Miley Cyrus' Stunning Hair Transformation Through The Years
Miley Cyrus is something of a hair chameleon — she never sticks with one style for long. In fact, the pop superstar has been on a real hair journey over the years. From her honey brown Disney starlet days to her internet-breaking mullet to her jaw-dropping '80s lioness hair at the 2024 Grammys, she has delivered one showstopping look after another.
For fans, analyzing Cyrus' many hair looks over the years has become something of a passion. In fact, even Cyrus herself has commented on her fans' obsession with her hair. While speaking to Howard Stern on his SiriusXM show in 2020, the singer explained that people often assume her hair isa sign of her mental health. "[M]y hair is some sort of reflection for my sanity, my sexuality, my sobriety," she said on the show (via Business Insider). "The public really makes my hair, I guess, the kind of monitor of how I'm doing. It's really not their fault that they associate my hair and my identity and my well-being so closely, because basically, we drilled that into their brains for eight years of a series." It's true — we all remember that Cyrus' hair (and wig) was a key talking point on "Hannah Montana."
Cyrus' hair may not be a direct reflection of how she's doing in life — but it's certainly a sign of how she wants to express herself. Let's take a look at the singer's many hair transformations over the years.
Miley Cyrus had natural brunette hair with highlights when she found fame as Hannah Montana
Miley Cyrus burst onto the scene as Hannah Montana in the classic Disney Channel show back in 2006. At the time, the then-12-year-old actor had fairly natural hair. Her natural color is a warm brown tone, as could be seen when Cyrus was playing Miley, the ordinary high schooler who moonlit as superstar Hannah Montana. Looking at images of Cyrus on the show in its early seasons, you'll see that the star has brunette hair that comes down just past her shoulders.
In the early years of her career, Cyrus began experimenting with her brown hair a little, adding soft highlights that gave her a sun-kissed look. However, nothing Cyrus did was too dramatic in her early teens and she preferred to keep her locks natural and curled — and looking back, she was a huge inspiration for Millennial teens in high school at the time.
Miley Cyrus wore a lot of wigs for Hannah Montana
Of course, during her "Hannah Montana" days, Miley Cyrus also wore lots and lots of wigs. In the show, a blond wig with bangs was her character's only form of disguise when she was in character as Hannah, the pop sensation. In her real life, Cyrus ended up wearing wigs while performing in character at Hannah Montana concerts, too.
The experience of donning a wig for these performances both on- and off-screen eventually became difficult for Cyrus as she grew up. "The minute I had sex, I was kind of like, I can't put the f***ing wig on again," she said to Elle in 2019. "It got weird. It just felt like ... I was grown up."
However, wearing wigs was also eye-opening for Cyrus. In hindsight, she realized they had taught her a lot. "Wearing a wig on set taught me to respect drag queens at a very young age!" she told Elle a few years later in 2022. "The art of creating a glamorous alter ego and looking at wigs costuming and makeup as more than just self-decoration, but also armor."
She dyed her hair black after breaking up with Nick Jonas in 2007
Miley Cyrus' first major hair transformation was born out of heartbreak. In 2007, the then-15-year-old singer broke up with her first boyfriend, Nick Jonas. In her autobiography, "Miles to Go," she described it as "[t]he hardest day ever" (via J-14). It was so hard that she decided she needed a dramatic change — and that change involved black hair dye.
After crying for "a month straight," Cyrus decided to dye her hair pitch black. "When we were dating, Nick wanted me to get highlights — and so I did that, and I got myself looking great," she told Seventeen Magazine in 2008 (via MTV). "And then, on the day we broke up, I was like, I want to make my hair black now — I don't want to look pretty; I want to look hardcore." As Cyrus went on to explain, it was her way of saying goodbye to Jonas and focusing on her own wants and needs. We loved to see it.
Miley Cyrus' long brown hair was actually all extensions
In the late 2010s, Miley Cyrus softened her jet black hair and went for a gentler dark shade of brown, a little darker than her natural hair color. She also grew her hair super long so that it grazed her belly button — or at least, that's what we all thought at the time. As it turns out, Cyrus achieved the Rapunzel-esque look with extensions.
In 2013, the singer explained to Harper's Bazaar that her hair was "never real." Her long brown hair, she explained, was part of her "Nashville life" and her "simple life." "I have 350 extensions in my hair," she said. "That wasn't real, none of it was ever real. That was not growing out of my head." Way to burst our bubble, Miley! At least the star was honest about all the help she got to achieve those ultra long brown waves.
