Puerto Rico in scarce supply of hair dye amid baseball fever
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Pharmacies and beauty stores across Puerto Rico are running out of hair dye with even a top economist joining men going blond in support of the island’s baseball players who bleached their hair ahead of the World Baseball Classic.
What began as a joke among team members playing in California has spread across the island in a trend that spiked Tuesday just hours after Puerto Rico beat the Netherlands in 11 innings to reach the championship game undefeated in the tournament, which is held every four years. Puerto Rico will play Wednesday night in the final against the United States, which defeated Japan.
“Ever since they began winning, this has not stopped,” said Myrna Rios, a manager at a Sally Beauty Supply store in the capital of San Juan. “We have run out of the product in most of our stores.”
Copper blond, platinum blond, golden blond — all shades of blond (even burnt orange) are turning heads in a U.S. territory where the majority of men have thick, dark hair. Bald men dyed their beards or goatees in a nod to Puerto Rico coach Carlos Delgado.