Come 1994 and Friends was the TV sitcom du jour. But, other than the laughs it left its audience with and the fashion trends it inspired, it was Rachel’s iconic haircut that took the world by storm. And it turns out, even celebrities weren’t immune to the power of the trim.
For Jessica Alba, she was only 13 years old at the time, but that didn’t stop her marching off to try the shoulder-length, multi-layered haircut for herself.
In an interview with Glamour, the Honest Beauty founder shared that she took herself to the hair stylist who created Jennifer Aniston’s famous trim to get the look—much to the dismay of her parents.
“When I started acting, I actually got a haircut from Chris McMillan, who did the Rachel cut from Friends. And I think it was actually my first official haircut that my mum didn’t give me,” she told the publication. “My hair was down to my butt and when I came home with the Rachel cut, it was like these really extreme layers.”
And Alba’s parents were far from pleased with her decision to bid adieu to her locks, given that their Mexican-American upbringing had certain expectations when it came to her hair.
“I grew up in a Mexican-American family and they really feel like girls’ hair should be long,” she explained. My dad tried to ground me. It was so crazy. I kind of feel like hair… you should just have fun with it; it grows.”
Of course, Alba was hardly the first and certainly not the last women opting for Aniston’s famous cut. In fact, Jodie Comer even debuted the look at this year’s Wimbledon tournament.
The haircut itself, ‘The Rachel’, was named after Aniston’s on-screen character and quickly became one of the most wanted and famous trims available to women, after Princess Diana’s iconic ‘do.
While Alba needed no help getting her career off the ground, she hopes to help women around the world truly understand the beauty that they have to offer from the inside. Speaking on her favourite beauty hack, she explained why inner beauty has become so important to her, after years in the spotlight.
“Growing up in entertainment, there’s so much emphasis on appearance and trying to fit some mould that feels on trend… of what you should look like or not look like or what is beautiful,” she shared.
“And I really feel like the more I worked on myself and I felt confident in my own skin, that’s when I felt the most beautiful. And wildly, it happened after I was 30.”
You can check out Alba’s clean and sustainable range of beauty, body, cleaning and wellness offerings at The Honest Company here.
