Melania Trump’s Remarkable Hair Makeover

There aren’t too many photos available of Melania Trump’s life back when she was a young girl in Slovenia or even when she was an aspiring model in the early ’90s. However, she met Donald Trump in Manhattan in 1998, and by the following year, she began to pop up in many more snaps. In 1999, there were signs that she’d been swept up in the same beauty trends that had taken over the rest of the world, including face-framing layers popularized by Jennifer Aniston on “Friends” (after she debuted the Rachel, the most iconic haircut of all time). Melania’s hair at the time was chestnut brown with darker lowlights, which made her blue eyes all the more striking. 

At the turn of the millennium, Melania kept her layers, taking them one step further into curtain bangs. Layers remained her go-to as the noughties kicked off, and this was likely a strategic move in addition to a reflection of trends at the time — Melania appears to have finer hair, so layers naturally give it more movement, bounce, and volume. 2001 brought a subtle haircut, where she reduced the overall length but also went for choppier layers, which led to more volume. In April 2002, she was pictured having styled her wispy face-framing bottleneck bangs, but she switched her part to turn them into side bangs by that winter. She also went for a darker look that December, which would be a preview of the even darker colors she would come to experiment with. In 2003, she maintained her side bangs but opted for fewer layers and a deeper-brown shade. At Thanksgiving that year, she sported what was becoming her signature: dark side bangs, which she contrasted against a white satin outfit with chunky pearls. 

The noughties saw Melania Trump dive into a range of shades and cuts, never appearing to take herself too seriously. Her time in the White House was still more than a decade away, so she had the opportunity to find her style without too much scrutiny. In 2004, she went as warm as we’ve seen her, almost taking her brown locks into ginger territory while maintaining that classic Y2K combo of a side part and curls. There also appeared to be some short layering near the top of her head, which was popular around the mid-2000s. However, her visit to warm-brown land was short-lived, as she was back to dark brown for the Met Gala that May, where she stuck with her favored side bangs. 

The following year, Melania began to rock highlights — a monumental move that ended up shaping her signature look for years to come. Though she clearly still had a soft spot for her side part, she’d often switch it back to the middle and flatter her face with framing layers. Summer 2005 brought more volume and curls, and that energy continued into 2006, when Melania went the closest to short hair that we’ve ever seen her with a makeshift lob fashioned from tight curls. Clearly not able to decide between a middle and side part, Melania tried out more of a zig-zag part style in 2006 while subtly lightening her hair the following year. 

The former model also added interest with hair accessories and surprising updos every now and then, opting for a ushanka-style hat for the Mercedes-Benz Fall Fashion Week in 2007. When she did glam it up with an updo, she typically stuck to side parts. Though curls and volume characterized much of her noughties hair, she occasionally went pin-straight and sleek, which allowed her blond highlights to shine. In a feature for Celebrity Life Magazine photographed in 2010, Melania surprised fans with thick blunt bangs — an exercise in foreshadowing.

Since becoming first lady, we haven’t seen Melania Trump rock a full set of blunt bangs, so it’s easy to forget that she wore this style in the 2010s. The 2011 Met Gala had one of Melania’s better Met looks, and her low pony was complemented by her rich-brown bangs that grazed her eyelids. This might have been a hairpiece, but she was spotted with bangs elsewhere that May, which suggests that the mother-of-one really went for the big chop. Not everyone can pull off full bangs, but the wispier iteration of this style complemented Melania’s eye shape and gave her even more of an alluring look. 

Though she continued to switch her hair up, she returned to long bangs a year later, rocking long, eye-grazing bangs to the finale of “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2012. She went for long bangs once more at the 2012 Met Gala, this time pairing her long pony with a sparkly white gown. By October, the full bangs had transformed into less-bold curtain bangs, and blond highlights began to break up the chocolate-brown shade of her hair. She hadn’t said goodbye to her beloved side part, though, and come 2013, Melania returned to a side part so deep that she evoked her husband’s famous hairstyle, leaving onlookers not quite sure where her part line was. Other times, she appeared to style her middle-parted curtain bangs with a flat iron so that they flicked out in a structured way.

There was a brief stint in 2014 when Melania darkened her strands, with her honey highlights nearly undetectable, but this would be her final dive into dark hair. Even in 2015 and beyond as Melania explored dark-brown roots, she always kept the golden tones in her locks more prominent. At the White House Correspondents Dinner that year, the sun also set on her full bangs as preparations were underway for her first-lady style to blossom. 

Once being involved in political circles launches a woman onto the global stage, her glam squad have to up its game. Melania Trump officially became first lady in 2017, but the year prior was spent alongside her husband on the campaign trail, so she needed to look the part. “We took into account that she’ll suddenly be in the public eye in a big way,” hairstylist Mordechai Alvow explained to Yahoo Beauty. “We wanted a consistent look that allowed the public to feel more connected to her.”

The brief for that consistent look was clearly glossy, smooth, and chic. Alvow explained that he begins with leave-in conditioner and mousse before blow-drying with a round brush, then leaving her hair in rollers. He adds volume with a spritz of dry shampoo (which can help set the curls), teases her hair, and then brushes it out. “Finally, Melania puts her fingers through to add personalized movement, always — like the perfect imperfection. One last spray from above and she’s done,” he said.

In 2016, Melania paired the sophisticated hair look with decadent blond money-piece highlights around her face. She still occasionally went for her old favorite, the side part, but didn’t take it as deep as she once did. The face-framing highlights were still there in 2017, whether Melania was wearing her hair down or in an on-trend low bun. The former model seemed to turn the blond factor up a notch in 2018, keeping the money pieces but also incorporating bleached highlights near her ends. By 2019, she was noticeably blonder around her face, and this shift continued into 2020. As Melania and Donald Trump prepared to leave the White House amid the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Melania sported brighter hair overall. Her mostly blond hair appeared slightly warmer and shorter as her first FLOTUS term came to an end. 

After the Trumps vacated the White House, Melania Trump was photographed less frequently, but the few glimpses of her we did get in the early 2020s showed her with similar glossy waves. Moreover, her highlights had evolved into a smoother ombré transition. The few times that she was seen with updos in 2021, she kept her middle-parted face-framing layers loose, resulting in an elevated casual look. The following year, she began to wear more of a structured curl, which created slightly more volume. By this time, Melania and her squad likely felt more comfortable with experimentation since she’d already been a household name for a few years. “Once you’re an established public figure and people know who you are and what you stand for, then I think you can change things up more,” Mordechai Alvow noted in his Yahoo Beauty interview.

Melania grew out many of her layers in 2023, but she seemed to keep up her ombré brond tone. The color didn’t change too much in 2024, though the blond pieces appeared warmer. While she sometimes went for more of a structured curl, Melania confirmed that her new happy place was the brushed-out wave, which happened to pair beautifully with her longer layers. Speaking of length, her locks were looking quite Rapunzel-ish by May 2025, and while her hair still had a combination of highlights and lowlights, it seemed to be denser. The color difference between the brown and blond hues in her hair was starker, almost appearing as streaks in her luscious mane. 

If her hair journey so far is anything to go by, there’s a good chance that Melania Trump is going to stick to a golden-honey palette with layers and waves in the near future. But keep an eye out because whether it’s bangs, a deep side part, or dark-brown dye, there just might be the return of something unexpected.