You have to create little pockets of joy in your life to take care of yourself.
Jonathan Van Ness
I love changing hair color. I love doing hair shape. I love the social aspect of salons. I love clients, and because of doing hair, I've heard so many life stories.
I had to fight, a lot of years, to be really proud of the person I see in the mirror and really love this person.
Self-care is the non-negotiable. That's the thing that you have to do. And beauty is the thing that can be the benefit of the self-care. Beauty is not the point. Beauty is just a cute side-effect from self-care.
Loneliness is, like, when you wish someone else was there, and solitude is when you enjoy being alone. I don't always wanna be alone, but I definitely like pockets of solitude to recharge and come back to myself. I think that's so important for everyone.
I want people to fall in love with themselves and to be really proud and full of joy for the space they take up. If someone else appreciates the space you take up, then that's icing on the cake.
I'm really about body positivity and self-love, and I will definitely push the boundary with a pink midriff-baring top.
The second you're bleaching hair more than three or four levels on a consistent basis and want it long, and then you're heat styling it and living in the world - it's just impossible. You can get it there for a moment, and then you might get a couple re-touches out of it.
I'm obsessed with gymnastics. It's like my football. And I like to watch women's gymnastics a little bit more than men's because I live for balance beam.
Aly Raisman doesn't have a podcast - but she should!
I wish I had more of a game plan of how I'm going to, like, take down toxic masculinity. But I think that game plan is just going to reveal itself if we keep going. I think I need to keep plugging along, and it'll happen.
I like people too much. I really do.
I remember saying I wanted to be a cosmetologist when I was really young.
Coming from a town of 30,000 people on the Mississippi River, having 'Queer Eye' in 2003 through 2007 when I was in high school was really important.
I'm really big on the gym and yoga. I'm at the gym at least six days. That is just getting there and creating those endorphins and sweating. And that routine also keeps me grounded in spite of whatever my life looks like.
Confidence is sexy.
People who fundamentally disagree with you politically or socially are not bad people. I can't expect that other side to have compassion for me if I can't put myself in their shoes, too.
Whenever anyone says I've taught them things by me being myself, I'm always like, 'Really? I just thought that was like, Wednesday for me. I was just wearing a kilt and a sleeveless top in a Rotary Club, it wasn't that big of a deal.'
As a kid growing up, I really hated being alone. I was always that kid that was like, 'Do you want to hang out? Let's go to the mall. Let's go to the movies. Let's go to the park.' I would call people and call people and call people. If I was alone when I wasn't at school, then there was something wrong.
I'm a big proponent of all love winning and love just being fab.
To my younger self, I would say unless you're literally in danger, ask forgiveness instead of asking permission.
If I could only have one grooming tool, it would be floss. I don't want to have broken Cheetos in my teeth. To protect myself from the sun, I can find shade under a tree. To moisturize my skin, I could get really sweaty and then just rub it on myself. But how are you going to clean between your teeth without floss?
When you're willing to be vulnerable, you can surprise yourself at how strong you can be.
Kristi Yamaguchi stole my heart in 1992, and I've never been the same since.
I wanted long hair my whole life. When I was a little kid, my mom would be like, 'We get our hair cut once a month.' So I just always got my hair cut.
I was a chubby kid who got made fun of a lot, and I got fit in high school, and I stayed fit in my 20s, until my dad died.
It's nice to have a safe place to have a conversation going; whether it's a friend or family member, you can use 'Queer Eye' as an entry point to have a conversation that's meaningful.
I think that I'm, like, an introverted extrovert. At the end of the day, when I get done doing hair at the salon or shooting a day of 'Queer Eye' or whatever, I definitely want to come home and, like, order pasta and sit with my cat or just one person or no people.
I wish I was a gorgeous mixologist, but that was not my god-given strength.
From the extreme political polarization that is everywhere - there's so much suffering going on - so many people are really thirsty to feel good about something.
For keeping hair long and healthy, I like to use silk pillowcases; they conduct less heat and keep your ends less frayed. Also, I sleep with my hair in a very loose top bun to keep my ends away from my body heat. This also keeps your hair from getting tangled at the nape of your neck.
Blotting pads are great in case you get sweaty or oily. But don't rub. It's a slow, methodical blot: set the pad on your skin and let it absorb, then move it to the next location.
I always wanted to play with people's hair. I was really into 'The Golden Girls' and how big their hair was. I always had Barbies and Ken dolls, whose hair I wanted to play with and was always styling. I was very lucky - I never had to wonder what I was passionate about. I've always known that I'm really, really passionate about grooming.
Gorgeous exfoliants are expensive.
To me, self-care isn't really shallow. Showing up for yourself, putting on a little moisturizer, can inspire so many different parts of your life.
If you have body hair, I'm like, 'Have your body hair. Have it sticking up the top of your shirt.' I'm really about body positivity and self-love.
Be able to see people's humanity. I think the way that you do that and see people for more than their surface value is, say, you're reading something in the news: the gender pay gap, or gay adoption, anything that involves a group of people being marginalized.
When I'm having a song-in-the-shower moment, I go to 'The Blessed Unrest' by Sara Bareilles.
Getting married is a good time to revaluate all of your relationships. Have you had the same haircut since seventh grade? Have you found products that work for your skin? You need time to experiment.
I love 'Downton Abbey.'
Podcasts are hard! I mean, you gotta get the microphones and all these things... there's a lot going on there. I never really realized how much goes into producing things till I did 'Gay of Thrones.'
I love having the Olympic Channel app on my phone because I can watch old gymnastics videos any time.
You want to be more hairy, that's beautiful. You want to be more clean-shaven, that's great.
I'm just waiting for the first #MeToo moment to happen from a salon because the culture of how assistants are treated, especially in salons in L.A. and New York, is, like, truly unbelievable. You're expected to clock out for lunch and never get paid. You're expected to be there an hour early, stay two hours late.
I grew up in a town of 30,000 people, and 'Queer Eye' was a beacon of light.
People think because they sweat, their hair is dirty. False. It's just salt and your natural oil.
I was the first male cheerleader of my high school; it's very hard to embarrass me - you have to do a lot.
We focus so much on our relationships with other people, and beauty, for me, is about facilitating your relationship with yourself.
I'm always learning new things about myself.
In states where there's one really big city, a lot of outlying counties and smaller towns really don't have very many resources.
