Jennifer Aniston’s Colorist is Here to Save You From a Home Hair Dye Disaster
There are a lot of celebrities with great hair, but how many of them have had a whole hairstyling craze named after them? Jennifer Aniston has been setting trends with her hair since fans in the mid-nineties saw “The Rachel” debut on her hit sitcom, Friends. Although now she looks back at her old cut and cringes, she maintains her signature blonde locks with the help of her hair colorist Michael Canalé. That is, she had been until self-quarantine hit. Now that an in-person visit is no longer an option, Canalé is offering some advice to Aniston and anyone else left without professional hair care for the time being.
What does Jennifer Aniston’s colorist, Michael Canalé advise for home color maintenance?
Canalé’s website describes him as a “hair-color guru” and name drops such celebrity clients as Kyra Sedgwick, Faye Dunaway, and Denise Richards, in addition to Aniston. In a recent interview with Page Six, Canalé shared that he has been mailing out the exact hair color formulas for his VIP clients to do root touch-ups at home with the help of his guidance.
For those that can’t afford the VIP treatment, he offers this advice when choosing boxed hair dye: “Use semi-permanent for the time being, until the salons are open again. Get rid of the gray, play around with some red tones, have some fun with it knowing it’s not permanent.” He says root touch-up sprays are also a good temporary option.
He says if you are doing the hairline, to pick a color two shades lighter than the rest of your hair to account for how that area of the hair picks up color differently. He also recommends soliciting the help of a family member or loved one that may already be with you for quarantine, if possible, to apply the color.
While Canalé says it’s a good time to play around with treating your hair with oil, and maybe varying the color slightly, he advises everyone to avoid doing any big permanent changes out of boredom.
How does Jennifer Aniston care for her hair?
Aniston’s long-time hairstylist and inventor of The Rachel, Chris McMillan, said in the past that Aniston used to be a big fan of using shampoo and conditioner daily. Now, it seems, Aniston has changed it up a bit telling Glamour in 2016: “If I’m working then I usually do wash it, because it has to have continuity, but if I’m not working I try to give my hair a break for as many days as possible.” She makes sure to always only use warm water, stating that hot water is bad for the hair and skin.
Aniston is careful with her hair not only with the temperature of the water but how often she blow dries it. McMillan has said she opts to let it air dry on her off days. When she does blow dry it, Aniston just uses her fingers around her hairline and then once the roots are dry she lets the rest air-dry, or if she is fully doing it up, she’ll use a round brush and dry all of it.
Aniston said McMillon’s advice is this: “The less you mess with your hair, the better.”
Why has Jennifer Aniston stayed so consistent with her hair?
While some celebrities go through all kinds of cuts and colors whether for a role or for their own reasons, Aniston’s hair has stayed relatively the same over the years. She only sported the famous Rachel hair cut for a few months and since then usually keeps her hair mid-length to long with some light layering. She’s gone for a bob from time to time but says it’s always a mistake due to how naturally wavy her hair is.
Though Aniston has changed up the cut and style of her hair a bit, she has never really strayed very far from her sun-kissed blond look. “I’m a creature of habit. A weird creature of habit… I like Californian blonde highlights. It’s just cozy and it makes me feel better,” she told Vogue in 2017.
To keep the California blonde look up, she used to go to Canalé every four weeks. It remains to be seen how many at-home color treatments she’ll have to do on her own before quarantine is over.
