Jonathan Van Ness—podcaster, author, and “grooming expert” on the Netflix series “Queer Eye”—misses other people’s hair. To pass the time in quarantine, he told me recently, he has been cutting his own Jesus-like locks and walking friends through at-home haircuts via Zoom. He has also been recording episodes of his podcast, “Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness,” in which he interviews guests about a remarkably wide variety of topics, from fashion to politics to history. (Recent episodes include “How Did You Become So F*#%!ng Fierce?,” with the designer Christian Siriano, and “When Did We Start To Demonize Poverty?,” with the economic journalist Mary O’Hara.)
Van Ness grew up in Quincy, Illinois, where his family owns a local media company. He has often spoken about the bullying he suffered as a “flamboyant kid” in a small town. He went to college at the University of Arizona on a partial cheerleading scholarship, before dropping out in his first year to go to cosmetology school. “Who am I fooling?,” he said in one interview about those years. “I’m not a college student, I’m a hairdresser.” He studied at the Aveda Institute, in Minneapolis, before moving to Phoenix and later to Los Angeles to cut hair full-time. (He is now based in New York.) It was while standing behind a barber’s chair that Van Ness discovered that he could wield his tongue as sharply as his shears; one of his clients worked for the Web site Funny Or Die, and, in 2013, she encouraged him to make a Web series for the site. The result, “Gay of Thrones,” in which Van Ness would colorfully recap “Game of Thrones” episodes while snipping hair, became a viral sensation. Van Ness landed a spot on the “Queer Eye” reboot and, following the show’s success in 2018, became a breakout star. With his handlebar mustache, quick witticisms, and high-heeled boots, he frolics through every episode advocating stubble maintenance and self care. Last fall, Van Ness released a memoir, “Over the Top,” in which he disclosed his struggles with addiction and his H.I.V.-positive status. He spoke to me on Zoom from Austin, Texas, about L.G.B.T.Q. rights, his pet cats, and grooming tips for people stuck inside (hint: don’t buzz your head).
Hi. What are you doing in Texas?
Well, we were shooting “Queer Eye” in Austin when everything started. And then—I don’t know if you’ve ever travelled with four cats in an airport?
No, definitely not.
Yeah, it is not the most amazing experience. So I just stayed.
O.K., wait, I need all the cats’ names.
This is Hairy Larry, and he is my oldest. Um, I have Matilda. She’s right here taking a nap. And then I have Lady G and Liza Meownelli, who’s right here. I have to say she has not been taking quarantine well. She has really bad cat I.B.S., because she survived panleuk when she was a kitten, which is like parvo in dogs. But now if you look at her wrong, she has diarrhea.
I’m sorry I’m talking about this. Why am I talking about this?
I want to talk about grooming during quarantine. There was an article today in the Times from a makeup influencer who asked, Does anyone care what I look like? Nobody can see me. What is your take on the idea of maintenance while so many people are inside?
One of my best friends always told me, “Don’t should me.” Whenever you’re “should”-ing someone, it’s kind of a way of shaming them. This is an unprecedented situation that we are all going through, and I think everyone is going to handle it in different ways. If it makes you feel more at peace to do a full face of glam on a daily basis, even if you’re not going somewhere, do it. Never had the time to get into it before and now you do have time and you have the resources to do that? Go for it. But if you don’t want to and it doesn’t make you feel good, or you’ve been someone who’s doing that a lot and you want to take a break, that’s O.K.
What are you doing personally?
At the beginning I think I was a little bit like, Oh my gosh, I don’t have to blow-dry my hair. I had just been filming. I had just been on tour. And I’d also just been on the back of two years of nonstop go, go, go. And then, in the last couple of weeks, I’m like, I miss doing hair. Like, I’m going to do finger waves on my hair. I’m gonna do my cats’ hair. I’ve been teaching my friends how to do their hair on Zoom.
Have you cut your own hair?
Yeah, I did like a little bit of a fringe trim on myself with [the “Schitt’s Creek” star] Emily Hampshire on her show the other day. [Laughs.] I trimmed the front a little bit. It was like a little face frame.
I cut my own bangs. I did the thing where you cut up and not across.
Perfect. That’s a point cut versus a blunt cut. It’s more soft, so it’s more forgiving. That’s great.
The thing where you pull them out, twist them, and cut—is that a good way to do it? I was told once by somebody you should twist them and then cut them.
Well, what always messes up my clients the worst, and what always gave me such a headache, is where your fringe actually comes from. People cut hair here on the sides or like over here on their temple. A lot of times my clients would want that thing where when you pull your hair back and you have like a little bit of something here, you know that thing?
Yeah, like almost a shag type thing?
Right, so when you have long hair like us and then you can pull it back a little bit and all of a sudden there’s a tuft right here? It’s like, no! If you’re going to do it, you just want to make sure that it’s right on the top part.
