So here’s the tea: 2019 was a damn good year for celebrity hair, and thus far, 2020 is following suit. Hollywood heads that have always been draped in long extensions are finally going the way of sleek bobs; folks are letting their natural curls flow freely; and colorists are doing really interesting, bold things with their clients’ manes. We are more inspired by the chic celebrity hair transformations we’ve seen in 2019 and 2020 than we have in the years prior, combined. So we rounded up some of the best ones.
Below, find our curated list of the best recent celebrity haircuts and dye jobs. May these before-and-after shots serve as inspo for your next in-salon move. Oh, and be sure to bookmark this page because we’ll be updating the list in real time as soon as we catch wind of a new celebrity hair look. In the meantime, though, here are our faves…
Kim Kardashian West and her famous sisters are no strangers to jaw-dropping hair transformations. In fact, the Jenners and Kardashians are frequent flyers within this very gallery. That said, it’s been a minute since we’ve seen Kardashian West debut something other than platinum or deep brunette. So understandably, when her longtime hairstylist Chris Appleton took to Instagram to share and confirm that he did, indeed, dye the celeb’s famous tresses, the internet went a little bit wild. (This isn’t a drill in the form of a wig, folks. This is the real deal!) A juicy pop of cherry red is Kim’s newest hair vibe, and honestly, we’re so into it. For fellow (or future) redheads looking to preserve the shine and vibrancy of your crimson shade, we recommend investing in a color-infused deep-conditioning treatment gloss like the below from DPHue.
As salons begin to reopen their doors across the country, one of the biggest questions on our beauty-centered brains is how hair trends will shift from our original (pre-pandemic) predictions. After months sans professional cuts and color, will people be hankering for something more low-maintenance? Or will everyone be craving a dramatic shift? Honestly, we were predicting the former, but as celebs like Emily Ratajkowski and Kaia Gerber debut bold, very high-maintenance hair color transformations, we just might be proven wrong. Gerber has been gradually lightening her deep-brunette strands for a while now, but just yesterday we caught wind that the model had gone dramatically lighter toward an almost-platinum hue. Then, Ratajkowski took to her Instagram to display a similar vibrant shade of blonde thanking beloved haircare brand Kérastase for the change. So will the second half of 2020 be all about the blonde? If so, a brass-busting leave-in like the below from Amika is a crucial product addition. (As a blonde myself, I swear by it!)
Oops, she did it again? Actually, no. While diehard fans might remember Spears sporting this look on The Mickey Mouse Club, yesterday marked the first time she cut her own bangs. “Who would have thought bangs could make you look waaaaay younger?” she posted last month on Instagram in a photo that fanned out her face-framing layers and professionally-cut fringe. “It was such a big deal to expose my forehead… Only pretty people in the South could do that and I never felt pretty enough to pull it off,” Spears recalled. . After years of switching up her hairstyle, Spears has gone back to her roots—if not literally, then figuratively. “I stopped having bangs in the 3rd grade and I remember like it was yesterday… People choose different ways to protect themselves… When I pull my bangs in front of my head I feel like I’m protected… Almost like I’m in 3rd grade again.” With the right tools on hand, we have a feeling she’ll soon become a pro at-home bang trimmer—no oops about it.
Ever the hair chameleon, Bella Hadid has been known to take a risk or two with her mane. Her color regularly ping-pongs between deep brown and beachy blonde, and the 23-year-old model has even been spotted in pixie-cut wigs more than once (including on the red carpet of last year’s Met Gala). Suffice it to say, homegirl seems down to try new things. Just weeks after singer Rosalía threw us all when she revealed she’d cut her own bangs, Hadid took to Instagram Stories over the weekend to let us know that she’d done the same while social distancing with a friend. “I cut my own bangs,” she captioned the video, in which she could be seen tousling the fresh-cut fringe with her fingers. Hadid then posed a question to her followers via the app’s poll feature that read, “Would you let me cut your bangs. Be honest,” before revealing in a subsequent slide that her quarantine buddy, Leah, actually took the model up on her offer. “Well, Leah let me cut hers so whoever said ‘NO’, look at me now,” she wrote on the video documenting the styling session. Go off, then, Bella! We’re so curious to know what Hadid’s trusted hairstylist, Jen Atkin, has to say about the style star’s sudden affinity for snipping strands.
