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Guess What's Flying Off Shelves Now: Hair Dye

A worker restocks sodas at a Hispanic specialty supermarket in Los Angeles on March 19. Nationally, sales of soft drinks were up 43% that week, compared with the same week in 2019.
Mario Tama
/
Getty Images
A worker restocks sodas at a Hispanic specialty supermarket in Los Angeles on March 19. Nationally, sales of soft drinks were up 43% that week, compared with the same week in 2019.

America is stocking up on food, thermometers — and hair dye.

The latest sales data from Nielsen shows how our lives have been affected by widespread social distancing and, in some areas, mandatory lockdowns, as the world tries to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Just as in recent weeks, sales of medical supplies, cleaning products, paper goods and shelf-stable food have been remarkably high. But last week, customers also flocked to beauty products — salons are closed, after all.

Yeast saw a big spike as we launched new baking projects. And in the meat department, hefty spiral hams have newfound popularity.

Here's some of Nielsen's data on what Americans were buying.

Don't see the graphic above? Click here.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Camila Flamiano Domonoske covers cars, energy and the future of mobility for NPR's Business Desk.