Mandy Moore Relives Her Best Hair Moments

In Hair Chronicles, celebrities tell us about their most memorable hairstyles throughout the years, from the ones they’d wear again to those they completely regret. Here, Mandy Moore chats hair looks from This Is Us and the reason she went back to blonde.

The law of attraction — in its most simple definition — states that if you think it, it will come to fruition. For example, days before my interview with actor Mandy Moore, I wondered aloud if the actor would go blonde again and hoped to write about it. Cut to the day of our Zoom call — and she popped up on my screen with lighter locks.

“I am a big proponent of change,” Moore tells me. “I wrapped the show last week, [and with] being a new mom, going into summer, [and] the world opening up again, it just felt like the most appropriate time to do something big. Go big or go home.” The This Is Us star and Garnier spokesperson says she colored her hair (the hue is Almond Crème, ICYWW) just a day or two prior to our talk.

Moore’s beauty — and life — philosophy is to follow her gut. After years of being in the spotlight, she’s learned to do whatever feels most comfortable. “There's a lot more grace we give ourselves when it comes to beauty because it's going to constantly fluctuate and change,” she says. “What I feel comfortable with, what I don't feel comfortable with, how I like wearing my hair... I know that my preferences are going to change, but if there's anything that knocks me in my gut a little bit, I'm just apt to really listen to that.”

This is probably why she doesn’t have any real regrets, especially when it comes to red carpet moments. Below, she walks through some of her most memorable hair looks.

Pin-Straight Strands, 1999

“I didn’t get to go to prom, so my first red carpet was a huge moment for me. Remember when Gwyneth [Paltrow] wore that ballgown? That was what I referenced. She was wearing this shimmery, iridescent green skirt [and] she had long, blonde hair. Gwyneth was a huge style icon for me — she still is amazing — and I wanted to look just her. So that was my nod to that era with the long, pin-straight blonde hair.

I had this little pink shell that Swarovski crystals on it and this lime green, bubblegum pink, and purple plaid taffeta skirt — it was hideous. I had matching green eyeshadow [and] I just thought I was the coolest.”

Her Last Blonde Moment, 2005

“I [briefly] went blonde in 2009 [and] I had really short hair. It was brief — maybe a month or six weeks or something — and then, I went right back to brunette. But I haven't been [really] blonde since 2005.”

Rebecca’s Long ‘70s Locks, 2017

“[In the final season,] I hope we're going to be visiting more of the early, early Jack and Rebecca courtship days. All of the fun '70s [looks]. Milo and I both love that era the most. It's the hair accessories, the long extensions, and blue and green eyeshadow — all of that good stuff that we don't get to do most of the time.”

Loose, Easy Waves, 2018

“I love a simple pop of the lip. I've done a bunch of different iterations of that; it's sort of my favorite thing to do. [For] hair, some version of a loose, easy wave.”

‘90s Supermodel Glam, 2019

“Once [Brandon Maxwell and I] figured out what the silhouette of the dress was going to be, we decided to lean into '90s supermodel hair where it felt super neutral but had tons of body. [It] just felt like a really glamorous moment. Stuff like Versace shows and Cindy Crawford on the runway in the ‘90s was a huge influence on our Pinterest board.”