One thing we appreciate about the beauty industry is it shows us what's possible when you have limitless resources. Although what celebrities can do to their looks is mostly outside our reach, it doesn't mean we cannot be inspired. Anyone can choose to have a pixie cut, and the next can decide to go blonde.
Celebrities and just about everyone has embraced hair extensions because they help keep those bad hair days at bay. But with celebs, their profession is mostly pegged on their looks. Most switch up their look so often that we’ve forgotten what their natural hair looks like. A walk down memory lane should refresh our memories.
Solange
Solange is a woman who knows her way about her hair, and she frequently shakes things up. Her style has also changed over the years and we have seen her transition from a weave lover to someone who embraces a cropped, natural look.
She officially ditched the extensions in 2009 for a short do embracing her natural springy coils. She’s been spotting a 'fro of late, and we aren’t too sure if she grew out her hair or she has some help from extensions. Solange also knows how to rock a turban because it’s an easy way to accessorize your mane.
Emma Stone
There is something about Emma Stone that screams girl next door. She undoubtedly knows how to stand out from the crowd when she needs to. We became acquainted with her as a redhead, and we must admit that she wears the hue rather well.
Turns out that Stone isn’t a natural redhead. In fact, she is naturally blonde. We have seen her with her blonde look in the past, for instance, in The Amazing Spider-Man. We appreciate the fact that she looks great either way. We’ve noticed that she tends to style her tresses the same way regardless of the hue, though.
Lady Gaga
The best way we can describe Lady Gaga is as a Grammy-winning theatrical songstress who isn’t afraid to spot bold beauty looks. She has mastered the art of entertaining right from the endless hits she churns out and her grandeur looks. When it comes to her luscious locks, we’ve mostly known her as a blonde.
Before choosing to become a platinum blonde goddess, she was naturally a brunette. They say that blondes have all the fun, and judging from the show-stopping hairdos she’s had over the years, we agree. The man behind most of her stylish dos is hairstylist Frederic Aspiras.
Taraji P. Henson
One thing we can say about Taraji P. Henson, besides the fact that she’s an exceptionally great actress, is the fact that she can never be locked down to one look. Her stylish flair is much like the character she portrays in Empire, Cookie.
Henson has done it all from wearing waves to donning sharp-angled bobs. The “mane man” behind it all is Tym Wallace, who she first teamed up with on the set of Acrimony. She kept him on board since then, and he’s been behind her ever-changing looks, including her 2017 big chop.
Dita Von Teese
We credit Dita Von Teese for giving the art of burlesque a resurgence in popular culture. She’s also well-known for her sense of style, including her signature jet black updo. In fact, since she made her way under the spotlight, she's maintained the hue and only changes the styling.
The only time we saw her in something different was back in 2017, when she wore a silver-gray wig as confirmed by her hairstylist, Tony Medina. Surprisingly, Von Teese is a natural blonde, and it’s photos from her high school days that gave her away.
Zendaya
Zendaya is the proverbial Triple Threat in the entertainment industry. She found success early on as a backup dancer before launching her acting and singing career. It seems like there isn’t much that she can’t do, and she has the most amazing tresses to boot.
Zendaya also likes shaking things up whenever she can. We’ve seen her in sleek straight looks as well as the dreadlocks she rocked at the 2015 Oscars. Underneath it all, Zendaya has the most beautiful natural curly locks. In 2017, she talked about reclaiming her natural curl pattern and showed off the growth she had achieved.
Beyonce
Come to think about it, Beyonce rarely makes public appearances. We are talking about being caught out doing regular stuff like shopping, but we imagine everything she could need is delivered to her. The reason we mention it is because that’s only one of the few opportunities we have to see her natural hair down.
The conversation about her God-given texture was sparked in 2018 by the au naturel look she sported at a Sports Illustrated event. Her trusted hairstylist, Neal Farinah, took to Instagram to confirm that the long curly black do was naturally hers.
Britney Spears
Britney is amongst the list of celebrities we have practically watched grow up. From her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse days to selling out arenas, she’s done well for herself. The journey hasn’t been free from setbacks, and we have to bring up the publicized incident when she shaved off her hair.
We know Spears as a blonde, but she was born a brunette. In fact, she sported blonde-brown hair during the 2007 incident that saw her shave it all off while the paparazzi snapped away. These days, she’s at a much happier place switching between blonde and dark brown hues recently.
