2020’s most-Googled beauty trend will hardly surprise you

As we flip the calendar to 2021, it seems only fitting to take a look back at the past 12 months. Even though many of us were more than ready to kick last year to the curb, there’s no doubt that 2020 will go down as one of the most memorable years in history.

It was a year that kept millions of people home for extended periods of time due to COVID-19 lockdowns and completely disrupted people’s normal routines. The little things in life that we often take for granted suddenly were not easily accessible anymore.

Even a trip to the hair salon or barbershop was severely limited — or completely impossible — due to public health-related shutdowns.

But, thanks to search engines like Google, those of us needing some immediate help in the beauty and grooming departments during the long shutdowns got the answers we desperately needed to keep us looking presentable and feeling somewhat human.

Each year, Google shares its top trending searches across a variety of categories and 2020 was a big year for at-home beauty tips. Let’s take a look at a few of the most-searched topics of the year.

Spring: ‘How To Color Your Hair At Home’

Getting your hair colored can be kind of a mixed blessing. It looks absolutely fabulous when you get it done; however, if you can’t keep up with it, those pesky roots start to show. That’s why Google searches for how to color hair at home hit their peak in April and May, as people were long overdue from those salon appointments in early 2020 … you know, when it was still legal to go and have them done?

Summer: ‘How To Plop Your Hair’

For curly-haired folks, the summer months often bring lots of frizzy frustration. That’s why July and August found a spike in Google searches for instructions on plopping one’s hair. Plopping is a no-heat hair-drying technique for people with curly hair that uses cloth wraps to preserve curls and reduce frizziness.

Winter: ‘How To Style Curtain Bangs’

Wearing bangs in your hair is fun and trendy, but they can be a challenge to manage and style. Toward the end of 2020, curtain bangs (long and parted loosely down the middle) started to become trendy again and related searches on Google grew steadily as the new year approached.

Top Overall: ‘How To Cut Men’s Hair At Home’

The top Google beauty search for 2020 was all about men’s haircuts! Say what you want about women and their hair, but the guys struggled big-time with keeping their hair under control thanks to barbershop shutdowns.

Many men tried to cut their own hair or let their significant other give it a shot — often with hilarious results. By April and May, millions of people were searching for tips on cutting men’s hair at home.

We’re just grateful that Google has been around to help us out of the numerous, inevitable beauty blunders that 2020 dropped on us. If the year taught us one thing, it’s to never take your beauty professionals for granted.