If Hollywood’s latest red carpets are any indication, women are embracing short hair. Clockwise from lower left: Quinta Brunson, Halle Berry, Doja Cat, Emma Stone, Brandi Carlile and Raye.Illustration by Photo Illustration by The Globe
If Hollywood’s latest red carpets are any indication, short hair is making a comeback in 2025 and women are embracing this trend. At the 97th Academy Awards ceremony, Emma Stone, Halle Berry, Doja Cat and Brandi Carlile were among the stars proving there’s a wide range of cropped looks for strands of all types and textures.
“A great short cut can make a woman feel confident,” says Dylan Sit, hairstylist and salon owner of The DnV in Toronto, “The shorter shaggy bob has been a big request lately. With Stone rocking the pixie, I think a lot more people will be asking to go even shorter.”
Whether styled as a shaggy bob, a pixie cut or even a buzz cut, there’s more than aesthetics at play. “Short hair for women speaks to moments of significant change in their lives, whether that’s through evolving roles in society owing to war, politics and shifting freedoms,” says Rachael Gibson, a hair historian based in London, U.K.
A struggling economy also influences an uptick in short styles. During Japan’s recession in the 1990s, researchers at a Japanese cosmetics company found more women choosing haircuts above the collarbone, followed by long hair returning to favour in the early 2000s when its economy improved.
“Hair is, generally speaking, something we have complete control over,” Gibson says, “When we’re going through a difficult time, it allows us to take control of at least one part of our lives.”
The arrival of the bob is a prime example of exercising choice. Gibson cites the growing popularity of the style to French couturier Paul Poiret who introduced it in his fashion show in 1908, while hairdresser Antoine de Paris is credited with inventing the look during the same era. In 1917, designer Coco Chanel’s chin-length crop made the bob a fashionable choice during and after the First World War, when cutting hair short was associated with emancipation and liberation.
Following the Second World War, Gibson credits Audrey Hepburn and Jean Seberg as needle movers for short styles in the 1950s and 60s, respectively. “The 1990s was another stand out era, once again in line with women’s politics and third-wave feminism,” she says, pointing to the strength denoted by the pixie cuts and bobs worn by powerful figures such as Mary J. Blige, Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction, Anna Wintour and Linda Evangelista.
But will having short hair save you time and money? Yes and no. “Short hair is low maintenance for every day, but high maintenance on upkeep,” says Sit, “What you save in time and hair care product, you will pay for with more frequent salon visits.”
For clarity on the cost of having short hair, we asked three women to share how much they spend and what they’ve gained beyond a new look.
Amy Czettisch, 45, creative strategist, owner of Redbox and Makejoy
Amy Czettisch.Amy Czettisch/Supplied
How much I spend on my short hair:
“This year I’m budgeting about $1,400 for maintenance cuts, depending on whether I go in every six and a half or eight weeks.”
My short hair story:
“My curly hair has been short on and off since I was around eight years old. By grade 10 it was gone. I had a bleached crew cut which felt amazing, so freeing.
In my 30s, I loved having long curls that fell to the middle of my back, it was like having a hair scarf, and very much a part of my identity. I never thought I’d do short hair again as I got older because I didn’t think it would be flattering to my jawline. But now that I’m in my mid-40s, there’s a sense of knowing that I am not my hair. Short curls also don’t require as much styling effort, and the day-to-day results are more predictable.
Last summer, I started transitioning to short hair and from getting it coloured with highlights. I knew I would go grey early in life because my father did too. Cutting it short got rid of the last of the hair dye.
I had a version of this cut with longer layers at the front, which frames my face and adds texture, in university. But now I’m paying attention to how I accessorize with eyeglasses and lipstick colours to add dimension and enhance the tones of my complexion.”
Brigitte Truong, 37, host of Homegirl Nation Podcast and co-founder of RALLY, a coming event which teaches teens to live healthy digital lives
Brigitte Truong.Brigitte Truong/Supplied
How much I spend on my short hair:
“Since my chop last fall, I’ve spent about $1,800 on salon visits for cuts, colour and conditioning treatments.”
My short hair story:
“My mom gave me an uneven mushroom cut as a kid, and it took me 30 years to get over the trauma. I was bullied badly, since then I’ve always rocked very long hair.
Over time, I realized that I was using my hair as a mask or blanket to hide under. It wasn’t serving my self-esteem; it was weighing me down. That really was the reason for the chop. I held out several years before getting a blunt bob last October, a style the internet makes really chic and manageable-looking.
My hairstylist Gabo Hernandez Rojas, director of GaBo on Queen Salon [in Toronto], recommended buying an affordable wig beforehand to see how I’d like the length. At the time I wanted to listen to my gut, which said just go for it. When I first got it cut, I felt like a new person! It was very liberating. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I can feel the air on the back of my neck!’ I just felt lighter.
But I didn’t anticipate the maintenance. I quickly realized honouring the shape meant going to the salon every two months. You’ve got to find the time, and you also pay for it.
Then, in January when I started having to wear toques my head looked like a bowling ball. That was a big turning point, so now I’m growing it out. Daily styling is quick but short hair is a lot of work and you need to factor in things like wearing hats and not being able to tie it up.”
Angie Di Battista, 43, freelance makeup artist
Angie Di Battista.Angie Di Battista/Supplied
How much I spend on my short hair:
“I spend approximately $1,250 a year on haircuts. A perfect schedule for me is a cut every five weeks, and I pay $120 every visit.”
My short hair story:
“I grew up heavily influenced by music and pop culture, a child of the TV generation who watched a ton of 1990s music videos. For grade 10, I decided to shave my head and bleach it blonde like Annie Lennox of The Eurythmics. Throughout my teens I had haircuts inspired by Linda Evangelista, Natalie Imbruglia, Jennifer Lopez and T-Boz from TLC. I was also obsessed with the hairstyles of Halle Berry and Nia Long. I connected having short hair to being beautiful and confident, and was always trying to lean into that, even when I wasn’t feeling that way myself.
I’ve had my pixie for over a decade. My job can be labour-intensive, so I want my hair to be easy and effortless. I don’t want to have to think about it. Meanwhile, it’s a very high maintenance haircut! It’s also the most expensive thing you can ever dream of. But I love that it always looks like it’s a style. Even when I’m not fully together, I feel like my hair is.
What makes it work is the balance of masculine and feminine elements. It took me a long time to figure out what I was seeing in certain hairstyles I really liked. My cut is a combination of a traditional textured pixie on top with a fade on my sides and the bottom. That sharpness, versus having wispy bits, creates duality. I give all credit to my stylist, Elio Miguel at Morrison & Co. Finding the right short haircut is an evolution.”
These interviews have been edited and condensed.
