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Beauty

Celebrities Who Chopped Off Their Hair

 

"A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life." This little nugget of wisdom from Coco Chanel manifests across Hollywood in celebrities' short bobs and lost ponytails. In an industry where reinventing yourself every so often is what keeps you at the top of the game, hair changeups make for solid statements. 

A good case in point is Kristen Stewart, status quo disrupter and the human personification of "short hair, don't care," who keeps us intrigued with her transitioning tresses. After shaving off all her hair in 2017, she said (per Harper's Bazaar), "I've wanted to do this for a long time for novelty's sake, just because at some point in your life you want to be able to do that." 

Spunk like Stewart's is rare — even so, you might want to consider a cut, since experts project that shorter hair is going to dominate trends in 2023 (via Allure). "Short hairstyles are great, as they can vary so much in length and texture and can be adapted to suit all face shapes," celebrity stylist Mark Hampton has noted, as quoted by Stylist. As the demand for shorter styles grows, people are unafraid to rock "bixies," retro wolf cuts, or Y2K fringes. And Hollywood, the cornerstone of all acceptable fashion, is doing much for the short hair market. 

Scroll on for inspo from celebrities who got snippy — from Disney stars to award-winning icons, all have made the cut.

Jennifer Garner

With her megawatt smile (that comes with dimples to die for), pleasant charm, and genial energy, Jennifer Garner has been the cornerstone of Hollywood's girl-next-door aesthetic for years. That crown is hers even at 50 — and remains affixed to her gorgeous mane, even as it keeps changing styles. 2022 marked a major refresh, with the "13 Going on 30" actor chopping down to a shoulder-length lob — the shortest we've seen on her in a while. "I'm calling it The Jen G cut for Gen Z," Garner's longtime hairstylist Adir Abergel said about the look, which she debuted at a red-carpet event in Los Angeles, positively dropping jaws everywhere (via People). A true hair flip moment! 

Explaining the cut, Abergel said it could brighten up anybody's look, no matter their generational bracket. As noted by Marie Claire, Garner's new locks were dyed a rich honey as an alternative to her natural all-brunette look. Garner is clearly enjoying her big chop: "Short hair, don't care," she wrote on Instagram. On the simpler days, when Abergel is not around, Garner's routine comprises pinning up her half-wet hair for a natural blowout. A hair mask over the weekend is a must, per Harper's Bazaar. Her one top tip to get a gorgeous Garner mane: "If you take care of your skin and hair, then you should feel good without adding anything major." 

Emma Watson

From her trademark, frizzed-out Hermione hair to a punky pixie cut that screams grunge, Emma Watson has come a long way. 2022 witnessed the "Harry Potter" actor rocking a new head of hair that first made its debut as part of a Prada campaign on social media and later at a red-carpet event for the brand. The look had Watson sport baby bangs, topped off by a touch of tousled, closely cropped tresses (via Allure). Though baby bangs aren't for the lily-livered, given the train wreck they can turn out to be if done wrong, Watson seems to have given this style the chic certification it deserves. "Uneven, 'chewed' and jagged is how I would describe this version," hairstylist Kelly Macedo said about Watson's 2018 mini fringe that crowned a shoulder-length cut (via Ipsy). 

Watson first swapped out her long waves for a short crop back in 2010, after wrapping up a shoot for the fantasy franchise based on J.K. Rowling's books. Mia Farrow was apparently the reference she gave the hairdresser (via Collider). There was never a dull moment for Watson's much-talked-about brunette pixie, which went through exciting phases with accessories and layers, keeping people fascinated until it grew out. Watson's recent look, with its dark, sideswept fringe, was widely acknowledged as a modern iteration of her old cut. For all the talk around it, the actor has said that for her, "hair is the hardest thing" in her routine.

Halle Berry

Halle Berry is the undisputed queen of the pixies. Though she has often worn her stunning curls long, the "Catwoman" actor always manages to find her way back to the short crop. The pixie cut has become somewhat of a signature look for Berry, who has rocked it on and off since the 1990s, when she first burst onto the film scene (via W Magazine). Her bob and dazzling smile, both definitive features in her breakthrough role in "Boomerang," played no small part in establishing Berry as a national treasure. From then to now — Berry currently rocks a half-bleached bixie with a stylish fade on one side (via Page Six) — it has been quite a ride for the actor's famous tresses. 

All credit for conceiving Berry's famous chop goes to stylist Andre Walker, who's also a longtime collaborator of Oprah Winfrey. Recalling the days he did her shoulder-length hair as a regular lob, he told Mane Addicts: "One day we were looking in the mirror with her hair slicked back wet." That was the watershed moment: Walker snipped her wet hair down to a pixie and delivered one of the most iconic Hollywood hairstyles. From styling her curls purple to making heads turn with her 2021 Oscars microbob (which later turned out to be a wig, per Harper's Bazaar), Berry has played around with her locks quite a bit — and we can't wait to see what she does next! 