In 2012, she chopped her locks off into a pixie cut
In 2012, Miley Cyrus shocked fans with her boldest hair transformation to date, chopping off her ultra long hair and bleaching it, leaving a super short blonde pixie. At the time, Cyrus was working in Philadelphia. As she told Harper's Bazaar, she happened to meet hairstylist Chris McMillan there and spontaneously asked him to give her the dramatic look. Even though she transformed, someone still recognized her that evening.
Cyrus later spoke to Ellen DeGeneres about the dramatic chop, explaining that she was going for even shorter hair on the sides. "I started buzzing, which is getting shorter and shorter," she said. Cyrus went on to discuss the public's reaction to her new hair. After fans saw the chop, many were annoyed — but Cyrus wasn't bothered. "It's so nice," she gushed. "Don't you, like, love having it short? I feel like when you wake up your hair's always done." She added, "The dirtier my hair is the more I like it."
Miley Cyrus started growing out her hair again in 2014
Even though Miley Cyrus loved her cropped pixie at the time, it didn't last too long. A few years later, the singer revealed that she had already started growing her hair out again — apparently, she had tired of the super short look and was ready to get her long locks back again. "I'm secretly tugging on it every night and taking [hair growth supplement] Viviscal," she confessed to E!'s Fashion Police (via Grazia). "But I'm going to rock it while I have it."
By 2015, Cyrus' hair was growing long again, and she got very creative with styling it. She often wore it up, and the longer pieces were getting longer. At one event, she wore French braids on the shorter sides and let the top section flop over her forehead. She also concealed her growing hair with updos and ponytail extensions to give the illusion of longer hair. Genius!
She learned an important lesson when she bleached her own hair in 2016
In 2016, Miley Cyrus got spontaneous with her hair and once again reached for the bleach — but this time, she didn't seek out the help of any professional hairstylist, she did it herself. Let's just say it didn't go so well. "Bleached my f***ng natural healthy a$$ hair rebelling out of boredom," she wrote on Facebook at the time. As she went on to explain, it didn't exactly go as planned. "Either this s*** needs to grow out at super speed or I'm about to go in for a f***in hair cut realllllll quick!!!" she wrote, adding, "[P]lease fellow humans next time you feel that tickle in your belly while making a decision listen to what it says and know the true you can never be replicated or replaced you are the one and only you!"
Yikes, talk about hair dye regret! Cyrus kept her blond hair, but by the looks of things, she had some professional help to tone down the bright, bleached coloring!
Miley Cyrus went for a two-toned beachy look in 2017
In 2017, Miley Cyrus entered a new phase — her "Malibu" period — and went for an appropriately beachy look. To dramatic effect, she dyed her hair two tones: brown at the roots and blond at the ends — almost as if her ends had been bleached by the Malibu sun itself. "I like blond and brown — now I don't have to choose," she said on The Cooper Lawrence Show at Long Island, New York's 106.1 radio station. She added, "For chicks, you've gotta look a certain way all the time, and I just don't wanna do that" (via Teen Vogue).
Cyrus later updated her fashion style to match her new hairdo, opting for floaty, boho looks — dresses, jeans, cutoff shorts — as if she had come straight out of Malibu. We love a themed hairstyle, and Cyrus definitely pulled off this bold, beachy look!
She went for a more natural, simple look in 2018
After letting her roots show (a lot) in 2017 with her two toned "Malibu" hairstyle, Cyrus decided to go for a more classic look in 2018. In March, at the Vanity Fair Oscar party, she wore her hair in classic Hollywood waves and dyed it an old-Hollywood honey blonde color.
At the 2018 Grammys, Cyrus once again showed off sleek, simple hair — this time, it appeared a touch blonder. But after her pixie cut, her bleaching debacle, and her two toned look from the year before, the tidy, clean look was notably — well — ordinary.
Later that year, in December, she was still sporting a very classic, natural look with dark blond hair. While appearing on "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon," she wore her straight in a half-up, half-down look with a festive red ribbon holding it in place. We have to say, 2018 was definitely Cyrus' most "normal" hair year in a while!
Miley Cyrus went through a brief bangs phase in 2019
By 2019, Miley Cyrus had tried pretty much everything — pixie cut hair, jet black hair, two toned hair, blond hair — but there was one thing she hadn't tried: bangs. Aside from her time as Hannah Montana, when she wore a blond wig with bangs, Cyrus had steered clear of fringes. However, in March 2019, she appeared with a dramatic set of long, feathered bangs.
