5 Secrets Behind Jennifer Aniston's Ever-Covetable Hair

CNN banner: Jennifer Aniston Reveals "The Rachel" Not Her Greatest Hair Regret (opens in new tab). Gasp! And that's not the only secret her perennially tear-out-and-bring-to-the-salon-worthy lengths are harboring—here, a compendium of wisdom from Aniston's longtime stylist Chris McMillan and the goddess of follicles herself.

She's Also Camp No-Wash

Or rather, Camp Go as Long as You Can Without Shampooing. "I can last a good three or four days without washing my hair, and all of this stuff just kind of keeps it fresh and alive and smelling great," she said in an interview with Glamour (opens in new tab) of Living Proof's Night Cap (opens in new tab) and dry shampoo (opens in new tab). And when she does decide she's gone long enough, she sticks to warm—not hot—water to preserve her color.

She's Clever About Heat

While some of us are more averse to tongs and irons because of the damage they can wreak on ends, Aniston, when she does her own hair, gets strategic about where she aims the hot air. "I honestly just blow-dry it with my fingers around my hairline, and then I get the roots set, and then I'll let the rest of the hair air-dry," she told Allure (opens in new tab). If she's got more than an astounding 15 minutes to spend on getting ready, she'll go through the lengths with a round brush for a straighter look.

She's Not Afraid of an Unorthodox Blowout

For her September 2009 Elle cover (opens in new tab), McMillan prepped Aniston's hair—then threw everything we thought we knew about blowouts out the window. "I do what I call a 'bad blow-dry,' he said. "I vary the sizes of the round brushes—twisting the hair around them—so that I leave the hair halfway dry, halfway wet. This way, I pull the curl out but allow the hair to go into its natural form." Sounds...easier than trying to maintain arm-dryer coordination for an all-one-texture finish, actually.

She Knows That Great Color Wasn't Made in a Day

In an interview with E! (opens in new tab), colorist Michael Canalé detailed the process of taking Aniston from blonde to brunette and back again with nary an awkward stage in between. "We actually highlighted it, then we went back and blended the highlights into her hair," he said. "We dried it, then went back [to highlight] it again. So, we went from a medium brown to a light golden brown, then into a sun-kissed dark blonde." Translation: Even if you're not attempting to go from sable to platinum in one sitting ("ALL HAIRDRESSERS HATE HER"), beautiful, natural color is still a marathon, not a 50-meter dash.

She's Immune to the Vagaries of Fashun

Though she did once admit in this magazine (opens in new tab) that she's had some run-ins with cheap dye and shavers on top of the Rachel and that much-maligned bob, she's since found what works for her. (Aside: We would argue the Rachel was her *making* fashion.) "She doesn't feel the pressure to take fashion and beauty risks because she's more concerned about other things," McMillan said in Elle (opens in new tab), while also noting that that doesn't mean she doesn't pay any attention at all—she just picks and choose what aligns with the particular aesthetic we've worked to explain here. So that's not fashion—that's style.

BUY IT: 1. Living Proof Timeless Pre-Shampoo Treatment, $26; ulta.com (opens in new tab). 2. Shu Uemura Essence Absolue, $69; shopspring.com (opens in new tab). 3. Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray, $27; sephora.com (opens in new tab). 4. Ibiza Hair Extra-Large Brush, $51; store.ibizahair.com (opens in new tab). 5. Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Night Cap Overnight Perfector, $28; sephora.com (opens in new tab).

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