I didn’t want to be a bimbo any more

JILLY JOHNSON, MODEL, 63

I HAD my hair cropped in the Seventies by celebrity stylist John Frieda. He did so many of these that he even came up with a rule for who would suit a pixie crop — the measurement from your ear to your chin had to be 2.25in or less. If the distance was any longer, your jaw was too heavy to look good with that hairstyle. I’m not sure I passed this test, but I was desperate to look edgier — I wanted to go beyond the blonde bimbo look. At the time, I was singing in a girl band called Blonde on Blonde, with my friend and fellow model Nina Carter. We did a cover of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love and we went on stage in wild outfits — fishnets, PVC hotpants and dog collars. It was all very cool. On the day I got my pixie cut, I had some fabulous photos taken by the celebrity snapper Brian Aris, which I still love. He shot me with really bold, dark eye make-up, a biker jacket and this chic, elfin crop which highlighted my cheekbones.

I was convinced this would be my new look . . . until next morning, when I woke up looking like a dodgy advertisement for military training.

Such a revealing cut requires petite, fine features, and when the smoky eye make-up came off all I could see was my huge square jaw.

I still got plenty of attention from men, though, and it didn’t take long to grow my blonde locks back. I felt so much more confident with long hair. We women hide behind it; it covers up our selfdoubts like a security blanket.

Then there’s the fact that a short cut is far more highmaintenance than a long one that you can pull back into a ponytail.

And once you start to get a certain crepiness in your neck and sagging jowls, you simply cannot get away with a pixie cut — it reveals more flaws than any bikini.