Celebrity Hairstylist Chris McMillan on Creating “The Rachel,” Going Viral Before Social Media, and Launching His Haircare Line

0:10Jamie Schneider:Welcome to the Who What Wear podcast, your direct line to the designers, stylists, beauty experts, editors, and tastemakers who are shaping the ever-evolving world of fashion. I'm Who What Wears co-founder and chief content officer, Hillary Kerr. And today on the show, Who What Wears senior beauty editor, Jamie Schneider, is chatting with legendary hairstylist, Chris McMillan. Chris got his start as a licensed hairstylist when he was just 19 years old. His career took off in the 90s when he created the iconic haircut we all know as The Rachel for Jennifer Aniston's character in Friends. He quickly became known for his messy, chic style, creating effortless and natural looks for celebrities like Michelle Williams and Cindy Crawford.

0:57Jamie Schneider:It was only a matter of time before his work was on the covers of Vogue, Elle, and Vanity Fair. Today, Chris runs his own luxury hair salon in Beverly Hills where he sees clients and teaches his craft to up-and-coming hairstylists. And now, after over 30 years behind the chair, he's finally launching his own signature hair care line with Sephora, including seven new products with the tagline, No Rules, Just Hair. We have all of the details and more. It's all coming up on Who What Wear.

1:39Jamie Schneider:Chris, welcome to the podcast.

1:41Chris McMillan:Thanks for having me, Jamie.

1:43Jamie Schneider:Yeah, I'm so excited to have you here to talk about your new brand. But I first want to go back to the very beginning. How did you first become interested in hair? And when did you realize it could be a career path?

1:56Chris McMillan:Okay, so I think I've always been drawn to hair. I remember watching my mom do her hair. And bath time, I'd be sitting in the bathtub while my mom was like doing her hair and makeup to go out. This is probably like early 70s. And she would tease her hair and then you would smooth it out. But I always liked it teased. And I would just say, leave it like that. It looks really good. Here I am like four years old having an opinion on how my mom should wear her hair.

2:24Jamie Schneider:Well, I read that your first client was actually your mom.

2:27Chris McMillan:I had the coolest mom who wore the coolest hair. It's all my mom's fault. When I was in junior high school, my mom had like a bleach blonde Farrah Fawcett hairstyle. And she would get her roots done. And she was like, don't worry, you don't have to style my hair. My son will do it. And I would come home and do my mom's hair better than the hairdresser could do it. And I did the perfect Farrah Fawcett curls, rake my fingers through it, spray it when the hair is back, pull it forward from the front. It had that perfect feathered hair.

3:01Jamie Schneider:Definitely still holds up today. I feel like the 70s hair moment is very much a thing. kind of going back to growing up and your interest in hair, how did you get that training? Were you like watching people doing hair? How did you get to where you are today?

3:16Chris McMillan:Well, first of all, it was offered in school as an elective. And my 10th grade summer, my mom was like, you should go to beauty school. And I was like, they're gay. And my mom was like, yeah, you should go to beauty school. And I was like, oh, okay. So I guess we got that conversation out of the way. And I did. I just ended up spending my 10th grade summer going to beauty school. And then 11th grade, I would go to school four periods a day. And then after lunch, go to beauty school. By the time I was a senior in high school, I had completed 1600 hours of beauty school. I just needed to wait to turn 18, which was November 9th, my senior year.

3:58Chris McMillan:and literally November 10th, I went to the State Board of Cosmetology in Hollywood and I took the test and I passed.

4:05Jamie Schneider:That's incredible. And you mentioned Farrah Fawcett being a really big influence for you. Were there any other cuts that you were always obsessed with and trying to recreate?

4:14Chris McMillan:I mean, I've always been drawn to pop culture and all that. Who didn't love Farrah Fawcett's hair, Charlie's Angels, all of them. I even was like, Jacqueline Smith's hair is a little underrated. Like I always noticed she had really good hair too. But then there was also like the ice skater, Dorothy Hamill. She had that wedge cut. So I always remembered like little short haircuts like that. When I was in high school, I used to hang out with this girl. We used to go roller skating and her name was Sharon Hawkins. And her mom was a hairdresser and she wore her hair kind of like Farrah Fawcett, kind of like all the girls did in high school.

4:48Chris McMillan:And then over Christmas vacation, she came back to school and she had a perm and had cut it into a bob. And she wasn't wearing bell bottoms. She was wearing skinny jeans. That's when I realized I was like, oh, my God, she's hot. She went from like 70s rocker girl and then came back from Christmas break as sort of like the new Pat Benatar or the new wave girl. And I was like, I'm obsessed. Am I obsessed with her or am I obsessed with the change? Like I saw the power of hair. And so things like that, watching people get dramatic changes and dramatic haircuts, but having it be just as beautiful. And I've always been drawn towards that.

