Britney Spears' Hair Transformation Over The Years

Britney Spears has had one heck of a hair transformation over her incredible career. The pop sensation hit the scene in the late '90s as a natural brunette, then quickly took on her signature blonde and has (mostly) stayed that way ever since, with a few dips back into darker tresses. Spears has often used her hair to mark significant changes in her life; when she was pregnant, she went dark brown, signifying her preparation for the momentous change about to occur. Even when she pushed back against the paparazzi that fateful day in 2007, Spears did it through her hair. She shaved it all off, writing in her memoir "The Woman in Me" that she was in the midst of a "meltdown" at the time. "I'd been eyeballed so much growing up. I'd been looked up and down, had people telling me what they thought of my body, since I was a teenager," Spears wrote of what precipitated the event, per People. "Shaving my head and acting out were my ways of pushing back." Spears's hair, and the ability to cut it all off, was a way of reclaiming her power. 

So in celebration of self-expression and how hair informs one's identity, we're taking a peek back at the major hair changes of Britney Spears's career. After all, it's not just hair. Spears understood, as so many of us do, that to change your hair is to change your life. And Spears has undergone many changes. 

In January 1999, Britney Spears's debut album "...Baby One More Time" was released, solidifying the former Mickey Mouse Club member as a pop star. To mark the occasion, Spears attended the 1999 American Music Awards, alongside legends like Celine Dion, Cher, and Whitney Houston. Spears looked as fresh-faced and angelic as could be, wearing a simple, white dress with a sparkly headband. What's most notable about her look at this event is her hair, as Spears showcases her naturally brunette locks. Her hair was a medium length and looked gorgeous in this darker color, especially while rocking some serious '90s curls, which were tightly wound and bouncy. She had fresh, side-swept bangs, and everything about her looked adorable. 

It didn't take long for Britney Spears to go blonde, once she became a bona fide pop star. With her debut album credited as changing the nature of contemporary pop music, Spears was shaking things up. Clearly, her hair had to change, too. Gone were the natural brown tones that fans saw months earlier, and Spears arrived at the Teen Choice Awards in August 1999 with blonde hair. Her color was a desert sand blonde, which is perfect for people with naturally dark hair. She paired the color with a shorter cut and had fuller, fluffier bangs. Obviously, there would be many more iterations of blonde to come, but this was the first big change. Bonus points for purple eyeshadow. Gotta love that '90s makeup.

One of the most unforgettable moments in Britney Spears' hair transformation was when she appeared on stage at the Universal Amphitheatre in Universal City, California on July 31, 1999. She emerged in a metallic, pink latex tube top along with white track pants with pink knee pads. She styled her blonde hair in high pigtails and rocked bangs. This wasn't the only time in her long career that Spears wore pigtails. In the 1998 music video for "... Baby One More Time," Spears wore her hair in braided pigtails. Clearly, the style was a big part of her brand in the early years of her ascent as the Princess of Pop. 

After meeting on the set of The All-New Mickey Mouse Club, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears were in each others' orbits for years. They made their official debut as a couple at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. Spears often used hair to mark changes in her life. The public launch of her relationship with Timberlake came with its own style transformation. She sported bright blonde hair for the occasion, and crimped her long layers in various places, adding dimension and texture. It was the ultimate Y2K styling choice. She completed the look with a sparkly choker necklace. The crimped hair is absolute perfection, and she kept that in place for her iconic performance of "Oops!... I Did It Again" later that evening. Talk about star power. 

No one will ever forget Britney Spears's 2001 VMA performance, where she sang "I'm a Slave 4 U" while holding an albino Burmese python. While the snake stole the show, Spears's hair made a stunning debut. She came out on stage with darker honey hair than she previously had and was sporting frisky, textured layers. Spears's golden blonde hair would become the iconic hue of her career in the 2000s, carving her path as one of the most recognized performers in the world. Blonde became synonymous with pop, thanks to Spears.

While firmly situated as the Princess of Pop by the early 2000s, Britney Spears changed things up for her 2002 film "Crossroads." While playing the character of Lucy, Spears sported shorter hair with sweet, smoothly styled layers. It was a departure back to a more demure look, because at this point in her career, Spears was well known for her skill as a performer and her more provocative stage style. For instance, after her 2000 VMAs performance aired, The Hollywood Reporter slammed her, claiming that she was "perhaps the first artist ever to turn the Rolling Stones classic 'Satisfaction' into a striptease," (via Splinter). Spears was rocking the boat, and so her more subdued style in "Crossroads" was a way to return to her prior self, before she became so famous. The shoulder-length cut and simple styling harks back to a girl-next-door kind of look. 

Britney Spears showcased dark hair in 2006 at the Teen Choice Awards. She and Kevin Federline had already welcomed son Sean Preston Federline in 2005 and Spears was pregnant with their second child, Jayden James Federline, at the award ceremony. Spears's dark hair was a major departure from the honey tones that fans had grown accustomed to, and it's reasonable to think that Spears was using her hair as a way to mark the maternal changes in her life. Her blonde hair was so intertwined with her on-stage persona and her status as a pop star. This new, richer hue marked a new set of priorities for Spears. She wasn't just a performer anymore; she was also a mom. 

Britney Spears went through a challenging period around 2007; in February of that year, paparazzi caught images of her shaving her head. In her memoir, "The Woman in Me," Spears wrote about her hair in this moment. "My long hair was a big part of what people liked — I knew that," she wrote, (via Today). "I knew a lot of guys thought long hair was hot. Shaving my head was a way of saying to the world: F— you. You want me to be pretty for you? F— you." Cutting off her hair was a moment of taking back her own agency. 

A year later, in 2008, Spears attended the Bambi Awards in Offenburg, Germany. She performed her hit "Womanizer" in a completely new look. She sported a top hat worn over big, full blonde curls. After a tough spell, people felt like her performance and impeccable hair style at the 2008 Bambi Awards was her way of making a comeback. And it's no wonder that for this big moment, Spears chose to sport her classic, blonde hair. 

Britney Spears arrived at the 2018 GLAAD Awards in Los Angeles with some of the longest hair she's ever sported. The icon often favored medium-length hair, with the occasional shoulder-length cut, but Spears surprised fans with long sweeping hair down to her rib cage in a gorgeous, dramatic blowout. Her blonde locks were light with buttercream tones, that brought out her tanned skin and big, brown eyes. This look was a significant one because it was classic Spears: gorgeous, and back in her blonde, pop princess persona. While her conservatorship wouldn't terminate until November 2021, Spears was already showing a sense of freedom and selfhood, embodied through her long, lustrous hair. 

During their six year relationship, Britney Spears and Sam Asghari attended several events together; one notable event was the Daytime Beauty Awards in September 2019. Spears attended it to support Asghari, who received an award for outstanding achievement in fitness. Spears arrived in a black dress to match the darker tones of her brunette hair. Her dark hair was a special, new look for her new romance, though she would go blonde again later in their relationship. Spears married Asghari in June 2022, and the couple separated in August 2023. While Spears was blonde for her wedding to Asghari, there seems to be some interesting link for the pop star with brunette hair. It seems that when she's embarking on something new and romantic, Spears likes to go dark and harness that brunette power.