Couple shaves their eyebrows as motivation to stay home during COVID-19 pandemic

It started with a meme.

Justin Young and Justine Manuel were sitting at home in Kamloops, B.C., when they saw a meme that said "if you are having a hard time staying home, shave off your eyebrows."

The couple had already been spending lots of time at home and started working from home on March 20. The eyebrow shaving happened Monday night.

"Justin keeps wanting to go out because he's an extrovert," said Manuel, who is Okanagan from the Upper Nicola Band in B.C.

"So I jokingly said 'If you're going to go out, I'm going to shave your eyebrows off when you're sleeping.'"

Young replied, "OK, let's do it then."

They went to the washroom but couldn't find any shaving cream.

"We decided to go to the grocery store, which we were trying to avoid but we needed other supplies as well," said Young, who is Anishinaabe from Bloodvein First Nation in Manitoba.

"We went to the grocery store and we were joking about making a video. We had no idea what we we're going to do."

They got back home, put their groceries away and "just did it," said Young.

"We just wanted to spread some joy and have some fun. We were actually feeling really down and depressed that day, because of everything that is happening. It's been so overwhelming."

The couple wanted to make a video for others feeling the same way and wanted to raise people's spirits.

Before making the video, they took guesses at how many views they would get on Facebook. Manuel guessed they would get 100, while Young guessed 78 views.

As of Thursday, the video had 124,000 views with over 8,400 shares.

Friends and family have reached out to them, joking about them becoming famous.

"It's so awesome reading all of the comments on the video about how many people laughed until they peed their pants," said Young.

"Everybody's got such a great laugh out of it. That's total success for us. We feel really awesome that we were able to spread some joy through dark times."

Even though they both shaved their eyebrows off, they haven't completely refrained from staying outside. They have been going for night walks to get exercise.

"We are still a little nervous with our big foreheads. We have fiveheads now," joked Young.

Manuel's advice for people trying to kill time at home?

"Have fun. Think of things you can do. Shave your eyebrows."

Young recommends slowing down, enjoying the family time, and being with the people you love.