Donald Trump, 80, sparks reaction with dramatically different hair transformation

Donald Trump has sparked a flurry of reaction after stepping off Air Force One with a dramatically different hairstyle.

The 80-year-old president arrived in Morristown, New Jersey, on Friday with his famous blond locks appearing considerably darker than usual, while his instantly recognizable side part also appeared to have been flipped to the opposite side.

Dressed in a navy suit, crisp white shirt and bright gold tie, Donald waved to photographers as he walked across the tarmac, but it was his tousled new look that quickly became the talking point.

The change was particularly noticeable because the president has maintained variations of the same distinctive swept-over hairstyle for decades.

There has been no confirmation that Donald has dyed his hair or permanently changed its style, and the White House has not publicly explained the apparent transformation. 

The following day, he was photographed playing golf at his Bedminster club wearing a red baseball cap, keeping much of his hair concealed.Nevertheless, the photographs quickly circulated online.

© AFP via Getty Images

Independent journalist Yashar Ali wrote that if he hadn’t sourced the photographs from Getty Images himself, he “wouldn’t have believed it”, while author Anne Lamott offered a rather more complimentary assessment, comparing the president’s darker look to Pierce Brosnan.

Donald Trump recently addressed speculation about his hair

The timing is particularly curious because Donald had addressed one of the longest-running questions surrounding his famous hair only days earlier.

Speaking at a White House Rose Garden dinner on September 2, the president categorically denied wearing a wig. “I don’t wear a wig,” he said, before recalling an exceptionally windy campaign rally in Ohio in March 2024. “I went up to the speaker, and it was blowing so hard,” he recalled.

Donald argued that the conditions that day finally settled the matter as far as he was concerned, because anything unattached would have struggled to remain in place. “But that night, they found out I did not wear a wig because if you did, it was not going to be on your head very long,” he said.

© Getty Images

There was one complication with his anecdote: photographs from the March 2024 rally show Donald wearing his trademark red MAGA cap during his speech, so it wasn’t quite the definitive hair test he remembered.

It isn’t the first time he has publicly attempted to settle the debate. During his first presidential campaign in 2015, Donald told supporters: “I don’t wear a toupee; it’s my hair, I swear.” The following year, he famously allowed Jimmy Fallon to ruffle his hair during an appearance on The Tonight Show.

Donald Trump once revealed exactly how he styles his hair

Long before entering the White House, Donald was surprisingly forthcoming about the routine behind his signature look. In a 2011 interview, he revealed that he washed his hair with Head & Shoulders before allowing it to dry naturally for around an hour.

He then used a comb to create the distinctive style himself, rejecting the suggestion that it was simply a traditional comb-over. “It’s sort of a little bit forward and back,” he explained, adding that he had styled it in essentially the same way for years.

That consistency makes this week’s photographs all the more striking. Donald has occasionally experimented with his hair in public, however. In 2019, he briefly appeared with his locks slicked back rather than swept into his familiar style, although his trademark look had returned by later that day.

© Getty Images

Claims about Donald Trump’s hair maintenance

Donald Trump biographer Michael Wolff has now added another twist to the mystery, although his claims have not been independently verified.

Speaking on his Inside Trump’s Head podcast, Wolff alleged that the president travels with a hair “patch kit” containing small tufts intended to match the changing shade of his hair.

Wolff claimed the tufts are attached with “some kind of paste” and described maintaining Donald’s hair as a “major enterprise”. The White House has not confirmed his account.

It isn’t the first time Wolff has written about the president’s hair. In his 2018 book Fire and Fury, Wolff claimed that Ivanka Trump had described her father’s elaborate styling technique to friends, alleging that his hair was swept from the sides and front before being secured with styling product. He also claimed its varying shades were the result of hair dye. Those claims were attributed to Ivanka by Wolff rather than confirmed by her publicly.