Ariana Grande Without Her Ponytail Still Freaks the Internet Out
Despite the fact that the high ponytail has become Ariana Grande‘s signature look, the pop artist has worn her hair in a handful of other ways since becoming the superstar that she is today. But if there’s one thing in this world that we can all count on, it’s Arianators losing their collective mind whenever she steps out in anything other than a ponytail. That happened last night, and has continued to happen today, after Grande took the stage in Chicago on her Sweetener/ Thank U, Next tour with long, straight hair.
Even Grande was in on the joke, as she riled up the crowd, asking, “Do you like my hair? Gee thanks, just bought it.” Meanwhile her hairstylist Josh Liu was less patient with the influx of reactions to Grande’s—again, not new—straight hair. Liu even took to Instagram stories to issue the plea, “Y’all need to relax,” as Refinery 29 notes. He’s right though: It’s not like this is the first time Grande has worn straight hair to play a show, as she did so on numerous occasions during her last, Dangerous Woman, tour.
Back in 2014, Grande explained why she’s made the high ponytail look her go-to. Apparently, it has less to do with style than it does with her damaged ends, which were so bad five years ago Grande didn’t have the confidence to step out without a ponytail hair extension. “Since people give me such a hard time about my hair I thought I’d take the time to explain the whole situation to everybody,” she wrote then on Facebook. “I had to bleach my hair and dye it red every other week for the first 4 years of playing Cat… as one would assume, that completely destroyed my hair. I now wear a wig on Sam & Cat. My real hair is back to brown and I wear extensions but I wear it in a pony tail because my actual hair is so broken that it looks absolutely ratchet and absurd when I let it down. I tried wigs, they looked RIDICULOUS. Tried a weave because I am working on a new project and want to try some different looks and literally wanted to rip my scalp off. So as annoying as it is for y’all to have to look at the same hair style all the time, it’s all that works for now (AND I’m comfortable for the first time in years)…. And trust me, it’s even more difficult for me to have to wait forever for my natural hair to grow back and to have to wear more fake hair than every drag queen on earth combined. So PLEASE gimme a break about the hair (or just don’t look at me lol). IT’S JUST HAIR AFTER ALL. There are way way way more important things. Love y’all very much.” Take it from Grande (and her hairstylist).
