Friends remains one of America’s most beloved sitcoms, 32 years after it debuted in September 1994. Actress Jennifer Aniston played Rachel Green, one of the six besties at the center of the show. One of the most iconic things to come from the ’90s show’s 10 seasons was Aniston’s haircut, dubbed “The Rachel.” Hairstylist Chris McMillan created the layered bob-style ‘do.
In a recent TikTok video, McMillan spilled the details behind how “The Rachel” came to be—and how it was purely by accident. “Yes, there’s a story,” he said, leading into the tale.
Here’s how ‘The Rachel’ haircut started
In the video, McMillan dives right in. “So I always had an opinion on people’s hair. So when I met Jennifer, I was like, ‘Girl, you need to grow those bangs out’,” he says.
Jennifer came into Estilo, the hair salon McMillan was working in at the time, to have him work his magic.
“She had kind of this, like, billowy, curly hair…some bangs, some layers. And so I sort of was like, she has a small forehead. Rule #1: When you have a little forehead, you shouldn’t cut bangs. If you do, you have a strategy behind it.”
To fix the hair faux pas, he made some tweaks.
“All I wanted to do was grow her bangs out,” he says. “I took a little bobby pin, pinned it over on the side. Brought her length up to here (he gestures to just below the collarbone) and layered everything to her bangs and gave her a blowout.”
‘The Rachel’ comes to fruition
Once properly cut and styled, nature took over.
“That’s when that sort of wall of hair started growing out,” says McMillan. “The layers, they were kind of at her shoulder, so they sort of flicked out. That was the creation of ‘The Rachel’.”
It was totally “by accident,” he adds, “by just growing the bangs out and bringing the length up and giving the hair a blowout. It was more of what we grew into.”
McMillan shares that at the time he styled Aniston’s hair, he was in his mid-20s, adding that “The Rachel” featured a “deep side part, a little fullness at the top, and little flicky layers.”
Aniston’s hair would continue to evolve.
“Then we started bringing it up, and we gave her a ‘lob’, and the layers became less,” adds McMillan. “And then the lob grew down to here (motioning below the chest). I think Jennifer Aniston just has really amazing hair.”
He went on to describe Aniston’s current cut as “sort of mid-length with long layers shaped around the face. Super simple, healthy. The color is really important, that ‘bronde’ (brown-blonde) color. That face-framing ‘money shot’ blonde is my favorite part. Just when you thought ‘The Rachel’ was gone, it’s back.”
Fans react to ‘The Rachel’ haircut
In the video’s comment section, Friends fans shared their stories of having “The Rachel” haircut and more:
“Love the Rachel. My hair never looked so good as when I had it.”
“I had the Rachel🤣.”
“My fav style of all time.”
“It was pure genius!”
“Iconic! Had so many clients wanting this style.”
“No offense but as a hairdresser in the 90s, oh my God, I hated that Haircut! That’s all I did for several years on every female from age 16 to about 40.”
“That will always be the best hair of all time and it looked good on everyone!”
“Amazing, creative genius 💕.”
