Celebrity hair transformations

It’s likely no surprise that stories on celebrity hair makeovers perform crazily well for women’s fashion/beauty/lifestyle websites. Hence why we beauty journos pen them so often.

‘Angelina Jolie is now a blonde’… ‘Jennifer Lopez debuts a chic new fringe’… ‘Meghan Markle looks unrecognisable with a blunt bob’… Okay, the last one is a fantasy – the clicks on that would exceed my monthly traffic targets in a single day – but you know the kind I’m talking about. They inspire with expert insights, and translate a trend with some key takeaways.

Rarely are these kinds of stories facilitated by PRs; social media and photo agencies are our big allies here. But you can help with them by enabling quotes from hair pros turned around at pace (because we all need to know how the bob was cut, who else the style would suit, and if it’s something increasingly requested in salons), as well as providing product recommendations.

When it comes to the latter, if I were representing a hair care/styling brand, I’d prioritise getting an email out as soon as you spot someone of note sporting a new ‘do which resonates with their offerings. Surprisingly, we’re not inundated with these.

J-Lo’s new haircut, for example, was shared on her Instagram last Friday, and I published a story about it on Monday morning. I thought some PRs might have pinged over product recommendations hooked on her in that time, but there was nothing of the kind that I spotted. Not even via the brand her hairstylist worked with on the look. Given how well-read the simple story was, it could have been very worthwhile pitching a suitable product for inclusion.

Obviously, this isn’t rocket science (writing about a hair transformation, or recommending a product/service to help channel it), but there’s no shame in taking quick wins when we can. As I’ve said before, it always pays to behave like a journalist when working with one.