5:34Chris McMillan:I like trends. I like trendy hair. I think hair is an accessory, just like clothing is. Your hair is just as important as the shoes. Like you could wear jeans and a t-shirt, but if you have amazing shoes and amazing hair, you are good to go.

5:49Jamie Schneider:Yeah. I mean, it's just a huge part of how you show up in the world. But speaking of pop culture, you've been responsible for some of the most iconic hairstyles in pop culture history. Of course, we have to talk about the Rachel. And I need to know, was there some kind of brief you received to give Jennifer Aniston that haircut or how did it come about that day? Okay.

6:11Chris McMillan:First of all, I was stoned out of my mind. at a Stilo hair salon. I used to take a bong hit in between each client. And no, there was no briefing. We were on the press tour around the world with the movie True Romance. And I was doing Patricia Arquette and Christian Slater's hair. And Patricia was like, I need my roots done and did her roots, blonde, and then cut her hair. I mean, when you're in France, I gave her a French bob. The next day it ended up on like the cover of Le Monde as like Patricia Arquette, Gita French Bob, she embraces French culture. And so I guess now they would call that a viral moment.

6:49Chris McMillan:And Molly Madden, who at the time and still is Patricia Arquette's manager, at that time it was like 1994, 95. Molly was like, oh my God, there's this guy, he's really good at cutting hair. I've got this girl, she's on a pilot and it was Jennifer Aniston and friends. She had just finished the pilot and they just needed her hair tweaked and cut. And she had bangs and some like curly hair and it was a little bit longer. And I was obsessed with Amber Valletta's hair. And she was in the Gucci campaign for Tom Ford. And that inspired me to cut Jennifer's hair. I was like, we grew the bangs out. We cut it to like clavicle length.

7:32Chris McMillan:And then because her bangs weren't grown out, I took a little bobby pin and pinned the bangs and then let the back of it kind of hang over. And then I gave her a blowout because there was that really smooth, like deep side part blowout on Amber and it hit the shoulder. So it kind of flipped. And so that was my inspiration for the Rachel. And I was like, this was so easy. I don't know what the fuss is about. I just went with the flow and it was fun to do.

8:00Jamie Schneider:What would you say are the keys to styling the Rachel? And how did you teach Jennifer to style it for her day to day?

8:06Chris McMillan:Well, first of all, Jennifer will be the first one to tell you she couldn't style it herself. She was just like, he suckered me into this haircut and now I need him to do my hair. I think like any good haircut, minimal effort goes a long way. And especially these days, I'm revisiting blowouts again and I am having so much fun.

8:28Jamie Schneider:What kind of blowouts are you doing? Are you doing like more of the 90s bouncy vibe?

8:32Chris McMillan:Oh, full on Cindy Crawford meets Stephanie Seymour meets Claudia Schiffer. We are going full 90s blowout. Big round brush blowouts, throwing Velcro rollers back in the hair, having fun. And also long layering hair, making sure that you see the layers, the flicky ends, really accentuating all the cut and the hair and the highlights. It's really been really fun. I'm loving Velcro rollers again.

9:04Jamie Schneider:Well, in addition to creating the Rachel, you are also the stylist behind Leslie Bibb's Cunty Little Bob in season three of The White Lotus, which, as you know, people went absolutely wild for. I think everyone wanted to chop their hair off when they saw that haircut. When one of your haircuts goes viral, what is it like to see that start trending across the public?

9:26Chris McMillan:Oh, God. It's like, oh, look, I got a thousand more followers on Instagram. You know, the country Little Bob has had quite a run. It's definitely like a fun trend for the summer. It's a little more blunt, a little more modern. I think people are like taking their bobs and tucking them behind their ears and they're flipping them from side to side. It kind of reminds me of Belinda Carlisle from the Go-Go's in the 80s. I don't take it all too serious. I just go with the flow of everything. It's been fun.

10:02Jamie Schneider:Well, do you have any favorite haircuts that you've done that maybe haven't gone viral, but you think totally should have?

10:08Chris McMillan:Oh my gosh. I mean, I cut hair every day, all day long, from short to medium to long hair, from blunt to layered. I just think that it's just really important as hairdressers these days to really show diversity when it comes to hair. You know, what happens is you do a haircut and it got a lot of likes and you become pigeonholed as that hairdresser that does that cut. And I just think it's really important to stay diverse. Like I love a micro bang. I love curtain bangs. I love Michelle Williams' pixie cut, bleach blonde. I love the Bixie on Emma Stone. I love the wolf cut, the shag. Mika wore like Mick Jagger hair.

10:58Chris McMillan:I love all those references. And they're all in my head. Bridget Bardot bangs. You know, Jane Birkin is such a great inspiration. Rosemary's Baby and the way Mia Farrow wore her hair when Vidal Sassoon cut it. To Cher and her really long hair. And I think it's just really important for people to play with their hair.

11:22Jamie Schneider:Well, taking all of those styles that you just said, whether it's a type of bang or a cut or even a color, are there any trends that you think are going to be super popular in the next few months?

