Reba McEntire Is Nearly Unrecognizable With Her Natural Hair

It's hard to imagine what Reba McEntire would look like without her signature red hair. Along with her country twang, the singer has made her rust-colored tresses a trademark of her image, and she's proud to represent the community. "I loved my red hair," she told Dallas Voice about growing up a redhead. "My mom was a redhead, so I felt she gave me her red hair." However, the shoulder-length blowout that you see on "The Voice" or red carpet events isn't representative of her natural locks.

Reba McEntire almost exclusively conceals her curls in her modern styles. The "Reba" actor has had quite the hair transformation, from a pixie cut to even admittedly wearing wigs, but her natural mane has seldom made appearances since early in her career. Fans seemingly got a glimpse of her curly tendrils in an Instagram post from fellow musician Carole King in March 2025. In the image, McEntire's hair looks a little less manicured than what is usually in photos on social media, which tells us she likely kept it unstyled that day.

McEntire may be tentative about wearing her natural hair after a perming disaster in her early days. She revealed to Glamour that an '80s perm ruined her 'do, and she now regrets having done it. "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," she said. "And it did."

You won't recognize McEntire in a throwback pic with her natural hair texture. On World Redhead Day 2024, the "Survivor" hitmaker posted a photo on Instagram from earlier in her career, which showcased her innately curly hair, voluminously enhanced by the signature '80s fringe and what was probably ten cans of hairspray (and — as she's admitted — a perm). She shared another photo on Instagram that featured a shorter cut, but equal fluff. "If you want to get one of my signature looks, pull out your comb and get to teasing," she wrote next to a photo captioned, "It's not the '80s without a perm."

McEntire has seemingly experimented on both sides of the hair spectrum and has found a happy medium after an early 2000s hairstyle fail. In 2016, the "Fancy" singer shared a throwback photo on Instagram from 2004, which featured a classic Y2K, choppy, layered haircut. "I didn't like my hair that flat...but everyone loved it so I gave 'em one set up with it," McEntire admitted in the caption. "Looking back, it wasn't so bad...but this gal likes VOLUME." She's pretty consistent with her current look: blunt bangs and big, bouncy curls. But if she decides to go back to her natural texture, we will be cheering from the sidelines!