As salons had to close due to lockdown measures put into place, hair has been at the heart of men’s and women’s preoccupations around the world. In any case, that’s what Google says.

The search engine has revealed the major search trends for internet users in 2020, and, not surprisingly, covid-19 has clearly dominated the issues this year. Even when it was not directly at the heart of the search query, it has strongly influenced certain sectors, indirectly affected by the health crisis. This is notably the case of hair which, with the closure of hair salons, has been at the heart of men’s and women’s preoccupations around the world.

When it came to beauty how-tos, top searches in the United States were: "How to cut men’s hair at home," "How to plop hair," "How to color your hair at home," and even "How to style curtain bangs". Such searches would probably not have seen the light of day without the global pandemic, and even more so, lockdown mandates.

The importance of new questions and behavioral changes directly linked to covid-19 is also clear for "how-tos" generally - still in the United States - where tips related to precautions for staying safe in the health crisis were commonly sought out. These included "How to make hand sanitizer," "How to make a face mask with fabric," or "How to make a mask with a bandana." In yet another category, we also find "How to style long hair for men."

Google notes that these results do not represent the queries with the highest volume of searches, but the search trends showing a significant increase from 2019 to 2020, around a specific topic.