Alicia Keys
In 2016, Alicia Keys decided to boycott makeup saying that she wanted to stop covering up. It didn’t end there, and she also chose to stop wearing wigs, adding that she was done with trying to fit into a picture of perfection.
We believe that she’s always been gorgeous with or without beauty-enhancing products. However, she shared that she takes better care of her skin since ditching makeup to maintain her lush glow. It’s refreshing to see that she’s stuck it out four years later, and she also rocks her natural curls ever so glamorously.
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande might be known for her unique vocal abilities, but her signature ponytail also makes her hard to forget. Before settling for her brunette look, she experimented quite a bit with different hues, but she always goes for a straight look.
Back in 2009, she tried a bright-red hue, and by 2012, she had dyed her locks dark auburn. However, she was born with curly black tresses. A photo showing a 13-year-old Ariana sporting these dark curls on a visit to Planet Hollywood in 2008 is amongst the few that show her natural look.
Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle Union has been on several celebrity news headlines of late because of her hair. She was reportedly told that her hairstyles, while part of America’s Got Talent judging panel, were “too black” for the show’s viewers. She decided to embrace her natural curls and even got the online community to jump in on the trend.
Union sported a myriad of looks back in the day thanks to the help of extensions. It’s sad that when she finally decided to embrace her natural locks, some people didn’t respond positively. Regardless, she looks gorgeous whichever way she decides to wear her hair.
Rita Ora
Rita Ora can pull off any style she goes for, and we’ve seen her do just that over the years. A majority of people are better acquainted with her sleek blonde tresses. She has worn her hair in varying lengths and styles in the past with the blonde hue as the constant.
Her natural hair is a decent shoulder-length brunette and lusciously curly. She doesn’t shy off from showing off her natural mane through Social Media posts. She looks incredibly great in curls and even goes for the styling option whenever she’s blonde.
Rihanna
If there’s a woman who is a chameleon when it comes to her hairdos, Rihanna fits the bill. It seems like she has a different do every time we see a photo of her, and she wears them all rather well.
She’s also known for her heavy use of extensions and wigs to shake it up, particularly when she broke into the industry. There’s the time she spotted the fiery red hue, but she has settled on a dark hue these days. Her natural locks are much shorter but with the most defined curls that we’ve ever seen.
Katy Perry
Katy Perry is another theatrically pleasing artist we love to watch. Whether it’s her mesmerizing videos or live performances, you can bet that she’s bringing her A-game. She always has the most outlandishly gorgeous ensembles, complete with an equally dazzling hairdo.
Perry actually has jet black hair, which she wore in a shorter length back in the day. She then went blue, blonde, pink, purple, rainbow, and a whole lot of other colors in between. These days she has finally settled back to her roots, sporting her jet black hue in a long length.
Scarlett Johansson
There isn’t a list of Hollywood A-listers that is complete without Scarlett Johansson on it. When we look back at some of her iconic roles, a pattern emerges—she was blonde in all of them. Whether she decided to dye her locks blonde for roles or just because she wanted the change, she looks incredibly great.
Johansson is a natural brunette, and she kept the look into her teen years. She then tried every imaginable look out there, including long romantic waves and an edgy pixie. She’s stuck with the blonde hue despite embracing much shorter lengths in recent years.
Laverne Cox
Laverne Cox won us over from the moment we saw her in Orange Is The New Black. She’s always spotted long hair extensions typically with blonde accents and highlights. In fact, we think we are yet to see her in a shorter do.
Without the extensions and wigs, Coz has quite an impressive mane of black natural curls. She also isn’t shy to take off the wig and show her fans her natural look through Social Media posts. We must say she looks gorgeous either way, and she even has a Madame Tussauds waxwork showcasing her stunning beauty.
Cardi B
Cardi B is a woman who loves wigs, and you can tell just from the endless number of photos of her wearing different ones. She’s also bold with the looks she goes for. One day she may be wearing a blonde bob wig, and the next, a rainbow-colored one.
She is equally as proud of the natural mane that she has, and she regularly shares Instagram photos showcasing her God-given tresses. Another thing we’ve noted about Cardi is the fact that she also goes bare-faced quite often. She must also have a great skincare routine because her skin is flawless.
Kylie Jenner
Kylie Jenner has reached the billionaire ranks at just 22 thanks to her line of beauty products. Beauty goes hand in hand with hair, and we have seen her wear hers in a myriad of ways. After all, her bank balance allows her the luxury.
