Ariana Grande Reveals She Will Probably Never Wear Her Natural Curly Hair in Public and Prefers Her High Ponytail for This Reason

Ariana Grande is known for her signature high ponytail, but she also rocked bright red hair early in her career and has a natural curly hair texture that is rarely seen. During a recent interview, Grande did a deep dive into some of her hair journey.

Ariana Grande said her red ‘Victorious’ hair was a transition

During an Oct. 30 interview with the Zach Sang Show, Grande took a little walk down memory lane when it came to her hairstyles.

Fans who have been following Grande for years recall the bright red hair she sported as Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon show Victorious. To the singer, that was indicative of a transitional time in her career.

In discussing her hair over the years and her song “My Hair,” Sang asked, “I don’t understand why [your hair] has attracted so much fascination throughout the years?”

Grande confirmed, “It sure has.”

Sang added that the singer has been “somewhat publicly been defined” by her hair, with Grande sharing, “[Hair] definitely is [personal], especially when your hair kind of is something that you use to differentiate, you know what I mean?”

She continued, “It’s kind of like the red was Cat, and that was very much a character, and it was very much a portion of my life that I love and I am so grateful for. And I look at it and I love it and I see red hair … and I think fondly of that, but again, it’s not me.”

“The journey that it’s been to … I did put out ‘Put Your Hearts Up’ with red hair, and that felt weird. I felt like it was keeping me in,” she said. “Everyone thinks I hate that record, I do not, but I do consider it a transitional part of my life. That’s why I never made it into an album or anything because I didn’t feel like that was an accurate reflection of who I was as an artist or a person.” 

Grande dished on why her real hair isn’t often seen

Grande then moved on to the style most associated with her. “Then the ponytail,” she said, adding that her hair journey has “all been associated with different chapters of my life.”

“My real hair, which is the humungous, curly, curly poof, is kind of, I don’t know … So few people get to see it and it’s cute, and it reminds me of me as a kid … it’s who I am privately,” she explained. “But so is this. I wear my ponytail all the time too, but the curls are definitely something that I don’t bring around much.”

Grande shared how her natural hair is more of an “intimate thing” for her. “I think that’s kind of what I envisioned that song being about, is because it’s like such an intimate thing to be just like curly shower head. My boyfriend loves it. He’s like, ‘Curlies, yay!’ It’s like a very intimate thing…”

For Grande, she likes to keep her high ponytail as part of her professional “uniform” and literally let her hair down when she’s not on the job. “The hair for me is such a guard, character facade type thing, and it’s had its own evolution, but it has always been this kind of costume piece,” the singer explained.

When asked if she’d ever wear her hair naturally, Grande said, “I think I would. I think I have a hard time marrying it to the music for me because I have kind of created this persona and this thing … I don’t know if I love it for work.”