1989 Was The Year Dolly Parton Had The Biggest Hair & These Pics Prove It Hands Down

Since the '60s, Dolly Parton has been known for her iconic hair: platinum blond and teased sky high. However, the biggest hack behind Parton's distinctive locks is that it's not actually her hair. In fact, Parton is so committed to wigs that she once quipped to Entertainment Tonight, "I must have at least 365, because I wear one almost every day." Her hair has always been oversized. Still, Parton's hair was never bigger than 1989, when her natural inclinations collided with the trend of high-volume perms and pinned-up poufs.

By relying on wigs, Parton was able to experiment with lots of bold styles. She loved the freedom fake hair gave her. Over the years, she rocked everything from spiral curls to a backcombed bouffant. But no matter the style, Parton was always committed to volume. "Through all the decades, I always had that big, old hair," Parton told Allure in 2021. "My hairdresser, Collen Owens, [in the '70s], was so big on doing those big hairdos. She thought that I was larger than life, so she tried to make my hair even bigger." It's the kind of signature beauty look that perfectly complements Parton's over-the-top outfits, but the last year of the '80s most definitely saw her most voluminous hairstyles.

Like many, Dolly Parton embraced the spiral perms of the '80s. She was already a fan of big hair, but the curly treatment added serious volume, like in this shot from the 1989 Los Angeles premiere of "Steel Magnolias." It was an era tailor-made for Parton, who incorporated the corkscrew curls into her enormously teased hairstyles. "In the '80s, a lot of the wigs had those really, really, little, tight curls," Parton told Allure in 2021. "The smaller I got, the bigger the hair seemed to be."

Teasing, backcombing, and bleaching can take their toll on hair. So, Parton wore wigs for a genuinely relatable reason. They allowed her to play freely with major volume, in addition to keeping her beloved hydrogen peroxide blond. Wigs became her signature look, allowing her to consistently rock oversized styles, like in this shot from a 1989 performance. She sidestepped the kind of serious breakage that can majorly diminish volume. "The wigs were wearing me — I wasn't wearing the wig!" joked Parton during a 2023 interview with Vogue. "It was always the bigger, the better."

Early in her career, Dolly Parton wore her hair big to appear on "The Porter Wagoner Show," and it became a style trademark that lasted throughout her career. "It was always big and blonde, whether curls or a layered, backcombed, long shag," hair expert Rachael Gibson told InStyle in 2026. They were the key features, and everything else just built on it." Though Parton may have been small — she was just five feet tall — her hair gave her enormous presence, like during this 1989 appearance on "The Pat Sajak Show."

While Dolly Parton may have loved a big hair moment, her husband wasn't always as fond of her over-the-top styles. "My husband used to say, 'You look like a Q-tip,'" she told Allure in 2021. "I was like a little stick with all this hair." But that didn't discourage Parton from rocking her oversized styles, like this spiral-curl spin on a mullet that she wore for the New York premiere of "Steel Magnolias" in 1989.

Dolly Parton wore her hair teased high for so many years that it became nearly impossible to imagine her without it. While rare photos of Parton's natural hair prove bigger isn't always better, there's no denying that this kind of volume is iconic. In this photo, taken backstage before a 1989 appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," Parton's curly tresses take up nearly half the frame. Many people were inspired by her look. "My mom was a hairdresser when I was growing up, and I used to tell her to make mine 'big like Mrs. Dolly's,'" wrote one Reddit user.

This oversized hairstyle that Dolly Parton rocked for a 1989 rehearsal is a masterclass in '80s volume. From the spiral curls to the half-up pouf, Parton used plenty of the decade's trends to add height to her hair. By Parton's own account, she's never been one for half measures, especially when it comes to beauty. "I think more is more and whoever made up that 'less is more' is full of it," she told Vogue in 2020.