Demi Lovato

Transformations are an important part of self-love — and Demi Lovato proves it! The "Camp Rock" star has undergone a sea of change since her glory days at Disney, with her broad grin and fringy tresses in tow. While that Lovato smile still beams the same, the singer's hair has traced a journey of its own over the years — switching from bobs to waves to mullets and whatnot (via Billboard). "I went to such great lengths to suppress who I really am to fit this sexy, feminine pop star and actress image that others had assigned for me that I never truly identified with," Lovato told People about her life before publicly identifying as non-binary.

Concluding 2021 with a bang, Lovato went all bare, shaving her locks off entirely. The "Heart Attack" singer had prophesied the buzzcut, previously telling Glamour that the pixie cut would eventually give way to even shorter hair. Lovato rocked a black close crop for months, before growing her hair out into shoulder-length waves that were a heady mix of rocker babe and Kris Jenner energy (via Page Six). In keeping with her trademark edginess, Lovato swapped out the look for a shorter, shaggy bixie (a cross between a bob and pixie), debuting the hairstyle at a UNICEF event in November 2022. Allure has predicted that the bixie is going to be one of the hottest hairstyle picks of 2023.

Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez has probably never had a bad hair day. On the voguish spectrum of hairstyles she wears, the actor-singer never misses a mark, trademarking the slicked-back knot just as well as loose beach waves. Her abundant tresses are proof that haircare constitutes a major part of Gomez's personal routine — an invaluable inheritance from her mother and grandmother (per Vogue). "I've always been about my hair," she said. We get that ... just look at her persistently gorgeous mane! Alex Russo was the ultimate hair inspo in many a teenager's stylebook when Gomez was at the zenith of her noughties fame with "Wizards of Waverly Place" (via Glamour). 

True to form, grown-up Gomez too hasn't ever disappointed with her hair experiments, whether on tours or on screen. Most recently, there was a whole Blondelena phase — which, as the name suggests, saw the actor-singer bleach her head (per Today) — followed by an elegant chop. Just in time for spring 2022, Gomez switched out her old hair for an effortless hot mess of a pixie. Layers of wisps and soft bangs gave the look heavy texture, just how Gomez likes it. "I've never been the person who wants her hair perfectly sculpted all the time," she told Allure. Her big hair holds many secrets, the greatest one being: "It gets better the less I wash it." Go on, let your lazy self skip that wash day!

Charithra Chandran

There is too much to obsess over in Netflix's blockbuster period drama — dreamy promenades, all that steamy raunch, extravagant Regency wardrobes, and fairytale hairdos. Oh, the hairdos! The second season, with its South Asian representation, rendered "Bridgerton" hairstyles doubly regal. Charithra Chandran, who played Edwina Sharma on the show, especially wowed with her luscious, to-die-for tresses making up for half of her striking screen presence. And just when we thought her best feature couldn't bewitch us further, Chandran went ahead and chopped off her hair, putting us under an even stronger spell. Her sophisticated wet pixie cut made its debut at a fashion show in London in 2022 — and it's safe to say it was the diamond of the season.

The look that will go down in history as the Chandran chop was masterminded by hairstylist Patrick Wilson, who told Glamour that actors like Halle Berry were used as reference points for the cut. "For the styling, I wanted it to feel young, cool, and sexy. That's why I went for the wet look," he explained. This close of a crop was new for Chandran, who has also previously worn a short fringe bob that exuded major Cleopatra energy. If you, like us, wish you could have thick, healthy hair like Chandran, then don't skip oiling. It's a hot tip from the beauty herself: "I apply coconut oil to my hair once a week and sleep with it in overnight," Chandran told Harper's Bazaar. 

Kerry Washington

Kerry Washington is among those select few in the world who can pull off a jellyfish haircut. We mean really pull it off — because to say that this is one of the trickier styles to wear would be a gross understatement. Put simply, "The jellyfish cut has disconnected sections, with the top section [having] very short layers while the bottom layer is long and textured," according to stylist Raven Hurtado (via Glamour). The upper section is a bowl cut resembling the jellyfish's bell, which lends the look its peculiar name. How short you want to go is directly proportional to how brave you are — and Washington is apparently the bravest of us all.

The "Django Unchained" star showed off the jellyfish style at the premiere of her film "The School for Good and Evil" in 2022, sporting a boxy bob topped off with a super symmetrical fringe (via PopSugar). The crop was a novel yet on-brand experiment for the actor, who is known for being chameleonic (too many animal metaphors?) with her hair — rocking her natural curls with as much élan as she does straight styles. In fact, Washington slips in and out of hairdos so quickly that only a day after she debuted the jellyfish moptop, she appeared at another event with a longer blowout bob (via Allure).

