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Ariana Grande is known across the globe for two things - her music and her signature high ponytail. While the singer-songwriter has tried and sported many different hairstyles over the years, the high ponytail has remained her constant companion for the longest time.
Ten years ago, the we can't be friends singer revealed that the real reason behind her ponytail was the damage that four years of bleaching and dying had done to her natural hair. Because she didn't like how "absolutely ratchet" her hair looked when she wore it down, Grande preferred to keep it tied in a ponytail.
Since 2014, Ariana Grande has had the opportunity to care for her hair and let it grow to the length she prefers, making her feel more confident about trying different colors and styles over the years.
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Ariana Grande opened up about people giving her "a hard time" about her hair on Facebook in 2014
Ariana Grande has naturally black and curly hair, which was visible when, as a teenager, she performed in the Broadway musical,13, in 2008. Soon after the musical concluded, Grande was cast as Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon show, Victorious, in which her hair was supposed to be straight and red.
The Side to Side singer worked on the show for four years until it concluded in 2013. In January 2014, Ariana Grande took to Facebook - a platform that she was highly active on at the time - to speak up about people criticizing her signature high ponytail, saying:
"Since people give me such a hard time about my hair I thought I'd take the time to explain the whole situation to everybody. I had to bleach my hair and dye it red every other week for the first 4 years of playing Cat... as one would assume, that completely destroyed my hair."
She continued:
"I now wear a wig on Sam & Cat. My real hair is back to brown and I wear extensions but I wear it in a pony tail because my actual hair is so broken that it looks absolutely ratchet and absurd when I let it down."
The Bang Bang singer also revealed how she had tried wigs, weaves, and anything else that she could, but didn't like it, which is why she made peace with the ponytail that she had now grown comfortable in. Grande's Facebook post further said:
"And trust me, it's even more difficult for me to have to wait forever for my natural hair to grow back and to have to wear more fake hair than every drag queen on earth combined. So PLEASE gimme a break about the hair (or just don't look at me lol). IT'S JUST HAIR AFTER ALL. There are way way way more important things. Love y'all very much."
In 2014, after years of keeping red hair, Grande returned to brown hair streaked with blonde highlights near the end, keeping them tied in a long, straightened ponytail that's now recognized as her signature hairstyle. The singer-songwriter rocked the look in the music videos of Break Free and Bang Bang as well.
Two years later, a little ahead of her third studio album's release, Ariana got bangs, which she kept for her Dangerous Woman world tour as well. Towards the end of 2017, the just like magic singer dyed her hair in a mermaid-like platinum shade, which she both wore down and in a high ponytail.
The platinum hair stuck with Grande for a short few months, after which she returned to brown hair, keeping it consistent in her Sweetener world tour. In November 2018, shortly before shooting the music video for Thank U, Next, the singer-songwriter decided to cut her hair to a lob.
In its namesake album - Grande's fifth one - she is seen sporting a long ponytail wig, which she also wore while headlining the 2019 Coachella festival. Soon afterward, COVID-19 struck, and Ariana Grande got the opportunity to let her natural hair grow, recovering its original curls.
Ariana Grande dyed her hair blonde while shooting for Wicked in 2022
Ariana Grande was announced as the cast in the musical adaptation movie of Wicked alongside Cynthia Erivo in 2021. In 2022, shortly after the shootings started, Grande dyed her hair blonde for her character; she also lightened her eyebrows to match the look Glinda, the good witch, was supposed to have in the movie.
Wicked completed its filming in 2023 and announced its release date - Thanksgiving - in early 2024. Grande shared its official trailer on her Instagram handle on May 15.
