Lady Gaga's Natural Hair Color Might Surprise You

Lady Gaga is the undeniable embodiment of a hair chameleon. Every time she steps out on stage or a red carpet, we have no idea what color or style tresses she'll be rocking. Blond hair bow? She did it. A super shiny, silver, glitter lob with bangs? She did that, too. And how could we forget the giant button made from faux, platinum blond hair she wowed us with in 2009? Because Gaga has sported so many over-the-top outfits with wigs and hairpieces to match, it's nearly impossible to tell what her natural hair color is. But one throwback snap revealed all.

In 2016, the "Hair" hitmaker gave fans a look at her virgin tresses in an impossibly sweet childhood photo shared via Facebook that showed her with light brown hair. Much like how we barely recognized her fellow popstar Britney Spears without her iconic blond locks, the singer, who was then known as Stefani Germanotta, looked totally different with a slight red tone to her hair that bordered dirty blond. Gaga's healthy tresses were super shiny and also appeared to have a natural curl.

Though we're used to seeing Lady Gaga keep her natural hair under wigs, just like so many of our favorite celebrities, there was a time she proudly revealed her real tresses on stage. In 2013, the superstar took off her hairpiece during an iTunes Festival performance and looked unrecognizable once again with bob-length, brunette hair. The shade was a deeper brown than her childhood locks, suggesting she'd dyed it or that it had naturally darkened as she aged.

Gaga then explained to the crowd the significance behind the gesture. She shared that some tough moments in her life had caused her to turn to outlandish wigs and out-there makeup. "I knew I had to show you what's underneath all of the theater," she told attendees (via Cosmopolitan U.K.). "Here I am the human underneath the wigs. This is my real hair [...] I went through some tough times I've never talked about. In order to write 'ARTPOP' I had to take off all the wigs that mask the pain."

Though the "Abracadabra" singer has returned to brunette several times (including for roles like "A Star is Born"), early in her career, she dyed her hair blond to take control of her image. She told Z100 (via TikTok) that at the time she was rising to fame, people repeatedly  confused her with the late Amy Winehouse. "I was a total festival bunny and I would get, 'Amy! Amy!' ... It was totally bizarre and I just decided, listen, I don't mind being compared to Amy, but I wanted to really have my own image and impress a really strong shape into the brain of everybody when they think of Lady Gaga," she said. Gaga certainly did that, and we can't imagine her getting confused for any other artist these days — blond hair or otherwise.