She is a lover of wigs that allow her to practically change how she looks in an instant. She also wears them in a range of colors from a daring hot pink to a blonde hue. Kylie doesn’t regularly give us a glimpse of her natural locks. Yet, a few Snapchats and re-runs of Keeping Up With The Kardashians reveal that she has black tresses.
Kerry Washington
When Kerry Washington steps out onto the red carpet, she rarely disappoints. She often pairs her gorgeous gowns with long, straight locks that perfectly frame her gorgeous facial features. She is amongst the list of celebrities who have been ditching extensions and beautifying products to embrace their natural looks.
These days she steps out on the red carpet with gorgeous gowns topped off with her crown of naturally curly tresses. She shared an insight into her biggest beauty rules, and for her, hydration is super important along with locking moisture on the outside. She figures that it’s wise to work internally and externally towards the same goal.
Emmy Rossum
We know Emmy Rossum best from the series Shameless and the neo-noir film Mystic River. We have also become accustomed to her sleek, straight brunette locks that compliment her fair skin and doe eyes. That’s why you wouldn’t imagine her with anything other than the glammed up look.
Her natural tresses aren’t a different hue, only that she has to put in some time each day to straighten her curly locks. When she skips the straightening routine, her locks form into tight ringlets. We think they give her an edgier and more casual look, though.
Jennifer Lopez
For as long as we’ve known J-Lo, she’s always had a love for lengthy locks. Even when she’s changed her style, she always comes back to the long, sleek locks. It doesn’t mean that she isn’t mortal. In fact, she regularly ditches the extensions for her natural look.
While her natural hair is nothing close to the coiffed red carpet ready looks she goes for, she has a full head of beautiful hair. Her shoulder-length shaggy hair has slight waves, and she always pares down when going to the gym or any other day away from “work.”
Mandy Moore
The image of Mandy Moore that is etched in our memory is that of a brunette bombshell thanks to her warm, chestnut brown locks. She has given varieties of colors a try over the years, but she stuck with the brunette look for the better part of two decades.
Moore's locks are naturally dirty blonde, and she admitted that she’s never thought of going back to that hue. She told InStyle that her haircare routine involves washing her tresses every day. Also, she incorporates a deep conditioning mask to prevent it from becoming overly dry. She tries to maintain her natural texture as much as she can as well.
Leighton Meester
Leighton Meester admittedly went for a darker look so that she could land her role in Gossip Girl as Blair Waldorf. Meester had blonde hair as a child. However, it turned an ashy, beach blonde hue when she reached her teen years.
She seems to have taken a liking to the brunette look and kept it even after the show, only playing around with the length. However, she decided to go back to her roots in 2018 and went for a bleached platinum blonde hue. Celebrity colorist Aura Friedman, who has also worked with stars like Jennifer Lawrence and Lady Gaga, gave her the new look.
Sanaa Lathan
Sanaa Lathan has never been a celebrity who doesn’t embrace change. She changes her look frequently and has spotted a wide variety of styles over the years. She achieves the changes thanks to extensions and wigs. In 2017, she joined the list of celebrities who have had the big chop.
She shaved it all off in preparation for Nappily Ever After, and she’s kept it natural since then. Her locks have now grown out, and she proudly wears her curls. She has shared that she loved her natural look, and it doesn’t seem like she’ll backtrack.
Christina Hendricks
Christina Hendricks delivered a stellar performance in Mad Men, and her red locks are one of the striking things we remember. Even off the show, she spots the shade, which is one of the hardest to maintain.
She’s been coloring her own hair since her days in high school and said that it helps to skip the long hours at the salon. Hendricks is naturally blonde, and the first time she ever colored her locks was when she was ten. She then experimented with every shade under the rainbow, but she eventually stuck with red.
Jennifer Aniston
Jennifer Aniston is credited for popularizing the “Rachel haircut” during her Friends days. In fact, she’s kept the same look since then and just switched up the length as well as the styling at different points.
Before getting the Rachel makeover, Aniston was a natural brunette, though. It’s pretty hard to track down photos of her as a brunette because she hasn’t gone back to a darker hue in years. However, she often sports her natural waves even on the red carpet. Her longtime stylist, Chris McMillan, shared a photo of Aniston on Instagram, which showcases her natural waves.
Nicole Kidman
Mention Nicole Kidman, and the image that comes to mind is that of a blonde Australian bombshell. She’s always maintained perfectly styled tresses. However, those of us who have followed her career from way back can remember that she wasn’t always blonde.
