Jennifer Aniston’s luscious blonde locks are almost as famous as she is, but are they all her own, or does she use hair extensions as well?
Jennifer Aniston used to wear hair extensions for years. She stopped wearing them when she realized they were damaging her real hair, and other than a couple of minor relapses, she has stopped wearing them completely now.
Jennifer Has an Iconic History of Hairstyles
Jennifer started off her pre-fame years with her natural dark hair; in fact, she used to be a Goth in high school as well!
She went lighter and lighter with her hair color when she was on Friends. Rachel started with short, beachy waves, but soon the Rachel Bob emerged – and shook salons across the country when fans continued to request it.
Jennifer actually ended up hating this haircut rather soon!
She said, “I got that haircut, that 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 [Chris McMillan] did,” meaning that the cut was difficult to maintain and style.
The Rachel Bob started growing out by the third season of Friends, but this was still Jennifer’s natural hair. In fact, when it grew out fully, Jennifer even started to wear her hair in its natural wavy texture on occasion.
Jennifer experimented with sleek styles and updos as her hair got longer, and sometimes changed the color as well; going both darker and lighter at times. Around 1999, she discovered extensions, and went all-in with very long ones! She kept these for a while until the Rachel Bob made a revamped, blunter appearance a couple of years later.
Since then, Jennifer had been wearing hair extensions for the most part, but to different extents, until she officially announced in 2011 that she was done with them.
Harper’s Bazaar has ranked some of Jennifer’s most memorable hairstyles over the years, and these include, of course, the Rachel Bob that we have already talked about; the updo she wore to the 1998 premiere of The Object of My Affection, which was made up of tiny ponytails; the hair she wore to The Guys’ Choice Awards of 2013, tightly braid on one side and more adventurous than she usually goes for; and the wig she wore for her role in Squirrels to the Nuts!
Jennifer Abandoned Extensions for Damaging Her Hair
In 2011, Jennifer and her stylist, Chris McMillan, shocked everyone by chopping off any remnants of the Rachel hair for a chic bob.
Chris said, “I’m loving bobs again. I love the girl in the YSL ads. It’s a sexy look. The reason that I’m loving a bob at the moment… There are so many long, layered hairstyles and-don’t get me wrong, I love that. But The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills all have that. You know what I mean? And what’s the opposite direction you can go in?”
To this, Jennifer added, “It’s nice to take the extensions out of the hair and do something more natural.”
When questioned further, Jennifer revealed that the real reason behind this dramatic change was more logistical; her real hair was starting to suffer. “The real reason I cut my hair? My real hair was getting thinned out again from all the extensions. It was starting to look fake.”
She has worn extensions on certain occasions since then, such as at Portia De Rossi’s birthday party, but she doesn’t keep the, for long.
Jennifer Goes For More Natural Hair Now
Even after she ditched the hair extensions, Jennifer kept her hair relatively similar for years; softly blow-dried and sleek. Lately, though, she has been rocking her natural hair with minimal styling, and her waves look as amazing as her blowouts did.
The first time she showed off her natural hair texture was at the premiere of The Morning Show, in which she co-stars with Reese Witherspoon. Chris McMillan took to Instagram to explain how he did her hair that way, with very minimal touch-ups to let the texture shine through.
However, Jennifer has always loved straight hair, ever since she was a child, so who knows if she’ll keep her waves.