Young Pic Of Reba McEntire Confirms What We Suspected About Her Real Hair Color
Reba McEntire has had quite the hair transformation, with the country music superstar having rocked some truly bold hairstyles over the years. In fact, if you ask just about any fan of McEntire's what her defining physical trait is, they're almost sure to say her fiery red locks. It's such an iconic part of her aesthetic that you probably wouldn't even recognize her without it. That being said, there is definitely some enhancement going on. And a younger photo of McEntire confirms exactly what we suspected about her real hair color: that it is red, but not that red.
The "Fancy" singer shared the photo in question on Instagram to celebrate Mother's Day in May 2025. In it, a young McEntire can be seen helping her own mom in the kitchen while wearing a bandana over her naturally curly hair. "Wishing a happy Mother's Day to the trailblazers raising the next generation of dream chasers," she wrote in the post caption. The photo may be on the older side, but the color is largely intact, and McEntire is clearly a natural redhead through and through. The shade is just a lot more subtle than those who only know her as a performer are used to.
Nevertheless, McEntire has made it clear that she loves her hair as is, and wouldn't have it any other way. "Long or short, either way I love being a redhead!" she wrote on Facebook to celebrate National Redhead Day in November 2024, alluding to the different styles she's experimented with over the course of her career.
How (and why) Reba McEntire enhances her red hair
We noted that McEntire enhances her hair color to appear redder than it naturally is. But how — and why – does she do that, exactly? Well, during a 1997 interview with The Roanoke Times, McEntire's then-stylist Sandi Spika noted that while the singer is indeed a natural redhead, she was also known to dye her hair to make the color a bit bolder — primarily so it would look better on stage. "Stage lights can wash out color," Spika said, adding, "I couldn't tell you what numbers she uses." Much later, during a 2019 interview with People Magazine, McEntire herself confessed that she often utilized wigs as part of her wardrobe, and not just because her management team forced her to at one point. "I wear wigs a lot because it's so much easier, and I'm having a blast," the singer said (via Nadula Hair), likely referring to the fact that styling or coloring a wig would result in far less strain being put on her real hair.
To that end, McEntire has made a conscious effort to maintain a certain level of autonomy over how her hair looks. This likely stems from how her handlers have historically tried to micromanage her style. Speaking to Glamour in 2024, McEntire recalled how "freeing" it was when she cut her hair short in the 1990s, as it took a year for her to convince her management team to let her go through with it. "They told me my hair was my image," she recalled.