Jennifer Aniston Hated ‘The Rachel’ But It Wasn’t The Only Haircut She Loathed

Oct 25, 2022 by apost team

For years, Jennifer Aniston has been a fashion and beauty icon, starting from her 20s when she landed the role of spoilt, city girl Rachel Green on the hit sitcom “Friends” to some three decades later after cementing her status as an A-list Hollywood sweetheart.

Born to two actors, John and Nancy, in 1969, she came to acting early in life. While attending a Waldorf school, Aniston fell in love with acting at age 11. She later enrolled at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in Manhattan. After high school, Aniston worked part-time jobs like waitressing and telemarketing to support herself while she performed in off-Broadway productions. She later moved to Los Angeles, California, where she soon found fame. 

After bit parts in a few forgettable television shows, she was cast in “Friends,” which began airing in September 1994. The show would go on to gain immense popularity across the globe and make Aniston a household name. Aniston would gain a cult beauty following, with fans noting down her character's fashion choices and, in particular, hairstyles. “The Rachel,” a hairstyle Aniston sported in the early years of the show, would gain notoriety. It inspired fans to flock to their salons to ask for the shoulder-length, layered haircut for years. Even when Aniston changed up her hair into either long layers or a short bob, anything she went for was sure to be a hit in the beauty world. 

“Friends” would end its run in May 2004, sealing its reputation as one of the most popular television series of all time, and Aniston’s acting career went from strength to strength. Rising in tandem with this was her reputation as one of Hollywood's classiest and most stylish stars. 

Despite the craze “The Rachel” kicked off, Aniston admitted it was not one of her favorite looks and, worst still, was incredibly hard to style on her own. The cut was created by stylist Chris McMillan, who described its genesis to The Telegraph as such:

“Back then, Jennifer had really long hair with a fringe. I told her she should grow her fringe out, get some highlights and just try something a bit different. We cut the length and added in all these layers to blend the bottom to the bangs – and the rest is history. It was an easy cut, but it needed regular trims to keep the layers looking sharp. It’s high-maintenance, not a wash-and-go style. You need to blow-dry with a round brush to help define all those flicks,” he said.

The level of maintenance needed for the style didn’t go down well with the down-to-earth Aniston, who once said, “I got that haircut and was like, ‘Wow this is amazing,’ and then I was totally left with this frizzy mop on my head, because I had no idea how to do what he did.”

On “The Graham Norton Show” in 2015, she said: “(Chris) didn’t think about, like, ‘Oh she’s going to have to do this herself – I’m having a great time being creative with this blowdryer.’ Then leave me with the round brush and the hairdryer – and I don’t know how to make it look like that!”

Aniston has made no secret of her disdain for the cut since its inception, as she told Allure in no uncertain terms, “I think it was the ugliest haircut I’ve ever seen.”

However, “The Rachel” was not the only hairstyle she abhorred.

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Clearly, Aniston “was not a fan of ‘The Rachel,’” which she described to Glamour as “kind of cringe-y.” But there was another hairdo we probably won’t see Aniston sporting again anytime soon.

“I’ve never liked the bob. I always want them, and then when I get them, I’m like, ‘What? Why did you let me do it?’ Because my hair is so curly — I have naturally wavy hair — when it’s short, it just turns into an Afro I can’t really control. I just don’t know how to style it very well. So hence me having to say (to my hairstylist), ‘Chris, please come help me with my hair,’” she told Allure.

So what’s her go-to hair strategy now? She told Glamour, “Long, natural-looking beachy waves … feels most like me,” as she added her hair routine is pretty no-nonsense. “I'll wash it, brush it, then put styling cream in and let it air-dry on its own.”

She also told Marie Claire she “is a creature of habit. I like a good, straight blowout,” before she added, “I love my hair most when we let it go raw and natural.”

She said her hair was not always the easiest to style:

“I have naturally wavy, frizzy Greek hair, and over the years it's taken a beating from blow-dryers, flatirons, curlers, and extensions, which I think are the most damaging. I couldn't get it to grow because it just kept breaking.”

As for which look she’d be most game to try, she told People: “If I knew I could instantly push it back: I’m very curious to see what I would look like with really short hair. But I’ll never do it. Never. I’m a long hair girl. It’s like a security blanket.”

What do you think of “The Rachel?” Are you a fan of Jennifer Aniston’s fashion and hairstyle choices? Let us know and don’t forget to pass this along to all your fashionable friends and family too.