StoryInColor
1990s-present

Sally Hershberger

The stylist who put the shag back on the map

Sally Hershberger built her career on a single haircut: the layered shag she cut for Meg Ryan through the late 1990s. The cut, with its soft layers, choppy ends, and built-in volume, became one of the era's defining hairstyles and Hershberger one of the highest-paid hair stylists in the United States. She has continued to style a long list of clients across film, music, and fashion in the decades since.

See Sally Hershberger’s signature cuts on your own face

Upload one selfie and Hairstyle Analysis renders eight cuts directly on your face, including the kind of layered, fringed, and wave-led shapes Sally Hershberger is known for. Skip the guesswork about what would suit you. $4.99 one-time, no subscription.

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Signature looks

  1. The Meg Ryan shag

    Soft, choppy layers running through shoulder-length hair with built-in volume at the crown and movement at the ends. The cut Meg Ryan wore through You've Got Mail and most of the late nineties.

    Flatters an oval faceFlatters a round faceFlatters a long (oblong) face

  2. Bedhead layers

    A deliberately undone, slightly messy version of the shag with longer length and softer face-framing. Hershberger has cut versions of this for a range of clients across decades.

    Flatters a square faceFlatters a heart-shaped face

  3. Long modern shag

    The 2020s revival of the shag in longer form, with curtain bangs and softer texture. The cut that brought Hershberger's signature back into salon rotation forty years after its first run.

    Flatters a long (oblong) faceFlatters a diamond face

Notable clients

  • Meg Ryan
  • Tom Cruise
  • Jane Fonda
  • Marisa Tomei
  • Bill Clinton

Why their work matters

The shag did for the late nineties what The Rachel did for earlier in the decade. Hershberger gave a generation of clients permission to wear a cut that read as deliberately undone, with movement rather than polish doing the work. The shag has cycled back into editorial rotation several times since, and each return has run through versions of the same shape she cut for Meg Ryan in 1998.

Try Sally Hershberger’s signature looks on your face

Hairstyle Analysis renders eight cuts directly onto a selfie of you, including the layered, fringed, and wave-led shapes Sally Hershberger has built a career around. See which signature suits your features before you book a chair.

Run a Hairstyle Analysis

$4.99 one-time, no subscription.

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