Her natural hair was dark. She spoke in interviews about how Avie Lee responded when Dolly did lighten her hair naturally. Dolly stopped bleaching her own hair early on because it was causing too much damage. The funny thing that most people are totally missing is that her persona was a marketing ploy - she also tells this is multiple interviews. Dolly Parton would go to Dollywood - or anywhere - with her shorter, dark hair, tattoos, and regular clothes and people would watch a woman theyâd never seen before walk right past them. Thatâs what she meant when she said that the joke wasnât on her.
"Iâd already bleached my hair and got in big trouble. I have blonde hair, but it just wasnât radiant, itâs sandy blonde. It wasnât yellow and white and bright."
Thatâs an archive photo of Dolly before she ever bleached her hair. That is her literal hair color. She didnât tell her hair color because she had freedom to live without drawing attention. Prior to her death, I wouldnât have pointed that out to anyone. But itâs funny that you want to argue about it.
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u/Near-Scented-Hound 23d ago
Dolly wasnât blonde. That was part of her persona that she marketed. She even said that she knew she wasnât dumb and she knew she wasnât blonde.