Top 70 Jonathan Van Ness Quotes

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.’

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 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 remember saying I wanted to be a cosmetologist when I was really young.

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.

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.

Going to school was an absolute terror for me for, like, a decade.

Men and women can be friends, and it can just be friendly.

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.

Confidence is sexy.

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.

Even though I’m a hairdresser and I love doing hair, I feel like I don’t look like a groomer. When I think of how a groomer would look in relation to the first version of ‘Queer Eye,’ I feel like I don’t fit in that box.

When you’ve been on Instagram and Twitter long enough, you know how mean people can be.

I went from being pretty fit to 230 lbs., which isn’t, like, the biggest for being 6-feet-tall, but I had been 165 lbs. just three months prior. That taught me a lot about how people treat you differently when you’re fit and when you’re bigger.

I just – I come from a very little town where the militarization of the police force is a very real issue.

I don’t want to do transformations on people for the sake of a visual. I want to do it because it makes sense.

I like people too much. I really do.

I think I’ve been in a lot of really uncomfortable situations, and I think when you’re in uncomfortable situations, it kind of polishes you up a little. It shines you up.

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.’

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.

When I’m having a song-in-the-shower moment, I go to ‘The Blessed Unrest’ by Sara Bareilles.

I’ve worn a 100% polyester cheerleading outfit in stadiums full of people – it is pretty hard to embarrass me.

In service industries, we can be so people-pleaser-y that you don’t know how to set your own boundaries.

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.

I was someone who wore bright purple sweatsuits with tall Doc Martens boots. I would iron Hanson decals on my sweatshirt. I was extremely flamboyant as a child.

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.

In yoga, we say that everyone has a magnet on them, and you’re either positively or negatively charged. So if you’re liking how you’re looking, you’re gonna be more positively charged.

I’m a big proponent of all love winning and love just being fab.

I love ‘Downton Abbey.’

I’m always learning new things about myself.

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.

I’m good at following my own grooming advice.

So often, grooming is meant to make you feel better about yourself, and a lot of times, we use it to make ourselves feel worse.

Since I have psoriasis, I buy anything that feels good against my skin. I tend to wear really, really soft hoodies by the brand Velvet. Even if I don’t have a flare-up, I’m still like: Oh. My. God. This nice thing feels so good.

My podcast ‘Getting Curious’ keeps me really busy, which I love.

Aly Raisman doesn’t have a podcast – but she should!

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’ve had the honor of working with so many trans people as a hairdresser over my career in some way.

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.

I’m really about body positivity and self-love, and I will definitely push the boundary with a pink midriff-baring top.

In states where there’s one really big city, a lot of outlying counties and smaller towns really don’t have very many resources.

I was the first male cheerleader of my high school; it’s very hard to embarrass me – you have to do a lot.

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.

When I moved to L.A. in my early twenties, I was growing my hair. Then, when I was 25, I cut it off and was like, ‘Oh no, I think I’m a long hair person until I go bald!’

My biggest secret is that I don’t over-wash my hair. I wash it twice a week at the most, unless I’m on set every day.

God, I miss TLC.

We’re all just trying to do the best we can with what we know!

If I read something on the news that really irritates me, I get my rageful venting out on Twitter. I’m more of my light side on Instagram.

A song like ‘Tears Dry on Their Own’ is really sad, but it’s hopeful, too – that was my theme song for the first boy who broke my heart.

We focus so much on our relationships with other people, and beauty, for me, is about facilitating your relationship with yourself.

You want to be more hairy, that’s beautiful. You want to be more clean-shaven, that’s great.

Probably the advice I could follow more is the self-love sort of advice. I think, four out of every five days, I’m good at that, but certain situations can trigger self-doubt or cloudiness around how I feel about myself.

I’ve been an Amy Winehouse fan since her first album, ‘Frank.’ I always listen to her music when there’s a lot going on and I want to be a bit grounded. It’s like my musical warm fuzzy blanket.

To my younger self, I would say unless you’re literally in danger, ask forgiveness instead of asking permission.

I grew up in a town of 30,000 people, and ‘Queer Eye’ was a beacon of light.

One of my closest friends is a trans man who is incredible. And a lot of my clients are trans women.

How you take care of yourself is how the world sees you.

I’m from a really little town called Quincy, five hours southwest of Chicago.

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.

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.

You gotta floss!

If my energy was fake, then I would feel pressured, because I gotta, like, keep this up. I thank God it’s just how I am. But I find myself wanting to work on being more comfortable in the silence with people.

I love a company that puts their money where their mouth is when it comes to LGBTQIA visibility.

Leaving your hair down to sleep causes friction on your ends between your body heat and the pillow case. Securing the ends away from your body helps preserve your ends.

You have to create little pockets of joy in your life to take care of yourself.

I vividly remember D’Angelo’s ‘How Does it Feel?’ as a song I listened to around the time I came out.