Helen Mirren Latisse

Considering the thousands of pounds some celebrities are prepared to pay for a haircut, it’s refreshing to hear that not everyone splashes the cash on a stylist.

Dame Helen Mirren has confessed to trimming her locks herself.

The Oscar winner told Redbook magazine: “I can’t handle going to the hairdresser every six weeks, so I only go about once a year. In between, I get the scissors and do something, usually rather disastrously. Sometimes I’ll even chop my hair the morning of a big red carpet event.”

Helen’s no stranger to pulling off a riskier trend either, and inspired a host of women to change their hair colour after she dyed hers pink.

The 68-year-old, who won an Academy Award for her title role in The Queen, also revealed her relaxed attitude to beauty, saying: “I don’t really know what a beauty routine is. I don’t have one quite honestly.”

But that doesn’t mean she steers clear of experimenting with make-up.

“I wear make-up every day. I love putting it on, and I get really into it: a little of this here, a little bit of that there. But then I stand back and look in the mirror and it’s awful! So I take it all off because I’ve gotten too anal about it.”

The Hundred-Foot Journey actress also shared some tips on ageing gracefully.

“It’s absolutely true that as you get older, you have to wear less and less make-up. You can get away with naked eyes if you’ve got red lips. Or red lips and sunglasses.”

Helen also likes a bargain when it comes to which beauty products she uses, citing L’Oreal moisturiser and CoverGirl lipstick among her favourites.

“You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get quality stuff nowadays. A brand like L’Oreal has amazing technology.”

One thing she won’t scrimp on though, are her eyelashes, which she coats with Latisse, a lash-growth serum which will set you back around £140.

“One thing I consistently use is Latisse. It really works and if your eyelashes look great, you can let a lot of other things be crap.”