Kidman is a redhead underneath it all, and on top of that, she has a pretty curly texture. We have actually seen her with her curls coupled with the blonde color. We wouldn’t mind seeing her go back to being a redhead, but it seems like she’s quite comfortable being a blonde.
Karlie Kloss
Karlie Kloss made sure that she stands out in the saturated modeling industry with a unique runway walk. She went further and proved that she’s a beauty with brains through her involvement with computer programming under the Kode with Klossy initiative.
Kloss also stands out because of her signature blonde mane that she frequently switches up with different shades of the color. While she’s been leaning more towards platinum now, Kloss is naturally a brunette. She spotted the look back when she started modeling for Teen Vogue at 14, but we haven’t seen her go back to the shade in recent years.
Bella Hadid
Bella Hadid is a recognized name and face in the world of modeling as well as the Social Media space. We’ve become accustomed to her sleek, brown/black mane, which couldn’t be worlds apart from her natural shade.
Bella has been dying her hair into a dark hue since 2010, but before her camera debut, she had a much lighter hue. She was born with a full head of dirty blonde locks, and we’ve actually seen her revisit the shade recently. In 2019, she shared an Instagram photo spotting her old tone and reminded everyone that’s what she was born with captioning “back to my roots.”
Jessica Simpson
Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey used to enjoy a happily ever after. That's back when they had a reality show on MTV. Simpson was known for saying the darndest things that made her look like the stereotypical blonde. Despite wearing her blonde locks rather well, her shade isn’t natural.
Simpson was born brunette and only adopted the blonde look to match her ditzy persona. She faced a bit of backlash during Halloween 2017, though. Her naturally blonde daughter, Maxwell, had a brunette do on an Instagram photo she shared. However, the girl’s back to being blonde now.
Brad Pitt
Even the men in Hollywood aren’t shy from switching up their look, case in point, Brad Pitt. These days he seems to have fully embraced being a silver fox from his brunette days. In fact, we can’t imagine Pitt with any other shade than brunette, but his natural tone is very different.
Pitt had a cropped blonde look back when he was dating Gwyneth Paltrow. He even grew out his blonde locks after Interview with the Vampire and wore it in a ponytail. He switched back and forth between different shades of blonde and highlights before going brunette in the 2000s.
Sofia Vergara
Sofia Vergara is one of the most recognizable sitcom talents and we know her best from Modern Family as Gloria Delgado-Prichett. She has dark tresses on the show and in pretty much every other production we’ve seen her grace.
She admitted during a 2011 interview that she’s naturally a brunette. She explained that she decided to go darker when she joined Hollywood to conform. Apparently, she was told that her blonde look didn’t look “Latina”. She then chose to embrace the stereotypical route by dying her locks. It all paid off, and she seems quite happy being a brunette.
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani remains a pop icon because of the list of hits she released during the 2000s, her signature red lip, and her sleek, platinum blonde tresses. Stefani began her coloring journey in 9th grade, and most of us don’t know her as anything other than a blonde.
Stefani has tried out different shades throughout her career, including pink and blue shades. She reportedly even has her backup singers' don wigs to match hers during their performances. However, we still love her underneath it all, and she’s naturally a brunette.
Justin Bieber
Justin Beiber’s hair has been almost as famous as he is, right from when he shot into the music scene in 2009. When he was an adorable teen, belting out hits like Baby, we knew him for his thick brunette mane complete with side-swept bangs.
He even spawned the ‘Beiber haircut’, and we still think there are boys around the world getting the same look. As he grew up, he started opting for a shorter cut and even ditched the side-swept bangs entirely. He’s now a peroxide pixie, and he seems to be fully committed to the look.
Billie Eilish
Perhaps we don’t really need to break it to you, but for anyone who needs the confirmation, Billie Eilish doesn’t naturally have green tresses. When she isn’t busy releasing Grammy-winning hits, Eilish grabs attention because of her bold and eccentric fashion choices.
She loves loud colors, and that’s why she chose to go for a neon green shade blended with black tips. She was born a natural blonde, which is evident from old YouTube videos. She started experimenting with different shades and went platinum blonde, gray, purple, and other colors before settling for her current shade.
Rachel McAdams
When Rachel Adams rose to fame in Mean Girls alongside Lindsay Lohan, she had blonde tresses that complemented her milky-white skin. She started experimenting with highlights in the 2000s, and she even had streaked pink at some point.