11:36Chris McMillan:I'm noticing a lot of people wanting layers. That's one thing I'm noticing, whether it's like face framing layers. As the bob starts growing out, people layering their hair. It's like cutting your hair into a Rachel-esque kind of a haircut is a great option. You know, go from cutting Bob to Rachel effortlessly and easily. But to be perfectly honest, I've never been one to pigeon yourself into what is the next big trend. I think the trend is playing with your hair. People expressing their individuality with their hair is going to be the trend and people owning whatever hairstyle it is that they wear.

12:24Jamie Schneider:Well, speaking of styling, I would love to get into your own haircare line. When did you first toy with the idea of starting your own brand? Were there any specific conversations you had or inspirations where you were like, this is the next step for me?

12:40Chris McMillan:I've toyed in the world. I was contracted with Living Proof. So being with Living Proof, I went to labs in Boston and MIT, And I got to work with some amazing, amazing scientists and lab technicians on formulas and things like that. And then I worked with Tiffany Masterson hand in hand with the Drunk Elephant line. I also learned about ingredients with them because she's very specific about the ingredients that she allows in Drunk Elephant. And I just finished my contract with Drunk Elephant. And my husband, Kenny, he's like, you have this amazing life. You have an amazing career. You make plenty of money doing what you do as a hairdresser in the salon, doing commercials, working freelance.

13:28Chris McMillan:Like, why don't you do your own thing? Basically, he said, like, if you did your own brand, what would it look like? And so I started pulling like old reference pictures and old Avedon pictures because Avedon always has like hair flying and old like graphics that I used to love from the 70s, like old Vidal Sassoon ads. We kind of like started that from there. And then one step led to another. He had a roommate at the time whose family did aloe vera products in Texas. Her name was Kathy and it was a place called Fruit of the Earth. And she goes, oh my God, Chris McMillan is your boyfriend? I am obsessed with him.

14:13Chris McMillan:Let's do a hair care product together. Come to Texas. We will show you our plant. We will show you everything. So we took a little field trip to Texas, went to Fruit of the Earth and got a taste of like they do everything from the manufacturing to the packaging to the storage to the delivery system. It was like four warehouses, a hothouse that did aerosols. I learned so much in two days by going to these plants. Granted, we didn't end up working with her, but she definitely watered the seed. and we just started climbing these brick walls and getting over to the other side. I guess then I started talking to Tiffany Masterson about it from Drunk Elephant.

14:57Chris McMillan:And she was just like, it needs to be your DNA. It needs to be authentic to you. This is what I did because I started talking to other founders and other people and how they started growing their business. And then I remember I was just like, who do I think I am that I could have a brand of my own? My friend Vicky, her husband, David, he goes, the day you picked up a pair of scissors, Chris, is the day you started your brand. And when he said that, I was like, that I can get behind. I love working in a hair salon. I love teaching other hairdressers. There's so much positive takeaway from doing hair.

15:36Chris McMillan:You really do get to, like, change people's lives and make people happy and make people feel good about themselves. So that's kind of like where it spawned, like the brand.

15:45Jamie Schneider:Okay, so I'd love to talk product specifics. You're launching with the Classic Styling Kit, which lands at Sephora.com on August 12th. I'd love if you could just walk me through each of the products and how they make your styling routine easier.

16:00Chris McMillan:I have a drawer at my station and it's got like 50, maybe 60 products in it. And basically I grab like seven of those products on a daily basis. And then every time I do someone's hair, they're like, oh my God, I love my hair. How can I do this myself? So I just created my core products that I use and or that I mix together. Everyone's hair, I use a blow dry spray, which is sort of like a prep spray that I use. It cuts the blow dry in half. It takes the frizziness out of the hair. It adds a lot of shine, keeps the humidity out. It's kind of like Oleo Relax by Kerastase. And then I also like dream coat.

16:42Chris McMillan:And it's kind of like if those two had a baby, but it's weightless. It's like water. It smells like copper tone meets band of soleil, orange delay number four. All my scents are sort of an undertone. Like I love the idea of layerable. You can use a lot of it. You can't use too much of it. Like you can't make a mistake. And then the second day is like after I do a blowout, I put your head upside down and And I'll put a little texture spray. I love the Living Proof dry shampoo, but I also love Orbe's dry texture spray. And I kind of used to simultaneously spray those two. And I basically took those two and turned it into one product.

17:25Chris McMillan:And so it has the properties of a dry shampoo without the powdery residue. And then it also has the texture, which I love messy, chunky, textury hair. and it takes the preciousness out of the hair is what I call it. So it's kind of like day old hair, like you just slept on it. It's kind of has that good chunky texture. And then what I do after I do that is I take the balm and a serum again, like I would take Oleo Relax again, do a drop of that with a little paste and I mix them together. And then I use that on the ends of the hair just to kind of take the preciousness out of the ends of the hair and define the layers and define the texture of the ends of the hair.