5 Celebrities Who Look So Much Better With Short Hair

When celebrities with long hair suddenly chop their locks off, it can be a gasp-inducing moment. Some haircuts have fans asking why they would ever get rid of their signature look, while others deserve a standing ovation for their daring new 'do. While it may seem hard to believe that short hair makes a celeb look better, certain cuts bring out their features and make us see their faces in a whole new light.

Michelle Williams is a perfect example of how a pixie cut just made her look more ethereal. The actor sported long blond hair when fans saw her playing Jen Lindley in "Dawson's Creek," and while she played around with different lengths during her time on the show, Williams went for a super dramatic cut in 2007. She's since kept her hair short in honor of her late boyfriend, Heath Ledger, who told her that he loved her with cropped hair. Whether she sports the fan-fave pixie or a bob, she just proves that she's one of many stars who know how to rock a short style.

Halle Berry has been known for her short hair since she started her acting career, and it's actually what helped her land her first role. "When I got this haircut, I felt like my best self. I had no hair to hide behind. It was just all me, take it or leave it, love it or hate it. It was who I was. I cut my hair short when I first became an actor and I finally got a job and I think that was because the directors and producers actually saw me," she told InStyle (via PureWow).

Throughout the years, Berry's strayed from her pixie cut and has shown off a soft shoulder-length style and an even more dramatic back-grazing straight look. However, she would often go back to her signature pixie from time to time with varying styles, such as the deep side part with an undercut that she wore in 2022. The "X-Men" actor shared in a 2012 interview with Elle, "I love short hair — that's me, that's who I am. I just feel confident and feel like my best self when I have short hair. But it's fun to change sometimes."

With Selena Gomez's luscious thick chocolate brown hair, there are endless styling possibilities. While the "Only Murders in the Building" star has mainly kept her hair on the long side over the years, she's the ultimate hair chameleon. She sometimes even uses extensions to switch from short to long, which she admitted to in an interview with Lilly Singh back in 2015. After she complimented the YouTube vlogger on her hair, Singh proudly declared that it was real and invited Gomez to pull her locks to confirm that it was. Gomez then checked her roots for extensions and told her, "Yeah, it's so nice. Mine, however, is very fake."

The "Lose You to Love Me" singer has cut her long hair here and there, inspiring many fans to go for a chop. While Gomez is known for changing her style in the blink of an eye, such as rocking curtain bangs with short hair, we think that a bob is the perfect length for her.

Talk about a dedicated actor! When Anne Hathaway starred as Fantine in the film version of "Les Misérables," the scene in which her character cuts off her long locks was actually real. It turns out that Hathaway herself suggested a true-to-life moment and had another actor hack off most of her hair, per USA Today. Her hair and makeup artist, Paul Gooch, took over but he did too nice of a job. "I pulled Paul aside and said, 'It has to look like you hacked it off casually with a knife,'" director Tom Hooper recalled. "Luckily, at the last minute, he was able to make it nasty." While it made the scene look authentic and the role earned Hathaway an Oscar, she admitted on "Live with Kelly!" that cutting her hair off was traumatic (via Cinemablend). "I was inconsolable," she shared.

Still, the actor made the most out of her haircut and she had fun with the adorable pixie while waiting for her locks to grow back out. In 2013, she debuted a bleached blond color at the Met Gala. According to E! News, Hathaway's short 'do was voted the most influential movie hair by voters in a poll conducted by the Hairdressing Council of Great Britain and Universal Pictures. We're sure many fans ran to the salon after seeing the "One Day" star's cropped cut.

Let's face it — Rihanna can wear her hair any which way and look amazing. Still, a pixie cut with long bangs has a way of bringing out the "Umbrella" singer's gorgeous hazel eyes and high cheekbones. Known for her long wavy tresses, Rihanna first cut her hair short into a chin-grazing bob in 2007, which evolved into an angled cut. Then, the following year, she showed off a super-short cropped style, which she kept for a few years. She even added an undercut, which showed off her punk rock side.

With Rihanna's ever-changing style, you never know what you'll get next with the pop star. She's gone from short neon red curls to long bleached blond waves. However, we love a good pixie on the mom of two and it even gave her an edgier feel apart from her girl-next-door persona. "When I cut my hair, the whole sound changed, my style changed," Rihanna told Vogue. Whether or not she can credit her musical success to cutting off all her hair, there's no denying that it gave her star power.

When you think of a mullet, the words "cool" and "trendy" don't always come to mind, but Miley Cyrus proved the contrary when she went through a stunning hair transformation in 2020. "New Hair. New Year. NEW MUSIC!," she shared on Instagram, debuting the shaggy haircut. "Not a mullet!!!" a fan commented with a fire emoji. "So obsessed I cut my hair the same!!" another replied. It turns out that the professionally-looking haircut was done by Miley's mom, Tish Cyrus, with the help of hairstylist to the stars, Sally Hershberger, per People. During the COVID-19 lockdown, the "Flowers" singer wanted a cross between a pixie and a mullet, and Hershberger guided Tish in the chop over FaceTime. "Miley loved the final look as much as I did! It's so cool and daring to mesh together two styles into one that really expresses her own sense of style," the hair expert stated.

Cyrus let her mullet grow out into a choppy wolf cut, which was in line with the 2021 trend. We think both short hairdos match her rock-and-roll energy and it's a great throwback to her father Billy Ray Cyrus' 1980s cut — even if they are reportedly feuding. Maybe all it takes is a discussion about mullets to bring them back together.