Jennifer Aniston's hair, from The Rachel to now.

Source: Getty

It’s been 20 years since we first walked into the hairdressers and requested ‘The Rachel’, and yet we’re still looking to Jennifer Aniston for hair inspiration today.

For those who were still in nappies in the 90s, the cut that Jennifer Aniston’s character debuted in the sitcom Friends was THE defining haircut of the 90s.

Um, looking at it again today, I can see why you might not understand its popularity, but you’ll have to trust us on that one…

It spawned millions of copycats the world over: reportedly 11 million women tried the layered cut. It took Meg Ryan’s choppy blonde crop in Addicted to Love to trump it, and not surprisingly, Jennifer Aniston would really like to put it behind her.

“I love Chris [McMillan, her hairstylist], and he’s the bane of my existence at the same time because he started that damn Rachel [cut], which was not my best look. How do I say this? I think it was the ugliest haircut I’ve ever seen. What I really want to know is, how did that thing have legs?” Aniston told Allure magazine.

Flash forward two decades and Aniston still trusts Chris McMillian with her hair. While the 45-year-old doesn’t wildly experiment with her hair – she has never gone shorter than a bob, nor has she tested out the rainbow hair trend that’s taking over Hollywood, she tends to work with the length she has.

Rather than making drastic colour changes or hard-to-grow-out cuts (clearly she learned this growing out ‘The Rachel’) she instead styles her hair differently to mix things up. Parting in the middle, to the side, straightening it, or with tousled waves, she (and her stylist) know what works best for her hair texture.

The thing about Jen’s hairstyles over the years is that she always looks like herself. When everyone was shaving the sides of their heads, Aniston instead opted for the softer, more feminine version – a side braid.

Three ways to get iconic hair status like Jennifer Aniston:

1. Get layers to suit your face shape. Stick with layers that are longer and whisper rather than relying on chunky highlights.

2. Use subtle balayage with shimmering highlights towards the tips.

3. Blow dry your hair at home with a barrel brush to emphasise the style's swishy, face framing factors and use Dove Pure Care Dry Oils to keep your hair smooth and shiny.

 

And perhaps this is exactly why she’s so appealing; she’s a girl after our own hearts. We don’t want crazy coloured hair or to experience immediate hair regret after we leave the salon. We just want perfectly tousled, easy to manage, shiny, bouncy hair.

Her latest red carpet appearance for her new movie, Life of Crime, shows she’s currently sporting a darker, straighter, shoulder-length style with wispy long layers framing her face but I think her hairstyle at the 2011 Emmys was by far one of her best hair looks.

Here she demonstrated how her hair can take on blonder highlights without the cooler colour washing her skin tone out. The length of this cut perfectly suits her face shape and softens her angular jaw. The kinky wave gives this look a sophisticated edge without looking overdone.

We can always look to pictures of Jen for some serious hair inspiration...

Tell us about your own best and worst hair moments in the comments.