See Reba McEntire Without Her Signature Deep Red Hair Shade
At an awards show in the 1980s, the Happy's Place star rocked a much different shade than fans are used to seeing.
From short and curly to long and flippy, Reba McEntire has rocked many fun and iconic hairstyles over the years. But you can always recognize the Queen of Country by her signature red hair.
In the ’80s, however, the Happy’s Place star mixed it up a bit! In October 1986, for instance, McEntire’s hair was a lighter shade than fans are used to as she accepted the award for "Entertainer of the Year" during the Country Music Association's awards ceremony.
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“I’m not gonna cry, I’m gonna faint,” McEntire said as she accepted the award, wearing a blue dress and big sapphire stud earrings that beautifully complimented her lighter hair shade. “The entertainment business means the world to me ... I'm very proud to carry the banner for country music and with the good Lord's help, I'll do my best."
A year prior, in May 1985, McEntire’s hair was light and coppery with gold tints when she attended the 20th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in California.
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McEntire has certainly had fun with different hairstyles and shades over the years, but she told Glamour she does regret one. “In the early ’80s I got a perm,” she told the magazine. “I have natural curly hair. And so when my hair would be a little past my shoulders with a perm, it was just super tight because if you add a perm to natural curly hair, it looks angry. And it did.”
The Voice Coach switched it up again in the ’90s and told Glamour it felt like “freedom” when she chopped it all off, though she got some pushback on her style change.
“I loved it. It was in ’96 or ’97 when I cut my hair off, and it was freeing,” she said. “But you know what? I had to talk to my management and my stylist who did my hair, because it took almost a year for me to talk them into letting me cut my hair. They told me my hair was my image. ‘You got your big hair all jacked up to Jesus. You can’t cut your hair off.’ And I said, ‘Well, it’ll give you something else to talk about.’ And they said, ‘Oh, OK. That’s an idea.’ So we did.”
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But through all her different styles, McEntire has stayed true to her ginger roots because, well, she loves it. As she wrote on Facebook in November 2024, “Long or short, either way I love being a redhead!”
