Why Dolly Parton Has Proudly Worn Wigs Since the 1960s

Dolly Parton's style. It's pretty much its own genre of dress, hair, and makeup. Some may call it over-the-top, but we call it flawless. Big hair, bold makeup, butterflies, sequins, and sparkles, keep it all coming.

Recently, we got to wondering just how long Parton has embraced wigs as part of her signature style. As it turns out, the wigs go back to The Porter Wagoner Show, which Parton started performing on in 1967.

Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

"Porter and the boys were more into their western suits, but I didn't want that look. I just wanted my stuff to be shiny, flashy, and colorful, and I still do. I feel like a butterfly when I am in all of my colors. I can't get enough rhinestones, enough color, enough gaud, because it fits my personality," Parton wrote in her new book Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, as The Cheat Sheet recapped in a recent article.

"I always wore my hair all teased up," she noted of her locks, though in time she transitioned from au naturel to wigs. "Whenever that style started, I was the first to get my hair all poofy. Then as soon as I could buy those hairpieces and wigs, I wanted them. For one thing, they were so handy. Plus, my hair would never do exactly what I wanted it to do. So the wigs became kind of my trademark." We can't imagine her look any other way. (If wigs aren't for you, but you want hair as big as Parton's, check out these 25 Volume-Boosting Haircuts for 2021 Even Dolly Parton Would Approve Of.)

Some 50 years later, we can't imagine Parton taking the stage without her poofy blonde hair. Rain or shine, sleet or snow, Parton manages to keep her hair bouffant and her smile as bright as can be.