If you’re not yet familiar with mega-popular Spanish singer Rosalía, it’s officially time to get acquainted. The Grammy Award–winning artist known for serving up Latin R&B hits set the internet ablaze on Tuesday when she debuted freshly chopped bangs on social media. Yes, you read that correctly. Rosalía got isolation bangs, which leads us to believe that she might have actually cut them herself! The Instagram debut of her new ‘do, a video in which she playfully posed to show off her handiwork, boasted just three cryptic haircut emoji as the caption with no further explanation as to how she procured the brand-new style. A scan of her Twitter feed turned up the same video, only this time with the caption, “I just got bangs,” written in Spanish, followed by the same haircut emoji she used on Instagram. All signs point to a solo haircut, and if that’s the case, we have to give the girl some props. The piecey, brow-grazing fringes are actually so cute. But if you’re thinking of taking shears to your hair during this period of quarantine, we’d advise that you consult a trusted hairstylist to guide you through (or out of) the process.
Ariana Grande is letting her hair down. The 26-year-old songstress seems to be giving her tresses a well-deserved break from her signature sky-high ponytail, according to a March 30 Instagram post captioned, “get a load a dis.” The dimly lit selfie shows Grande looking fresh-faced (with a cat eye, of course) and rocking cascading dark-brown ringlets, complete with shaggy, fashion-girl bangs. The pared-back look is different for the star, who’s rarely (if ever) photographed sans a snatched ponytail. Obviously it’s her hair, her choice, but we’re seriously feeling the natural curls.
We’re calling it now: 2020 is going to be Selena Gomez’s year. And she’s been dishing up the screenshot-worthy hair looks to match. From chic bangs to a curly shag to her newest look, a retro vibe that’s one part Jennifer Aniston circa Friends, one part Goldie Hawn circa her hit movie The First Wives Club, there’s simply no stopping the singer’s hair-winning streak. Last week on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Gomez paid tribute to her favorite show and real-life friend Jennifer Aniston with a look very reminiscent of one of the most iconic haircuts of all time, “The Rachel.” Gomez’s hairstylist, Marissa Marino, confirmed on Instagram that the rumor mill was correct and Rachel Green truly was the main inspiration behind the singer voluminous layers (with a touch of Goldie Hawn thrown in for good measure). We’re keeping this on hand for our next salon appointment and snapping up this brand-new volume-building blow-dryer in the meantime.
Don’t get us wrong—Nyong’o’s hair is never not fabulous, and taking a historical scroll through her red carpet looks is better than a trip to the candy store when we were 5. However, we’re seriously obsessed with the actress’s latest braided riff on the red-hot bang trend that’s overtaken Hollywood in the last year. Posed next to author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nyong’o shares in her Instagram caption that her plaited, pulled-up look came courtesy of hairstylist Zubi at 3130 Naturals, an Accra-based salon. We recommend taking screenshots and scooping up the below sparkler from Lelet NY to make your next braided style or updo just as elevated as Nyong’o’s.
It’s no secret Blake Lively’s long, lustrous locks could, quite possibly, be the most iconic in Hollywood. So, when the actress does something drastic as she sometimes does for a role, it creates some pandemonium. Though we’re PRETTY sure her latest look is a wig (Lively wears numerous looks for her upcoming film, The Rhythm Section), we’re still bowled over by the blunt, short chop she posted to her Instagram earlier this week. We’re already (very) excited to see the film adaptation of the buzzed-about book by Mark Burnell, but Lively’s forecasted series of hair transformations is giving us even more cause to anticipate the release later this month.
