Team Zoe Shares Their Worst Hair Blunders

We don’t know a single person who hasn’t had their fair share of bad hair days—or even bad hair months. The pursuit of #HairGoals can sometimes lead down a windy, regrettable path. Since we don’t want you bleaching yourself bald or giving yourself layers at the bathroom mirror, we’re sharing our own hair horror stories. Please, learn from our mistakes! (And share your worst hair blunders in the comments below.)

Hair Stories

"In high school, I couldn't leave the house without dousing my hair in Elnett."

—Rachel Zoe, Editor in Chief

"My mother insisted on my having bangs and a long bob for my entire childhood. At the tender age of 5 I took matters into my own hands (clearly my vanity started very young), and used kitchen scissors to cut my bangs to the root. There are very few pictures of me that year..."

—Nicky Deam, Editorial Director

"I had a boyfriend who hated my short hair (I had an asymmetrical bob at one point), so he convinced me to get extensions. They were super high quality hair extensions that were done by an expert, but I'm notoriously poor at investing time into my appearance and extensions require a lot of effort to maintain. Plus, for some reason my stylist, who I love and adore to this day, thought we should keep them super long for my two week trip to Brazil. I'm not sure the pictures do justice to just how crazy/trashy they looked!"

—Erin Bunch, Red Carpet Editor

“I used to dye my hair myself, and to avoid that telltale warm yellow, bottled blonde look, I went way too far in the opposite direction and opted for the ashiest tones I could find. Here I am as a sophomore in high school rocking the most nondescript dishwater shade of all time, which looks all the more strange contrasted with my very orange spray tan. Sigh."

—Kristi Mikesky, Features Editor

"I don't have a picture to illustrate, but in high school, I dyed the complete bottom layer of my hair red—like, candy apple red. This was my inspiration, if that tells you anything."

—Jessica Novak, Content Strategy Director

“Aggressively going platinum is by far my worst—after a series of double-process appointments way too close together, the majority of my hair broke off, leading to a disastrous ‘do for over a year. Thank goodness my hair is finally healthy and back to normal!”

—Laura Lajiness, New York Editor

"I have incredibly curly hair and a few years ago I went for my normal hair trim with my normal stylist, and he cut it wet and cut it way too short. Like, way too short. When it dried it shrunk up to nothing. I looked like a mushroom. I wore my hair back every day for eight months and refused to get a haircut for three entire years after that. I'm still incredibly nervous when I get my hair cut, and tell the whole story to whoever is cutting it, making them promise not to take too much off. Even now I'll let my hair grow long, knotty and generally out of control before I'll give in and get a trim."

—Sari Tuschman, Editor at Large

"When I was a teenager I tried giving myself layers because my parents didn’t want me to cut my long locks. I took a razor to my hair and accidentally took a chunk out of the side of my head. It was too short to hide so all I could do was wait for it to grow back—which took a whole year!"

—Sam Corbett, Graphic Designer

"The only thing more shameful than my lopsided Snooki poof is this hideous sequined dress."

—Claudia Graziano, Social Media Coordinator

"The weird chunk of straightened side bangs complemented by a whole head of tight curls—oh, to be young! In my defense, my hair was so thick that anything I did to it looked like a huge 'do."

—Stephanie Montes, Senior Beauty Editor