If you weren’t at least a teenager in the ‘90s or 2000s, it’s hard to fully explain the unrelenting grip Meg Ryan‘s hair had us on back then. We loved her curls in When Harry Met Sally, her bixie in You’ve Got Mail (not to mention the curly version of it in City of Angels), and my personal favorite: the shaggy, layered lob — frequently worn wavy — that accompanied her adorable head for what I casually yet confidently estimate were the vast majority of her public appearances between 1999 and 2005. And just like the actor is making a rom-com comeback, so is that iconic hairstyle.
Ryan has made appearances on talk shows over the last couple of days to promote What Happens Later, the new romantic comedy that she both stars in and directed. (The film, also starring David Duchovny, has an interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA allowing them to participate in promoting during the ongoing strike.) Prior to this week, and for quite some time, she’d been seen wearing her hair much like it is in the movie: wavy and shoulder-length at its shortest.
But just in time to celebrate this long-awaited return to rom-coms, Ryan has cut her hair in a way that’s simultaneously nostalgic and timelessly chic.
On October 31, Meg Ryan was a guest on Late Night With Seth Meyers, re-debuting one of her most famous hairstyles: the beloved Meg Ryan shag. (Trust me, if you say “the Meg Ryan shag” to any movie fan or beauty lover over 33 years old, they know exactly what you’re talking about.) It’s that perfect not-too-long, not-too-short lob full of piece-y, wavy layers with just the right amount of volume.
Getty Images