Over the course of her on-screen career, we’ve seen Jada Pinkett Smith take enviable hair risks like rocking a dark pixie cut, a mullet, and even closely shaved sides with long box-braids. For her latest switch-up, the Red Table Talk host debuted a striking platinum blonde color on her natural curls. The star gave us our first glimpse of the effortlessly chic new ‘do in an Instagram post on January 8, proving (yet again) that she’s still hair goals.
We’ve seen Miley Cyrus rock pretty much every cut and color under the sun, but until recently, she had yet to rock her father’s iconic ’90s style—the mullet (which, by the way, is very much trending). The singer knows how to start the year off right and debuted her newest hair look this week on Instagram with a very appropriate caption: “New hair. New year. NEW MUSIC.” Miley, you have our attention.
Alert: Charlize Theron has a bowl cut now. The star has been pretty consistent with her mid-length, shaggy lob over the last few years, but it looks like she’s ushering in fall with an ultra-chic, multi-tone blonde chop.
Even though her younger sister Kylie is the one better known for head-turning hair moments, we couldn’t help notice (and immediately screenshot) Kendall Jenner’s major blonde moment while walking Burberry’s London Fashion Week show. Interestingly, not all the models debuted blonde hair, so we’re left wondering if Jenner’s new look is more permanent than a quick flick of a wig backstage. Regardless, we’re into it.
Um, hello chicness. Yesterday, January Jones debuted this sleek summery bob by her hairstylist, Bridget Brager, who captioned her Instagram post of the cut with “Welp, we finally did it! … @januaryjones has sent me #bluntbob hair inspiration pics for months!! We’ve been waiting for her (old) bangs to grow long enough to give that perfect blunt bob, middle part look. Patience.”
Forever a hair chameleon, Kiersey Clemons can pull off anything. We are living for her newest look: a super-short blonde crop, which she just debuted on her Instagram with the tennis ball emoji. Accurate!
Sensing a trend? Kim Kardashian West had onlookers shook when she stepped out last week donning a blunt bob much like January Jones’s. A breezy, low-maintenance cut to go with her new-mom life.
We are loving how natural-hair icon Logan Browning, star of Netflix’s freaky new thriller The Perfection, is growing out her curls. Check out how much progress she’s made since January of this year. (Click to watch a Vogue video of how the actress masters her signature bouncy curl pop.)
We’ve never seen Games of Thrones star Sophie Turner with bangs before, but now that we have, we don’t even remember what she looked like without them. Her hairstylist, Christian Wood, really nailed this one.
Undercuts are a subtle way to switch up your hair look. Halle Berry is proof: In May, the 52-year-old icon arrived at the screening of her new film, John Wick, wearing a messy topknot and creative, wavy new undercut by her genius stylist, Ohre Kilpatrick.
Kendall Jenner has been known to play with faux bangs, and we are fans of it every time. (They add a certain vintage, East Coast vibe to her Cali-girl look.) She wore this sleek pony with short, blunt fringe to E!’s upfront event in NYC this May.
Teen music wunderkind Billie Eilish has been rocking different shades of blue since she rose to fame in 2017, but we’re really digging the new dark gray.
Since earlier this year, Priyanka Chopra has darkened the ombré color she’d been sporting and added some extensions.
Whomst is this chic redhead? Modern Family star Ariel Winter or Ariel from The Little Mermaid? We stan this drastic hair color transformation, which happened in early May. The coppery hue (achieved by Tabitha Dueñas at Nine Zero One salon in Los Angeles) really brightens up the 21-year-old’s overall look.
Model Irene Kim is known for sporting bold hair colors (maroon was her shade of choice for most of this year), but the jet black is a surprising, dare we say elegant, departure. And in that tight, low pony with a middle part? So polished.
Model/actress Hari Nef’s hair was dark brunette for the longest time, until she went full Brigitte Bardot with a creamy blonde color in 2017. This year, she’s exploring more of the color wheel. This auburn hue matched with the long, wavy style and bangs is so ’70s groovy. Want more celebrity beauty transformations? Don’t miss our favorite celebrity makeup looks of late.
