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Though Gwen Stefani has changed her hair color a few times over the decades (she’s done everything from power move, Barbiecore pink hair to neon blue streaks), she always goes back to blond. The glossy, platinum shade she favors has become part of her signature look, complimenting her sometimes vintage, sometimes country, but always high glam aesthetic. But it turns out one of the most famous blonds in music isn’t blond at all.

As evidenced by a few childhood photos posted to Instagram, the “I’m Just a Girl” hitmaker is a natural brunette. One Father’s Day snap in particular shows baby Stefani with her father with her shiny, light brown tresses on full display.

The California native later shared another throwback family snap on Instagram taken a few years later, which showed the “Used To Love You” singer’s locks darkened as she got older. In that snap, she posed alongside her dad and sister, Jillian, who also had dark brown tresses, while Stefani’s big, bell-bottom bob (which trended again in 2024) was a beautiful, rich chestnut brown. Fans were just as stunned as us by her natural hair color, with one social media user commenting, “So you weren’t actually blond?!”

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Gwen Stefani dyes her hair every week to keep it blond

Gwen Stefani/YouTube
To keep Gwen Stefani’s brunette roots at bay, hairstylist Danilo “Danilo” Dixon told Refinery29 he colors her hair once a week. “I developed a high lift formula for her. I learned that I could get to a place of achieving the blond that I want, and the quality of hair that we need and want, by using a new product, as opposed to just bleach,'” he said. Danilo also shared some of the products he uses to keep Stefani’s hair healthy with E! News, including Pantene Repair and Protect 3 Minute Miracle Deep Conditioner and Pantene Conditioning Detangler Spray. “She gets multiple types of deep conditioning every day,” he shared, though it’s important not to use too much conditioner on your hair to keep it from looking greasy and limp.

Though we haven’t seen much of Stefani’s natural color since her childhood, she has rocked it as a grown up (or a shade close to it, at least). Danilo revealed the bouncy, brunette ‘do Stefani wore in her “Cool” music video was very close to the color that grows from her head. “Gwen’s an Italian girl with wavy brown hair … we did her in her natural shade, maybe a little darker,” he said.

We probably shouldn’t expect to see the singer embrace brown tresses permanently, though. Stefani told Harper’s Bazaar she first went light blond aged 25 after an eight-hour salon session and never looked back. “It was like I’d unlocked the key. I remember feeling like, ‘I have arrived. This is me. Finally,'” she said.