Hands up if you’ve ever felt personally victimised by a bad haircut. Although, it’s a humbling experience, it’s also incredibly relatable. Just about everyone has a hair horror story to tell, even some of the most prolific names in the modelling industry, like Cindy Crawford.
The 57-year-old revealed in an interview in Apple TV+’s The Super Models that her worst haircut was so traumatising that it’s made her extremely nervous about stepping out of her comfort zone and trying new things when she goes to the salon, even now.
In the documentary mini-series, Cindy recalls being invited to Rome to shoot with late photographer Patrick Demarchelier, an impressive name in the fashion industry who’s work has been featured countless times in Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and who famously captured some of the most intimate portraits of Princess Diana in the ’90s.
Understandably, Cindy was incredibly excited to work with such an established photographer so early in her career, and said she thought it was a “great opportunity” at the time.
However, things quickly went south when an impromptu trim turned into something the model hadn’t bargained for. “The very first night, they send the hairdresser to my room to give me a ‘trim’,” she explained in the documentary. “[Then] they comb my hair, put it in a ponytail and chop my ponytail off without asking.”
Considering the Pepsi commercial that launched the American bombshell’s career involved an impressive amount of hairography, we can only imagine how royally peeved she must have been having her money-making look messed with, and without her permission no less.
“I really felt I was not seen as a person who had a voice in her own destiny,” she explained to the interviewer. “It wasn’t that I didn’t like my hair short, it was that I hadn’t voted myself into having short hair.”
“I just sat there in a hotel in Rome crying,” she confessed.
“People wonder why I’ve never really cut my hair since then – that’s why,” she continued. “I was so traumatised.”
The experience made her second guess more than just how she cuts her hair too. She even considered leaving the industry because of it. She recalled thinking at the time: “If this is what it means to be a model, I’m just not ready for this.”
Thankfully, she stuck it out. She forged an impressive career that’s spanned the past 40 years. She’s even influenced new generations of models (including her daughter, Kaia Gerber) to build lasting reputations of their own. Plus, her iconic blowout has been a source of inspiration for countless trips to the salon everywhere.
@premierhairandmakeup CINDY CRAWFORD Hair by #sammcknight using @Hair By Sam McKnight and Makeup by #marygreenwell #cindycrawford #fyp #bts #model #supermodel #vogue #appletv #london #mua #hair #beauty #fashion #lfw #londonfashionweek #shows #talent ♬ som original – yeezz
Main image credit: Getty
What’s the worst haircut you’ve ever had?
She is so lovely and her hair is gorgeous
Yep, she has such a great mane of hair
Short? When where…
She looks ok with whatever length.
I’ve been watching that show, it was pretty bad the way they cut it without her permission.
I think in the day young women were a commodity and not treated as people who had rights in that type of business. Thank goodness she stuck it out as she is amazing
She was definitely blessed beyond measure with great genes!
Yes she is a stunner with great bone structure.
You’re right – that’s taking too much liberty!
Not many bad ones, I don’t go for big changes
I have had a few bad haircuts where the hairdresser has just cut my hair too short when all I asked for was a light trim and shaping.
Alot of them do it, I don’t trust hairdressers now, I just get my husband to help me do it myself.
I didn’t know that about her hair trauma and I’d never seen that ad before either. Mmm I was living under a rock. though I was just a kid when that ad came out I suppose
If there was good hair extensions available back then it may not have been as traumatic for Cindy – a bit of a back door available these days
My mum cut me a fringe when I was a child. I remember hating it and being laughed at when I went to school.
OMG that would freak me out too.
gosh, it just aint the same these days
I had a bob twice – once in childhood & once as a young adult. It looked dreadful both times, so never again!
Oh god, I remember a few bad short haircuts I’ve had over the years. Thank god for hats!
Would be curious to see her with a bad haircut