Sometimes it’s just a haircut – sometimes it’s a whole new life chapter. It’s definitely the latter for Andrea McClean, who’s just undergone a dramatic bob makeover as a way to ‘let go and start afresh’ after a terrifying near-death experience.
The TV presenter looks like a whole new woman after chopping her hair into a stylish bob and waving goodbye to far more than a few inches. Sharing the makeover journey on her Instagram, Andrea explains that the new ’do is a big part of a whole life reset, and a moment to reclaim her true self – with the added bonus of looking and feeling ‘very Kristin Scott Thomas’.
‘I realised I was constantly trying to look how I used to, and that’s just not me any more,’ Andrea explains. ‘It feels like the final act of letting go, in the best possible way, so that I can start again afresh.’
The Loose Women star has gone through some extremely tough times with her health recently. Following 18 months of battling long Covid, which left her immune system severely weakened, Andrea was hospitalised last December when a bout of flu escalated into sepsis and pneumonia. ‘I didn’t realise how severe my illness was at the time,’ she’s since revealed. ‘But the doctors had told my husband, Nick, that had we waited another 24 hours to call for help, I may not be here now.’
The experience has left Andrea vowing to ‘seize the day’, and that very much includes her hair. Charting the entire bob transformation on a time-lapse video, she explains: ‘After decades of hair extensions, trying to make my hair look more impressive than it really is, today was a BIG DAY!’
‘I naturally have fine, lacklustre hair and I lost A LOT of it with long Covid and my illness at the start of the year. I’ve been taking supplements and looking after myself to try and get better in all parts of my life, and I finally have regrowth, but it’s slow.’
She adds: ‘So you’d think I’d add MORE extensions to disguise it! Nope. I went the other way, and thought, “I want to chop it off and just be me.” There are a lot of changes happening in our life at home right now (all good!) and cutting my hair is a big part of this restart.’
The makeover video shows hairdresser Victoria Barnsby chopping Andrea’s shoulder-length brunette hair into a chic new style that falls to jaw length and immediately looks thicker and healthier. It’s fresh, super-flattering and one that carries zero risk of bob regret.
In a follow-up post, Andrea is seen beaming ear to ear, positively basking in her new-bob bubble. ‘Still ridiculously excited by having short hair,’ she says. ‘I’ve been out for a walk, on a very hot bus, now in the car heading out to meet friends and it still looks how it’s meant to!’
She adds: ‘I should have done it ages ago. I feel very Parisian… Very Kristin Scott Thomas. Both of which are excellent.’
Andrea’s enthusiasm is matched by hundreds of compliments from her followers, including fellow bob-lover Zoe Ball, who posts: ‘You look so YOUNG it’s so easy going short whoop 🔥’
We couldn’t have put it better ourselves.
