Celebrities love to play with their hair, whether it's with hair dye, extensions, or bright, bold wigs. The last few years of red carpets have taught us that intense hair shades aren't going anywhere—in fact, we're only seeing more colors that make stars look and feel daring. If you're all about "mermaid hair" and other high-octane hair trends, allow this list to serve as inspiration for your next trip to the salon.
Kendall Jenner
Natural brunette Kendall Jenner goes several shades lighter here at the 2024 Academy Museum Gala. The hue is warm and golden, with a little natural darkness at the roots. She debuted this "butter blonde" at New York Fashion Week and (while it might not be as intense as others on this list) probably required several hours in the salon.
Serena Williams
At the Balmain Womenswear Fall/Winter 2022/2023 show, Serena Williams eschews her normal darker color for a shorter wig that's white-blonde—with notes of strawberry blonde throughout. Those pink-ish hues bring in some dimension and surprise, while the darker roots match with her brows and lashes.
Kristen Stewart
Kristen Stewart loves to take a pretty standard yellow-blonde and play with it—namely, by exposing her darker roots and giving the whole look an extreme contrast. This is the 2022 Cannes photocall for Crimes Of The Future, and the growing-out almost looks like an extreme ombre.
Ellie Goulding
By really turning up the intensity on the color wheel, Ellie Goulding gives us yellow that skews almost orange. This is at the 2015 MTV EMAs, and (even with the darker roots for balance) the hue is so bold that it looks almost lemon-y—in a really pretty way.
Zendaya
Even as a wig, Zendaya's "Joan of Arc" hair at the 2018 Met Gala was impressively memorable (and quite appropriate to the "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination" theme). That rich auburn color is a favorite on the red carpet, thanks to its coppery highlights.
Amandla Stenberg
Amandla Stenberg shows how a rich color can be used as a highlight: in this case, dispersed throughout her braids just as a brown or blonde color might be. What I love most is that it's actually multiple colors, and that the purple and pink complement each other beautifully.
Chloe Norgaard
At first, this just feels like a touch of light blue at the front of Chloe Norgaard's head—but in fact, the rest of her hair is actually a rich gray-silver. It's a softer, more subtle take on "mermaid" hair that actually gets cooler the more you look at it.
Maisie Williams
If you like edgy hair, let Maisie Williams be one of your style inspirations—she's always trying something new with her cut and/or color. This varied pink is bright in places and softer in others, and nearly blonde in a few spots; it feels like an upgraded version of a dye you'd use at home.
Megan Fox
Granted, this photo is not from the red carpet, but Megan Fox had a whole phase of deep cherry-red hair that took her from events to street style (as we see here). She kept the color for long enough for her darker roots to start growing in, lending a more "lived-in" feel to even the most dramatic of hues.
Jaime King
Has there ever been a more mermaid-y hair color? This is at the Saint Vintage "Love Tour" back in 2012, and Jaime King's hair is deceptively simple. It seems like a simple ombre, but on closer inspection looks to be a variety of colors. Getting the balance and dimension right takes serious skill.
Katy Perry
Katy Perry is no stranger to wild hair colors, and you can find she's tried nearly every shade at some point in her long career. This is at the 2012 premiere of Katy Perry: Part Of Me; the rich, royal purple is a particular standout because it integrates with her dark hair.
Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff has shown an impressive willingness to experiment with her hair color. Case in point: this all-over blue at the premiere of Younger in 2015. Her hairstylist Amber Maynard explained that it was a temporary dye (lasting about a month) that she applied to achieve the nearly teal mermaid-y vibes.
Ice Spice
Ice Spice is often known for her bright orange curls on the red carpet. So this sleek straight version is a nice alternative, and it's a wig I think she should wear more often. With the right matte makeup to offer some contrast, the hair can look extra-bright and luminous.
Evan Rachel Wood
Dip-dye hair has been with us for a while, but the extreme of black and blonde hair is a real commitment. Actually, it's perfect on Evan Rachel Wood, who normally goes with blonde or dark brown hair (and this 'do combines them both in one look). And the visible roots make for another dimension!
Lil' Kim
Lil' Kim's 1999 MTV Video Music Awards look is by now legendary (thanks to some very strategically deployed pasties), but not enough credit goes to her very lavender wig. Red carpet hair experimentation was a more regular phenomenon by the late '90s, and the rapper was at the forefront.
