When Hailee Steinfeld posted a photo on her Instagram grid on June 22, her first since April 4, she sent fans into a frenzy.
The pic — in which she debuted a bob haircut — had her followers shook.
The actress captioned it, “hi my loves!!! it’s been a minute. life is so great. i’ll fill you in on all the BS details soon…”
And now some of those details have emerged.
In the weeks that followed, Steinfeld teased and launched a new labor of love, Beau Society, which is a newsletter she’s using to connect with her audience on a deeper level. “I think of it as a direct line where we can unpack topics far beyond what I can muster in an Instagram caption,” she wrote in her first installment.
Fast-forward to newsletter number three, and Steinfeld let fans in on her decision behind that major hair change, along with photos she and hairstylist Mara Roszak took during the transformation.
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Speaking to PEOPLE to celebrate her partnership with Neutrogena, Steinfeld said she could never remember a time when her hair was this short.
“I was going through old photos with my mom, and there’s a photo of me — I’m not kidding, I have to be nine or 10 months old in this photo — and my mom had clipped one of her ponytail [extensions] to my head. So at 10 months, this girl had long hair. I’ve never had short hair like this,” she shared.
So for years, the only change to Steinfeld’s hair were bangs every now and then.
“That started out great — did not end up great,” she said. “I love bangs so much, and it breaks my heart to admit to myself that I don’t believe they’re for me.”
Steinfeld has also dabbled with color switch-ups which she described as a “fun slippery slope.”
For years, she debated, “What can I do with my hair that is not cutting bangs, that’s not coloring it?” but wasn’t ready for a major chop.
Until now. Steinfeld said, “I finally got to a point where I was like, ‘Okay, I’m ready for some change.’ I love my long hair, but I’m carrying it around like it’s dead weight now. And I wear it up more than I wear it down and I’m constantly trying to get it out of my way. Why don’t I just try something new?”
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She then called on Roszak to work her magic. She says, initially, Roszak inched her way up, eventually cutting her hair into a lob. But Steinfeld was ready to go even shorter. “Once you get the bug it’s game over.”
Steinfeld loved the results so much, since the initial chop she’s “gone shorter.”
“Who knows what happens from here,” she said.
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Steinfeld is eager to share more moments of her life with her fans on Beau Society, a project she’s worked on for several years.
With fans able to reply to her newsletters with feedback and burning questions, Steinfeld calls it “a direct line of communication; a two-way conversation.”
“It’s a fun, meaningful, safe space that we will grow and connect and share together,” she said.
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Followers can expect more beauty content from the star, who is the glowing new face of Neutrogena’s Collagen Bank Moisturizers.
“Since working with Neutrogena, my knowledge of collagen has grown immensely,” she told PEOPLE.
“I’ve learned that we lose 1% of our skin’s collagen each year starting in our twenties. I’m 27 years old — this is the product I need right now more than ever.”
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Steinfeld uses Neutrogena’s Collagen Bank SPF 30 Moisturizer Sunscreen during the day and its bakuchoil-spiked version in the evening. She credits her good skin habits to her mother.
“She has always been so conscious of what she puts on her skin, and I’ve always been aware and appreciative of that,” Steinfeld shares.
“I have these moments all the time where I realize I’m not 12 anymore — I’m 27 — and thank God that she taught me everything she knew whether directly or indirectly, because I’m now at a point in my life where it matters to me.”
