Watch Lily Collins give herself a blunt bob

This past Friday, actor Lily Collins traded her long and layered lengths for a blunt bob, a shift primed for both press runs and the warmer months ahead. “I honestly just wanted to change things up again and surprise myself,” says Lily Collins of the chop. “It’s not necessarily for a role.” Even so, the timing aligns with the July release of Ti West’s MaXXXine – in which Collins plays a 1980s starlet – as well as the arrival of season four of Emily in Paris in August.

“I hadn’t seen Lily for a while and when she sat down in the chair she said, ‘What’s our next look?’” says her longtime hairstylist Gregory Russell, who keeps a folder of ideas for Collins. The two settled on a bespoke bob, while her colourist Jacob Schwartz took her to a slightly deeper brunette shade.

The dry cut began with a little fun – and Collins took a first swipe with the scissors. From there, Russell stepped in, taking the up half-inch-by-half-inch to its final destination, a crop that finished below the chin. “We had the long hair for some time and we did layers, bangs, face-framing… we did a lot,” says Russell. “We thought this would be a chic switch-up.” Post-blowout, Russell waved Collins’s bob with the help of a flat iron, Pureology’s Texture Finishing Spray offering mussed movement, a touch Shine Bright Taming Serum (also used for pre-blowout prep), pulled through the ends for added definition.

While this is not the first time Collins has embraced a shorter style (the actor rocked a pixie in 2015, subsequently enjoying the requisite grow-out iterations), the cut and its milk-chocolate hue offer an effortless addition to the 2024’s procession of stylised bobs. “Changing my hair always brings out different sides of my personality and I love playing around,” says Collins. “This cut and colour feels bolder and yet somehow lighter. And completely more me – right now.”