Fade to black. After more than a year of sporting blonde hair, Ciara has decided to go for a darker color. The “I’m Out” singer Instagrammed a picture of herself with jet locks on Aug. 14, captioning the shot: “Back 2 My Black… Oh How I Missed U..”
The impetus for the change? “We’ve been doing blonde for over a year now, and it was time for something fresh,” the singer’s stylist Cesar Ramirez tells Us. “Going into fall, we wanted something more sultry, but we definitely wanted to keep our rock and roll edge.”
Adds Ciara herself: “I’ve had the blonde hair for so long, and I got to the point where I really needed a change, and the timing of fall worked out because I do like changing my hair with the season. I wanted to go darker, but I still liked the energy that the blonde gave me, so I infused the two ideas together.”
Not only did the star, 27, go darker with her tresses, she also went longer. Ramirez says Ciara — who cut her hair into a bob back in May and just a few weeks ago rocked a wild, curly long wig — “loves to play with lengths and styles. Plus, we made the bob a mainstream look, so now it’s time for some new eye candy. With VMAs approaching, we saw the opportunity to spice it up,” he shares. Indeed, Beyonce debuted on Aug. 16 her current hairstyle, a bob that looks similar to the one Ciara had.
Dying hair darker isn’t as easy as it looks. “Going from blonde to brunette is a huge process, because once you add color it’s very damaging to remove,” he cautions. “We actually took the safe route and gradually went darker and highlighted once the hair was in a healthy state.”
Now that it’s done, though, maintenance is relatively easy, Ciara tells Us. “When I was rocking the short blonde, I would get a blow out, but I always liked it way better on the second day,” she says. “With the blonde, it was a lot of work. I had to maintain it so much.”
This cut, she says, is much easier. “With this new hair style I can roll out of the house with bedhead,” she explains. “Just a quick little tousle and it’s just how I want it.”