Stylist Sally Hershberger teased the haircut first on Instagram with an image that showed her trimming Cyrus' bangs and pushing her hair forward onto her forehead. "Living it up with @mileycyrus," she wrote in the caption. In another Instagram post, she wrote, "JUST BANGED MILEY."
Cyrus also took to Instagram with a story that compared her new trim to that of her fringed character, Hannah Montana. "You know guys, it was so hard going back and forth that I decided I'll just be Hannah forever," she wrote (via PureWow). "She was getting a lot of press this week ... thanks to ME!" Some fans were convinced that the new bangs were a wig, but Cyrus confirmed: "It's all me."
She made mullets cool again in 2020
Next up for Miley Cyrus in her hair journey was the infamous mullet. We all remember this look — you either loved it or hated it, but everyone seemed to have an opinion on it. The singer went for the bold, choppy mullet look in 2020. She debuted the hair on Instagram, writing, "New Hair. New Year. NEW MUSIC!" The image showed Cyrus sitting on a bench with her short in the front, long in the back hair on display.
Cyrus later spoke to Jimmy Kimmel about her controversial new look. When Kimmel asked her to confirm if her hairstyle was indeed a mullet, she replied, "Yes." Then, she explained that the mullet had come about during the pandemic. When her bangs got too long, her mother apparently said, "Well, I can cut your hair but I only know how to do one hairstyle and I've been doing this since 1992 for your dad and for your brothers." That style, of course, was a classic '70s mullet. So, Cyrus was left looking an awful lot like her father, Billy Ray Cyrus. She went on to joke, "I think there is something genetically where it just kind of grows naturally shorter up top and longer in the back." Sounds like this mullet was destiny!
In 2022, Miley Cyrus stayed blond for her godmother
By 2022, it seemed that Miley Cyrus wanted a change. After being blond for most of her career, she began to crave going brown again. However, as the singer told "Today," her godmother, country singer Dolly Parton, begged her not to.
As Cyrus explained, Parton was horrified when she suggested going back to her natural brunette. "I've never seen Dolly actually scared before," Cyrus said. "She acted like I told her the worst news you could imagine. She clutched her pearls, gasped, and went back," she recalled. Apparently, Parton then told Cyrus that she had to stay blond so that she would look like her. "I'm somehow some extension of Dolly Parton where she looked like I had just given her the worst news you've ever heard. So I will be blond." Sounds like Cyrus kept her blonde look going all thanks to Parton — that's pretty generous goddaughter behavior if you ask us.
In 2023, she caved and went brunette again
Finally, in 2023, Miley Cyrus did what she'd apparently wanted to do for a long time — in spite of her godmother's pleas, she dyed her hair brown. The singer debuted the dark brown shade in a 2023 Instagram post, in which she congratulated Sabato De Sarno for his first show as Gucci's creative director. "Your stunning heart was shown in every stitch. I love you & am so proud. Now give me everything," she wrote in an Instagram caption. Many fans loved the look, including makeup artist Janice Daoud, who commented, "brunette bombshell," on the post.
Later that year, Cyrus mixed things up again, going for a "marble cake" look with patches of blond mixed into her wavy brunette hair. She debuted this more daring look at the Fashion Los Angeles Awards. Maybe this was a compromise that Cyrus' godmother, Dolly Parton, could get on board with!
Miley Cyrus wowed fans with her new do at the Grammys in 2024
In 2024, Miley Cyrus stunned fans with yet another bold hair look. At the Grammy Awards, the singer appeared with a super voluminous blowout. Her dark blond hair was styled in a mane-like poofy style that recalled famous '60s superhero Barbarella. However, as Bob Recine, Cyrus' stylist, explained to InStyle, this wasn't a purely nostalgic look. "I wanted to create a look that felt fresh and modern while still drawing on inspiration from the past. The hair is teased out and big but still a little messy and touchable to feel sexy and help make Miley feel confident. We're not hiding the teasing; it's a little punky, which kind of brings it into today's world." According to Ashley Jackson, a fashion journalist, Cyrus' super big hair carried a lot of meaning. "There's power in a woman who wears her hair that big," she told the BBC. "Western culture is about true grit and character."
As for Cyrus, it seems she was a big fan of her hair, too. In an Instagram post about the evening, she wrote, "I'd like to personally thank my hair." Same, Miley!