanna change it?"Like why do you wannashave off your beard?"And like let's talk about it."I know I'm definitely feelinglike sometimes I just wannamake a lot of Rice KrispieTreats or give myself fringe,so I know that I'm experiencinglike some impulsivityfrom all of this alone time,and I think that thatis gonna affect people,but I want to empower people tolove themselves and accept themselvesand see some of the thingsthat are going on around usand love ourselves anyway.- Do you think there arenew opportunities for thatnow that everyone is alonewith themselves so much?- Yeah, but I also feellike I still want validationfrom others even when I'm isolated,[phone notification]so I feel like we still,I think that's stilllike a little human too.- [Rachel] Yeah.- But I do think that thiswill hopefully foster peoplehaving better a relationshipswith themselves.

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