In late 2020, amid a COVID-19 pandemic that has burdened many with the responsibility of cutting their own hair, actor George Clooney revealed that he uses the infomercial-famous, vacuum-based "Flowbee" for that task.
More shockingly to some was the revelation that the COVID-19 pandemic had nothing to do with Clooney's decision to turn to the hair trimmer that was once described in a January 2000 Slate article as a "uniquely American creation" that is "too absurd to forget." According to Clooney, he has actually been using the Flowbee for the past 25 years.
As reported in a November 2020 CBS News article stemming from an interview with Tracy Smith, Clooney praised the product's ability to cut through his "straw like" hair with ease:
I've been cutting my own hair for 25 years," [Clooney] exclaimed.
"So, it has nothing to do with quarantine?"
"Nah. Look, my hair's, like really like straw, you know? And it's so easy to cut. You can't really make too many mistakes. So years ago I bought a thing called a Flowbee, which when we were kids – "
"You did not!" said Smith. "The infomercial?"
"Yeah. It comes with a vacuum cleaner and the clippers? Yeah. I still have it. ... Listen, man, it works!" he smiled.
Clooney's praise for the product led to a tenfold increase in Flowbee sales, according to Vice President Troy Hunts. Speaking to TMZ, he explained that "Flowbee had already seen a boost in 2020 compared to recent years due to the coronavirus ... but that uptick was nothing compared to what he's calling 'the Clooney effect.'"
Skeptics might assume that Clooney had or has some sort of financial arrangement with Flowbee. That assumption would be wrong, according to Flowbee. Hunts told TMZ that they had not "worked with him before and didn't even know he was a customer."
In a December 2020 appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" Clooney repeated the claim that he has been a Flowbee user for decades, going so far as to demonstrate its use. While we note with caution that Clooney enjoys the occasional prank, we take him at his word that he is a long-time Flowbee user. For that reason, we rank the claim that Clooney regularly uses a Flowbee to cut his hair as "True."