Britney Spears
Britney Spears' appearance at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards delighted fans thanks to her multicolored mermaid hair. She'd had the purple tips for a while but added a nice transitional blue for the ceremony, drawing Crayola crayon comparisons (in a good way!).
Constance Wu
While there will certainly be more vivid pinks on this list, what's so great about Constance Wu's color here is that it took such skill to achieve. This is at the A Wrinkle In Time premiere, and achieving a pretty pastel pink color like this (with blonde tips, no less) can take quite a while when the natural hair color is so much darker.
Eve
The 2000 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards were the perfect place for rapper Eve to debut a shade of hot pink (and matching lips!). Celebs really went bold in the Y2K era, debuting bright colors that quickly established them as fashion-forward. When you have short hair, it also means you can change your color more easily and quickly.
Iskra Lawrence
Model Iskra Lawrence shows off the perfect silver hair color (it's L’Oréal Paris' Colorista Paint in #Silvergrey, and she's a brand ambassador). This hue might feel particularly intense, given how stark it is, so picking one with blue undertones is important to make your hair look luminous.
Winnie Harlow
Now this is some multidimensional hair. I count several different color transitions on this long wig; the darker roots and dark blue underlayer help the hair look long and thick and eye-catching. Winnie Harlow is at the 2019 DKNY 30th Anniversary party here, which feels like the right place for this color.
Irene Kim
Here attending the Balmain show at Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2018, model and journalist Irene Kim is demonstrating how many hues you can put into a single hairstyle. In total, I see lavender, mauve, lilac, orchid, and violet!
Christina Aguilera
It's a hairstyle that will live in infamy: Christina Aguilera's "skunk" highlights, interspersing black through platinum blonde hair. It's now become synonymous with a particular decade of style (this is from the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards), and you'll never forget the first time you saw it.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga has said that her whole career is a tribute to David Bowie, and this is a pretty direct reference (this is the 2016 Grammys). Her hair is, probably unsurprisingly, a wig, but Gaga has gone red or orange on her actual hair more than once in her career. This particular hue might be tough to maintain.
Helen Mirren
The supreme red carpet goddess, Helen Mirren, has a playful red carpet style. And it doesn't get more playful than this teased multilayered blue 'do. She's at the Jeanne du Barry 2023 premiere at Cannes—which is, by the way, the exact venue for such a color.
Dua Lipa
There's visible roots, and then there's what Dua Lipa is giving us here. This is the 2020 Grammys, and her "piecey" hair is extremely nostalgic of '90s hairstyles, while keeping things modern with its extreme color contrast and slicked-back styling.
Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper has said that dying her hair a multitude of hues was a matter of self-expression (showing her "true colors," if you will). This, from the 1995 Emmys, was pretty par for the course, with a dash of purple and some bright yellow throughout. Our modern notion of intense hair dye on the red carpet owes a lot to her.
Billie Eilish
A more modern iteration of this type of extreme hair dye is Billie Eilish's neon green roots—I love the optical illusion that the bold color is actually her "natural" color growing out. If you look closely, there's a little green throughout the body of her hair, too.
Rihanna
Rihanna has said that her copper hair was one of the coolest hair colors she tried (even though her short black pixie is probably her favorite, apparently). This cherry red is from 2010 and is even richer—the singer said at the time that it was almost too much, and it rubbed off on her pillows.
Cardi B
Cardi B loves a bold wig, and none bolder than this rainbow concoction! I count a total of five pastel colors here; she wisely chooses to lean in, with a similar color on her lips and thick, chunky jewelry (that reflects the color in a really pretty way). The top knot makes it fancy!
Sky Ferreira
This is blue. Singer-songwriter and actor Sky Ferreira plays with myriad blue hues here, from sky blue all the way through indigo. And (although it can be difficult to tell) it looks like at least some of the color might be on her natural hair—impressive commitment!
Georgia May Jagger
Slow claps for Georgia May Jagger! This is as magenta as magenta gets; this was at the Fashion Awards 2018 in London and she's said it was one of her favorite looks: "It was a lot, but just the right amount." Really leaning in on the maximalism was the right call here.
Pink
I don't know if anyone will ever top Pink's pink spikes! This is (where else?) the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000. I don't know how permanent that hair dye was, but it was completely in character for the singer. Also, in a total boss move, she didn't match anything else in her outfit to it.
