AMONG many unfortunate victims of COVID-19, personal grooming has been highlighted as having taken a major hit across the globe.
A report from French news agency AFP cites major cosmetics brands as having significant concerns about the closure of hairdressers, beauty therapists and nail bars.
Olivier Echaudemaison, creative director of Guerlain, said "above all, don't touch your eyebrows... let them grow, leave a virgin forest".
He said experimenting with makeup was safer, because "if it doesn't work you just take a tissue and you start again.
"But anything with hair is a lot more risky," he added.
And also from France comes a report in which a doctor has suggested that smoking may help protect against infection by COVID-19.
Dr Jean-Francois Delfrassy cited research from China which found that only 1.4% of coronavirus patients were smokers, out of a fairly small sample of 140.
Another French doctor, Sandrine Belouzard, has also mentioned a Chinese study on 1,000 COVID-19 patients which found over 85% had never smoked, while smokers only accounted for about 17% of those in a critical condition.
The medicos said the results may not be statistically significant, but argued that the nicotine in tobacco may provide some sort of protection.
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