This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s spring editorial intern Fainite Auguste. Find her on Instagram at @ceilingdancing. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
On Sunday, January 28th the Kansas City Chiefs won the championship game against the Ravens. For the first time, Taylor Swift left the box suit and came down onto the field to celebrate her boyfriend, Travis Kelce’s win.
Just like the past 11 games of the season people could not stop commenting on Swift; this time the topic of discussion was her hair. People took to the internet to either complement or disapprove of her appearance.
Taylor Swift’s Hair History
Casual fans may not know, but Taylor Swift has naturally curly hair. Similarly to every other female artist of the 2010s, Taylor Swift had to reinvent herself numerous times, which in turn affected her hair. Fans have tried to guess when a new album will drop based on Swift’s appearance. The past few years consisted of Swifties guessing what album will be re-recorded next.
The Curls
At the beginning of her career, the curls were a crucial component of Swift’s character. In her self-titled debut album, 17-year-old Taylor Swift rocked tight curls and a side part. Other than a few minutes in the music video for Our Song, all of the promotional photos and videos for the debut era accentuated Swift’s curls. This look allowed her to play into that small-town country girl aesthetic. As she rose in popularity and made more red-carpet appearances her style team used what appears to be a curling wand to make teenage Taylor Swift look more polished.
Two years later, in 2008, on the cover of Fearless, it’s clear that the curling wand is in full effect. Swift’s hair is more of an accessory in this era; she is constantly whipping the long curls back and forth during performances. Throughout her 2008 and 2009 red carpet looks, Swift’s curls turn to small waves; alluding to the Speak Now era.
The Bangs
By 2010 the waves were large and glamorous, almost saying “I’m growing up” to her audience. She continued to keep this style during the Speak Now World Tour, until the last leg of the tour. Fans couldn’t help noticing that Swift looked a little different on stage; she now had bangs and wore her hair straight. When shooting for her first cover of Vogue; in January 2012, Swift agreed to cut bangs. This decision would follow her for the rest of her career.
She was recognizable from a mile away; straight blonde hair and blunt-cut bangs. This would encapsulate the Red era. When performing Swift often added loose barrel curls toward the ends of her hair.
Then Swift does the unspeakable; she cuts her hair and moves to New York. The 1989 era brought back the side-swept bangs but Swift would inevitably go back to the blunt bang cut. Again; she added some curls to give texture to the bob. In 2016, Swift bleached her hair to a platinum blonde. Fans lovingly refer to this era as “Bleachella.” She would later tone down the bleachy color that summer.
Reputation had its moments of curly hair, for example in the Look What You Made Me Do music video which looks closest to her natural curl pattern. Some waves were added for the Reputation Stadium Tour.
A few years later Swift would go a little brighter and colorful for the Lover era. She dyed the ends of her different colors like blue, pink, and neon yellow. This was the most blonde her hair had been since Red.
The Curls are Back?
After over a decade of using heat, Swift’s hair would inevitably have some heat damage. But Swift has continued to embarrass her natural hair. While in lockdown she released the albums Folklore and Evermore. In Zoom interviews she leaned toward a more casual look with natural makeup, curly hair, and bangs.
With the re-release of Fearless Swift did not attempt to style her hair identically to the original cover. However, in the Speak Now Taylor’s Version album cover she does add the big waves to her hair. At the premiere, she even clipped her hair into a bob length reminiscent of 1989.
However Midnights kept the long hair and bangs, but her hair is darker some even arguing that it’s no longer blonde.
Taylor Swift wearing her natural curls at such a public event is a great reminder to all the curly hair fans out there that your hair is presentable.
Are you a fellow curly haired Swiftie? Has Taylor’s hair journey affected you? Let us know!
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