According to Hollywood, June is official haircut season: Just this month, Kaia Gerber chopped her hair into a dramatic bob, Hilary Duff tried curtain bangs, and even Reese Witherspoon got a little trim. Now, newlywed Lea Michele has become the most recent A-list advocate of the pre-summer haircut — and it might just be the most enviable transformation we've seen all year so far.
Yesterday, the former Glee star shared a selfie on Instagram that made her fans do a serious double take. Her signature long, shiny brunette waves are gone, and have been replaced by a trendy, shoulder-length lob glazed with sunlit blonde highlights — the definition of summer-fresh hair.
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The new lob came courtesy of Michele's longtime stylist Laura Polko, who styled the short cut in a polished centre part with loose, delicate waves, and tells us that the chop was all Michele's idea.
“Lea typically loves her hair long, but she wanted to take a little of the ends," Polko explains. "We kept it blunt and a bit A-line, so we wouldn’t lose the front layering, which left her with a chic cut that’s not an in-between length, and also not too short.”
The matching highlights, a melted caramel balayage, came from L.A.'s go-to colourist Nikki Lee, who told us back in March that the lightness is actually partly natural — as in, genuinely sunkissed — thanks to Michele's beachside honeymoon locale. "On Lea’s honeymoon, her hair got lighter, so I just glossed her hair to that beautiful sunlight colour," Lee said. "We wanted to make sure it didn’t get brassy. It’s the perfect colour for spring and summer."
We have to agree: The softer brown colour is so perfect for 2019 vacation season, as is the crisp, shoulder-grazing length. Yet another example of the power, and universal wearability, of a fresh mid-length haircut.