courtesy of Melissa Ordway
Melissa Ordway, Young and Restless‘s Abby Newman, revealed her new look on Instagram after chopping off nearly a foot of her long blonde hair. Soap Opera Digest got her on the phone to discuss her decision to make the change, how her family reacted and adjusting to what she calls a “new, sassy me.”
Soap Opera Digest: How long had you been thinking about going shorter?
Melissa Ordway: Honestly? There was this girl at Layla’s Bagels in Santa Monica and she had the cutest style — like, her hair was really short, and because the ’90s are kind of coming back around, style-wise, she had these cute baggy jeans and Doc Martens. Everything about her, I just thought was so cute. Justin [Gaston, her husband, ex-Ben Weston, Days of Our Lives] actually was like, “Do you wanna take a picture of her? You’re like, so obsessed with her style!” And I was like, “No, no, I’ll remember it.” And so I started thinking about it, like, maybe two weeks ago. And then I was like, “I’m just gonna do it!” It’s so funny because my parents are a little bit freaking out about it because I’ve never had short hair. My hair has always been at least to my shoulders, and so it’s definitely something you get used to. But I was like, “Why not? why not change it up every now and then?” My hair grows so fast, I felt like, I might as well try it!
Digest: When you pulled the trigger, what did you ask for from the stylist?
Ordway: Well, luckily, my friend Christine, she’s an amazing hairstylist, and she has a haircut very similar to the one that I wanted, and so I trusted her because I was like, “You know what it’s like, how my hair lays. You know my hair so well.” So I went to her and she did an initial haircut where she put my hair in a ponytail and then cut one big chunk off. And she was like, “Are you okay?” She checked in to make sure I was okay [laughs]. I was like, “I’m fine!” And I had this odd sense of just not being nervous at all. I was very at peace with all of it. So she was like, “Okay, I’m gonna cut more!” And I was like, “Yeah, go for it!” So she cut one big chunk and then went from there. I showed her a photo [for inspiration] and she was like, ‘Your hair is probably not going to fall like that,’ because I have very thick, coarse hair. So she took these thinning shears and thinned out so much of my hair, too, because it kind of hits a little below my chin and I didn’t want to look like a mushroom head!
Digest: Do you know how many inches you shed all together?
Ordway: I think it was like 11 inches!
Digest: Can you put into words what you felt like when you were first staring at yourself in the mirror post-haircut?
Ordway: So, Christine was very careful. She was very nervous about showing it to me, so there was no mirror in front of. me for a while. And before she showed me my haircut, she styled it. She was like, “Hold on one second, wait, wait, wait, hold on.” She kept making sure it was perfect before she showed it to me. And then when she did, I was like, “Oh, my gosh, I love it!” I was like, “Oh, it’s kind of a new me!” I was excited.
Digest: How did your family react?
Ordway: I was actually concerned about my youngest daughter, Sophie. Sophie loves long hair. She likes playing with my hair. I was really scared about showing it to her because I was like, “She’s probably gonna hate this!” But she walked in and she said, “Oh, my gosh, Mommy, I love it, it looks so great!” Apparently, Justin told the girls [Sophia and Olivia] that he was nervous to see me. And then when he walked in and saw it, he was like, “Oh, I love it! It looks so good.” He’s been super-supportive. He knows that I would probably be, like, crying if he told me, “I really don’t like this.” So, regardless of whether he’s telling the truth or not, he’s been very supportive. I feel like my girls [Sophie and Olivia] and Justin, they all kind of gave me the confidence to be like, “I love it!” But I haven’t had to style it myself yet. So this could be a completely different conversation in a few days, after I wash it! Have you seen those memes on Instagram where someone cuts their hair short and they wake up and [they resemble] Joaquin Phoenix from some movie where he has a really weird haircut? I’m like, “I pray that doesn’t happen to me!” Because in the back of my head, I kind of keep worrying that that’s gonna happen, that I’m going to look in the mirror one day and I’m gonna look like Joaquin Phoenix [laughs].
Digest: Did you have to get permission from the show before you cut so much length?
Ordway: You know, that was another thing — especially on this show, there were a couple of times recently where I wanted to do my hair a certain way and they were like, “Oh, so-and-so styled their hair that way today already,” and so I couldn’t do it. And I was like, “You know what, there’s a lot of blondes on the show that have a very similar length of hair, so why not change it up? It’s just hair, it grows back, so why not?” I had shown some pictures of the cut I wanted to our hair team and I was like, “What do you guys think? And they were like, “Oh, my gosh, this is so great.” I had a few days off and it just felt like the right time to do it!
Digest: Do you feel different, like it gives you a different vibe?
Ordway: Yeah! I feel lighter. I feel more fun. I feel a little sassier — and I kind of want to get all new clothes because I feel like it’s made me feel like, “I don’t know if my style [of dressing] matches my haircut! I’ve been looking at a lot of Zara and H&M wanting to get some new clothes for the new, sassy me.
Digest: Did you get any tips from Christine as to how to style it yourself?
Ordway: She was like, “You definitely need some texture spray,” which I guess breaks up the hair and makes it kind of piece-y. I was like, “I don’t own any of that!” I mean, if I’m not at work, my hair is in a bun or a ponytail. She was like, “Yeah, you can’t do that anymore with this hair.” That makes me a little bit nervous, too — no more bun, no more pony?! At least not for a while. And she said that actually, with my new hair, to blow it out at night after I wash it, which I’ve never done in my life. I typically sleep with wet hair and I get up in the morning and deal with it. But she told me, “Blow dry it and style it at night and then sleep on it, because then it gives it a chance to kind of calm down.” So, far it’s been great, but we’ll see what happens when I wash it. We might have to do a one-week check-in. And it might just be me calling you and crying [laughs]!
