Whenever Kathryn Hahn shows up in any TV show or movie I’m watching, my first thought is always, “Oh, now the party’s started.” Her balls-to-the-wall acting makes every single one of her projects — whether it’s a raunchy comedy, a star-studded drama, or an action-packed comic book series — completely unforgettable. And more often than not, her hair makes just as much of an on-screen impact as she does; just take her sleek, sculpted waves from Parks and Recreation, for example. Or her comically massive bun and visor from We’re the Millers. Or (most importantly), the numerous period-accurate styles she wore in Marvel’s Wandavision.
Hahn’s hair, if you ask me, is a character all on its own. When she and I talked via Zoom to discuss her partnership with Procter & Gamble’s new household brand 9 Elements, I got to tell her that myself. If her reactionary chuckle and nod are anything to go by, she’s in complete agreement.
“Hair is an enormous part of a character. Ask any actor,” she says. In many of Hahn’s prior roles, the hair you see on screen is all her own, but the “havoc” all that color-treating and heat-styling can wreak on her hair have ultimately convinced her to start wearing more wigs on set going forward. Luckily, the folks from Marvel whom she worked with while playing nosy-neighbor-turned-otherworldly-villain Agatha Harkness are experts in that department.
“[Wandavision] was the first time I really felt comfortable wearing wigs; it felt like they were realistic; it felt like a part of my personhood,” Hahn recalls of the show, which required her to drastically change hairstyles between episodes as the plot progressed from the 1950s all the way to modern day. “They were everything to Agatha for transforming into each decade, so they were as important as the costume.”
Though the characters she plays clearly have a flair for the dramatic when it comes to hair, Hahn couldn’t be more opposite in real life. “I rarely brush [my hair] to be totally honest with you,” she laughs. “It’s a total disaster.”
Because she spends so much time having her hair heat-styled while on the job, she keeps her at-home hair maintenance at an absolute minimum. “I wash it and I put a real heavy-duty conditioner on it once or twice a week.” To combat extra dryness or heat damage, she’ll also apply the Leonor Greyl Masque Quintessence from time to time (and yes, she knows her tastes are a little expensive). “I’ll just put it on on a Sunday [and leave it on] all day long, then rinse it,” she explains.