Billie Eilish

No one has done for green hair what Billie Eilish has. Her signature neon roots and dark ends, coupled with a devil-may-care oversized silhouette, have been the single biggest advocates for freewheeling beauty standards in recent years. So fans were positively shook when the "Ocean Eyes" singer — who hasn't ever held back on defending her distinct tresses – switched out her longtime slime green for platinum blonde in 2021. It gave her much-needed anonymity in public, as she told Elle: "I'm still the same person. I'm not just different Barbies with different heads." The wolf cut, as Eilish's shaggy bob was called, is all the rage in Gen Z circles on TikTok (per L'Officiel).

It didn't work for Eilish, though; she soon ditched the bleached look for a shorter, chic brunette pixie. "I didn't feel sexy for one second of being blonde," she told Highsnobiety. Marking a sober but exciting return to dark tresses, Eilish experimented with head-turning styles — the standout one being a nostalgia-dripping updo that took all 90s girlies back to school. Channeling serious noughties energy, Eilish walked a red carpet in 2022 with her black cowlick swept to the side with a clip (via Allure). For those who remember, the side-swept fringe was the ultimate Y2K hair serve — and we're glad to inform you that it looks just as hip today. (BRB, getting our retro clips out.)

Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus' status as a hair icon can't be tamed. When she slipped into her blonde wig, back in her days of playacting as a teen sensation with an alter ego, so did an entire generation of starry-eyed "Hannah Montana" fans. The veneer between reality and fantasy, Cyrus' hair had a life of its own — as it still does. "My hair is some sort of reflection for my sanity, my sexuality, my sobriety," Cyrus once expressed (per Page Six), talking about how her mane shaped perceptions about her even in the post-Hannah era. Cyrus has since taken her tresses on an adventurous journey, cropping down her long brown waves to buzzcuts, punk pixies, sleek bobs, and everything else in between (via Elle). Mullets, of course, are family property, and Cyrus has sported her share of those, too.

Explaining her transition to shorter cuts, Cyrus said it gave her "an androgynous, sexy feeling, which is what I want people to feel like" (per NME). 2013 was the definitive year, with the "Wrecking Ball" hitmaker pronouncing that the world would never see her with long hair again. She has more or less stayed true to that promise, but recent experiments with a sexy, bleached top deck look and a dark undercut have taken her back to her Y2K roots. Her sharp platinum side part might even revive the MySpace era, Allure predicts. With hair, as in life, Cyrus honestly can't be tamed — and we're here for it! 

JoJo Siwa

When you think of JoJo Siwa, the feature that comes to mind is probably her iconic tightly pulled-back, flamboyantly accessorized ponytail. Well, not anymore! In 2022, the "Boomerang" crooner shed her signature look and underwent a drastic makeover, opting for a much shorter blonde crop. Her sky-high horsetail, which had been with her since her "Dance Moms" days, was so much a part of her celebrity that its disposal prompted an obituary from Vulture. Siwa, meanwhile, seemed to be thrilled about her new look: "It's way different than long hair; it's crazy. But I'm obsessed!" she told fans on Instagram, showing off her new fade (via CNN). 

The queer icon, who publicly identified as gay in 2021, revealed on "The View" that she had been vying for short hair since she was around 8 years old. Cruising through some initial reluctance from her mother, Siwa ultimately took the plunge in the months leading up to her 19th birthday. "I have learned that I like to dress more feminine now with this hair," she added, her wavy crop glittering gorgeously with hair tinsel. Switching between mullets and neon pixies, and even once having her girlfriend give her a chop (per E! News), Siwa has clearly been having fun with her new hairdo.

Kristen Stewart

No one can beat Kristen Stewart in the hair game. The "Twilight" star left her brunette waves back in her vampire-romancing era, experimenting with just about every hairstyle there is since. From slicked bobs to burr cuts and even fauxhawks, Stewart has worn it all, her characteristic poker face not reflecting the slightest hint of apprehension about each style she sports. That's just as well, since she rocks all kinds of hair; celebrity hairstylist Adir Abergel has cited Stewart as the poster face for the versatility of short crops (per Allure). Her hair gives her an "individual, alternative, fearless" aura, he said.  

Parallel to her status as a film star, Stewart has gained new ground as a fierce challenger of gender norms, raising intelligent questions about a range of conventions, from red-carpet attire to long hair as a paragon of femininity. To that end, retiring the Bella Swan locks for a short pixie was, to her, a homecoming of sorts. "As soon as I didn't have all that hair, I had to let my face hang out. I felt more confident than I had in a really long time," she told Marie Claire. That confidence glowed through at a Chanel show in Paris in late 2022, when Stewart debuted a dark mid-length mullet that Vogue said gave off "grunge Princess Diana" vibes.