My Partner Moved In a Week Before the Coronavirus Hit – and My Weird Beauty Habits Are Shaking

I can appreciate that there are more important things to worry about right now than my partner finding out just how infrequently I care to wash my hair when I have absolutely nowhere to be. Still, as a beauty editor, learning how to adjust my routine to this new normal is an interesting, albeit unexpected, part of the experience.

This is also not to say my girlfriend hasn’t seen me do or try weird beauty treatments, and luckily the only time she complains is when I get into bed wearing self-tanner (“oh no, you smell like hot dogs again”). Yet, we’re a week in, and she’s still closing the door to clip her toenails over the toilet and turning away to look at the underside of her own pimple patch in private.

Maybe the novelty in keeping the gross, guilty indulgences to ourselves as much as we can during this time of self-isolation isn’t such a bad idea, but whether it’s sustainable is a whole other story.

My friends say it’s sexier to keep a little mystery between you and your partner, especially when you’re living in such close quarters. “Mysterious,” unfortunately, is the last word I’d use to describe myself. Instead – and in the spirit of being the courteous roommate we all want to see in the world – I decided to give her a little heads up, letting her in on some of the “weird sh*t I sometimes do when no one is around.”

This, of course, was met with a laugh. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all! Of course, the itch to give myself in impromptu Brazilian wax hasn’t yet kicked an – we’re not exactly prepping for a trip to Barbados right now – and I guess only time will tell what happens when it does. Until then, I’ll consider myself lucky that the door to my bedroom still locks . . . you know, just in case.