McAdams, who is a natural brunette, went back to the hue around 2009. She then shook it up again by going strawberry blonde. Before that, she experimented with a red hue in 2005 and wore it surprisingly well. Since 2011, she has stuck with her full-on blonde look, and anyone who is none the wiser would think it's her natural hue.
Ashley Tisdale
Ashley Tisdale blew up when she appeared in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody on Disney. She was naturally a brunette but dyed her tresses blonde for her character on the show. She kept the bleached blonde look even after the show.
She’s been wearing it short as of late, paired with her natural curls. She made sure to iron out things when a troll commented on one of her recent Instagram posts that her look was curled and not natural. She explained that she only flat ironed the top and left the tips with their natural curl.
Gigi Hadid
Gigi is Bella’s older sister, and the two have chosen to wear their tresses differently. Gigi has built a name for herself as a blonde bombshell, and she embodies a stereotypical California girl. She keeps her skin tanned, has long legs, and has light-colored locks.
Gigi seems to have decided to go back to being a brunette—except that she also has some highlighted streaks in the mix. In fact, the best way to describe it is a ‘bronde’ hue, and she chooses to style her mane with waves and some added curls.
Cynthia Nixon
You can’t mention Cynthia Nixon and fail to reminisce about her days on SATC alongside Sarah Jessica Parker. Nixon also became a style icon from her days on the show, and she also spawned a highly popular haircut. Just about every woman chose to wear their hair in her iconic red style.
Nixon isn’t naturally a redhead, though. In fact, she’s yet another celebrity who dyed their tresses for a role. She is blonde, and after the show, she decided to go back to the hue. She told Marie Claire that although she likes the redhead look, it’s hard to maintain. That’s why she went back to her roots.
Viola Davis
How To Get Away With Murder fans know that Viola Davis didn’t land the lead role by a fluke. Just within the show, we got the opportunity to see her switch from wigs to her natural hair. She decided to swing with it, and kept it that way.
She stuns each time she steps out on the red carpet, and we dare say that she’s wowed us more since embracing her natural look. Case in point was during the 2018 Golden Globes, when she wore dark brown coils and curls stretched out to perfection.
Marilyn Monroe
Decades after her untimely demise, Marilyn Monroe remains a style icon. She was a trendsetter back in the day, topping off her alluring smile with a bright red lip. She’s also known for her signature blonde hairdo, which she often wore in a short length.
Growing up, she had the popular “Norma Jeane Baker” red locks. However, her modeling agency advised her to change the hue so that she could break into film. She did, and with the help of a bottle of peroxide, she went platinum blonde. The gamble paid off, and it’s the image that has stuck with us to date.
Bella Thorne
We associate Bella Thorne with auburn-red locks since her Disney days. She went through a style evolution through the years, and we saw her try out a whole spectrum of colors. There’s a time she went blue, orange, pink, and also an ice-white pigment.
Thorne is naturally blonde, but she isn’t too fond of the hue to the point of crying when a director asked her to go back to her roots for a role. While she found her go-to color in red, she still hasn’t committed to a particular shade and still regularly changes the hue.
Sophie Turner
Game Of Thrones gave several celebrities their breakthrough, including Sophie Turner who portrayed Sansa Stark. We became accustomed to her as a redhead, but she had to color her tresses to achieve the distinct shade. The downside was that she started experiencing breakage and damage.
Naturally, Turner is a blonde. When the damage set in, she chose to stay blonde and wore wigs while filming the show. By the time the show wrapped up, Turner had managed to salvage her blonde locks thanks to the damage-control. She reverted back to wearing the natural look full time.
Tyra Banks
Tyra Banks established herself as a respected supermodel who is known for keeping it real. Her line of business places emphasis on beauty, explaining why she’s often spotted with a face beat to the gods. Of course, that's usually paired with a gorgeous runway-ready hairdo.
She’s yet another celebrity whose hair has been the subject of conversation, with most people wondering what her natural hair looks like. She has a full head of gorgeous hair underneath the wigs she typically wears. In 2018, she shared an Instagram post urging her followers to embrace their natural locks.
Elisabeth Moss
Elisabeth Moss is best known for her Emmy-winning role in Handmaid’s Tale. Beneath the veil of clothes she dons there, she spots light-colored hair. Moss naturally has auburn locks, and shortly after getting into Hollywood, she began dying her tresses.
She’s also one of the celebrities who has gone back and forth between being a brunette and blonde and having highlights through the years. In 2018, she decided to shake things up and went for a strawberry blonde hue. As of early 2020, she seems to have settled back to the bleached platinum shade.