Helen Mirren has won an Academy Award, three Golden Globes, and four Emmy awards. She’s also been honored with damehood. However, despite the English actress’ prolific film career, she still cuts her own hair.

The 68-year-old actress recently sat down for an interview with Redbook magazine to discuss her beauty regimen and how she keeps such a healthy, youthful appearance.

She explained why she usually cuts her own hair, “I can’t handle going to the hairdresser every six weeks, so I only go about once a year. In between, I get out the scissors and do something, usually rather disastrously.” She added, “Sometimes I’ll even chop my hair the morning of a big red carpet event.”

Can you imagine any other A-List Hollywood actress cutting her own hair before a major red carpet event?

When asked about her beauty routine, The Queen actress replied, “I don’t have one, quite honestly. I don’t really know what a beauty routine is. But I love beauty products, and I’m always trying new ones. One thing I consistently use is Latisse [the prescription lash-growth serum]. It really works, and if your eyelashes look great, you can let a lot of other things be crap.”

Mirren also said that as she gets older, she actually wears less and less makeup every day, “I love putting it on, and I get really into it: a little bit of this here, and little bit of that there. But then I stand back and look into the mirror and it’s awful! So I take it all off because I’ve gotten too anal about it. As you get older … you can get away with naked eyes if you’ve got red lips. Or red lips and sunglasses.”

You can catch Mirren on the big screen this August in her upcoming movie The Hundred-Foot Journey. In the film, Mirren plays celebrated French chef Madame Mallory, a meticulous woman known for keeping a very neat appearance. When asked if Mirren was like her character, she responded, “Oh, God, she’s so not close to me. As a Brit, we’ve always looked at the French and [wondered], Why do they never look untidy? We’ve got a terrific inferiority complex when it comes to them.”

Image via Wikimedia Commons