Jennifer Aniston's New Short Hair (and Her On-Set Secret Weapon)

Katherine Bernard

If Jennifer Aniston's beauty track record has taught us anything (see "The Rachel"), it's that the actress isn't afraid of taking the occasional hair risk. Just this weekend, she revealed that she had cut off more than six inches of her honey-colored hair with the help of longtime hairstylist Chris McMillan the night before. "I actually don't have any red carpets coming up. This is truly just for me!" says Aniston-who recently finished promoting director Daniel Schechter's Life of Crime (out next year) at the Toronto International Film Festival-about her swingy new jaw-grazing length. As a co-owner of Living Proof, the breakthrough beauty brand dedicated to eradicating frizz and reducing breakage, she's no stranger to a good hair day, although she admits to taking a low maintenance approach. "The best thing about Living Proof is that you don't have to wash your hair," she says of finding herself able to stretch out the time between regular shampoos. "It makes your beauty routine easy during the week." Here, fresh out of McMillan's chair, she talks about her latest transformation, why she's "not a lipstick girl," and her favorite on-set secret.

See more: The Best Wedding Moments on Vogue.com

What are your daily essentials for maintaining healthy, shiny hair?
If I'm letting it go naturally, I just shape it around my face because I have some pretty nutty cowlicks. I have a round brush that kind of gets them into position, and then I'll put Living Proof Amp 2 Instant Texture Volumizer through the hair afterward to shape it. I try to do that as much as possible just because it's less wear on my hair. If I know I'm going to blow dry it, I put in a leave-in conditioner or the Living Proof Perfect Hair Day 5-in-1 Styling Treatment that just came out. It's kind of awesome.

You changed up your red carpet hair once, in June, with a tiny braid on the side. What inspired that?
My hair is basic, but I saw a picture of somebody else wearing it, and I thought it looked cool. Normally, I want to be able to run my hands through my hair and not think about it, but I liked that style. It was simple-although yesterday Chris McMillan actually chopped all my hair off, so it's even simpler now!

See more: 10 Best Beauty Looks for All Ages

Define "chopped it all off"!
It's right at my jaw line, maybe a little longer. It was kind of spur-of-the-moment. I was flipping through the television channels and I paused it to take a picture and I sent it to Chris, and he said, "That's [stylist] Lawren Howell from Vogue!" And then he said, "I just cut that!" So that's it. He went way shorter than hers, but she was the inspiration.

And how do you feel with the new cut?
I don't know, man. I did it! I feel great. I feel lighter. It's simple, it's really simple, that's for sure. But I'm always one of those girls who does a big old chop just to get it really healthy, to repair all the [damage from] hair coloring and stuff like that. And I just got bored, honestly. It's fun to change it up once in awhile.

Read the rest of Jennifer Aniston's healthy hair secrets, exclusively at Vogue.com.

More from Vogue:
Best Met Gala Looks of All Time
100 Under $100: Fall Fashion Guide
Michelle Obama's Best-Dressed Moments