CEBU, Philippines- Ariana Grande surprised her 43.5 million Instagram followers recently when she broke the norm and released her signature ponytail, letting her hair down to reveal her natural, curly locks.
In a photo collage, the 22-year-old showed off her voluptuous hair.
"Peekaboo healthy curls," she captioned the post with several emojis. "Long time no see."
Grande has been waiting a long time to let down her natural hair, and though her ponytail has become a staple part of her image, it wasn’t on purpose.
After people began hating on her for wearing the same style over and over again, the “Love Me Harder" crooner explained that after four years of dying her hair red to play Cat on “Victorious” and “Sam & Cat,” her tresses were “completely destroyed."
"I had to bleach my hair and dye it red every other week for the first four years of playing Cat," she explained. "I wear extensions but I wear it in a ponytail because my actual hair is so broken that it looks absolutely ratchet and absurd when I let it down."
Some argued that she could try other alternatives, such as wigs or weaves, but she claims nothing ever looked or felt right. “I tried wigs, they looked ridiculous," she said, adding: "tried a weave…and literally wanted to rip my scalp off."
She acknowledged everyone's concerns but also noted she was just as annoyed wearing ponytails all the time as they were seeing it.
"So as annoying as it is for y'all to have to look at the same hairstyle 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. It’s just hair after all." (FREEMAN)