Hillary Clinton's 5 Most Disastrous Hair Transformations Of Her Career

Throughout her lengthy career, Hillary Clinton has made history. She shattered the glass ceiling for women and fought tirelessly for equality. Still, the multitude of cringe-worthy media moments that Hillary can never erase are also a part of her legacy, along with the highly questionable hair transformations she's undergone over the decades. The latter has racked up almost as many column inches as speculation over the strange things about Hillary and Bill Clinton's marriage. Almost.

Not surprisingly, Hillary would like to be remembered for more than her hairdos and pantsuits — and especially for more than a cigar and stained dress. Still, the 1990s was a fertile ground for all the aforementioned, with Hillary rocking truly memorial perms and coifs. She discussed her experimental stage in her memoir "Living History," released in 2003.

"For most of my life, I had paid little attention to my clothes. I liked headbands. They were easy, and I couldn't imagine that they suggested anything good, bad, or indifferent about me to the American public," she wrote. "But during the campaign, some of my friends began a mission to spruce up my appearance. They brought me racks of clothes to try on, and they told me the headband had to go." It was all bets off after Hillary ditched the headband, replacing it with a dizzying array of styles. Suffice it to say, however, some hair transformations were more disastrous than others.

Hillary Clinton was channeling her inner Cameron Diaz in January 1993 when she attended the health care forum as the Clinton administration's health care task force spokesperson. She had clearly used some very special hair gel that ensured that there was no way she'd be suffering from flat bangs for at least the next week. Clinton used what was left over to achieve crispy-hard upward side sweeps, too.

Clinton doesn't skimp and save when it comes to her hair. According to Page Six, she was a regular at the John Barrett Salon located inside Bergdorf Goodman. The hairdresser to Manhattan's elite, who died in August 2012, charged upward of $600 for a cut in 2016, plus an extra $600 for color.

Meanwhile, the former first lady isn't above poking fun at her ever-changing hairdos. She showed off a range of manes in a video she made for the 1995 Gridiron dinner, in which she portrayed "Hillary Gump." Clinton switched from updo mullet to hippy-chick straight to backcombed beehive to '50s peroxide perm to black bob to a classic Hillary Texas hair upturn."Mama always told me, Hillary, Hillary Gump, life is like a hairstyle," she said. "You just keep changing it till you find something that works." 

Many women over 50 have at least one permed hair photo buried deep in their past. Hillary Clinton is no exception, although, unfortunately for her, there's no burying her tousled travesty. The politician paid homage to the late great Bob Ross in 1993, rocking a high-top poodle perm.

Clinton is all too used to hairstyle scrutiny, and she recognizes that it comes with the territory when you're a high-profile woman, especially in the male-dominated Washington world of politics. "The most important thing I have to say to you today is that hair matters," she joked in a speech to Yale's graduating class of 2001 (via The New York Times). "This is a life lesson my family did not teach me, Wellesley and Yale Law School failed to instill: Your hair will send significant messages to those around you. What hopes and dreams you have for the world, but more, what hopes and dreams you have for your hair. Pay attention to your hair because everyone else will."

Clinton's also savvy enough to use the media's hair obsession to her advantage. In May 2015, she addressed speculation over her being too old to run for president. Clinton explained that she had an advantage over younger male candidates, as you can see them grow older as their hair turns white during their time in office. "I've been coloring my hair for years," she quipped. "So, you're not going to see me turn white in the White House."

In 2008, Hillary Clinton was all about everybody's favorite sitcom mom, Carol Brady. She mimicked Florence Henderson's iconic feather front up-flip during her first presidential campaign.

The politician and diplomat is well aware of the power of a 'do. "If I want to knock a story off the front page, I just change my hairstyle," Clinton quipped in 1995 (via The Economist). And there is no doubt that social media goes wild when she debuts a new style. In a March 2017 International Women's Day Snapchat video, Clinton showed off freshly cut bangs. "There's a lot to fight for: Planned Parenthood, education, healthcare, jobs. Every issue is a woman's issue. So stand up, resist, run for office, be a champion," she charged in the clip (via AOL).

However, many were more interested in Clinton's cut than her powerful message. "Lordy hair. All eyes on Hillary Clinton's new haircut!" a commenter posted on X, formerly Twitter. "@HillaryClinton WHEN DID YOU GET A NEW HAIR DO GIRL OMG YOU LOOK GOOD," gushed another. "You look amazing. Which you should because ur an amazing woman! Oh how I wish u were pres!" a third chimed in.

In April 1994, Hillary Clinton took a leaf out of the Nancy Reagan book of hairstyling. She plumped for a heavily teased and curled coif for the signing of the National Infant Immunization Week Proclamation. In a second nod to her predecessor, Clinton sealed the 'do deal with enough hairspray to blow a hole the size of Arkansas in the ozone layer.

Clinton's ever-changing styles have sparked wig speculation. Right-wing web king Matt Drudge started the conversation with a flurry of (now-deleted) posts in November 2015 (via My News LA). "Can we talk about Hillary's wig?" he asked, before quipping, "The Whig Party." Drudge followed up with another question, "Human Or Synthetic?" then offered some advice, "Never let them see your scalp." Clinton's stylist shot down the claims."You guys are so funny," Santa Nikkels, owner of NYC's Santa's Hair Salon, told People. "She has the most amazing hair in the world." Clinton also addressed the issue. "A lot of people have said a lot about my hair over the years," she told a DNC audience. "So, I do kind of know what Donald is going through. And if anyone wonders if mine is real, here's the answer: the hair is real, the color isn't."

Drudge continued trolling in 2016, claiming Clinton was stealing Donald Trump's style because, well, who wouldn't? "Now she copies his hair!" a headline on The Drudge Report screamed, along with side-by-side pics of the two (via Mediaite).

We've all been there. It's a work-from-home day, and you can't be bothered to wash your hair. So, you grab an old scrunchie, scrape your greasy hair back in a low ponytail, forget about it, and go about the day. Then your office Zooms you. That was Hillary Clinton's problem in January 2012. However, she didn't have to fluff her way through a remote video call. In fact, Clinton was speaking at a United Nations Security Council meeting on the Syria crisis. Oh dear.

If Clinton was hoping to fly under the hair radar with her casual Friday look, she was sorely mistaken. Even her own aides jumped on the condemnation bandwagon. "She said the reason she grew her hair long was that it's easier. She has options," a state department official told Rachael Combe in an April 2012 profile piece for Elle. "But some of us are looking to ban the scrunchies."

However, others were totally here for it. In 2015, self-professed fangirls Morgan Gerard and Meredith Fineman launched a range of Hillary Scrunchies, charging$10.99 for options in white or blue with Clinton's face all over them. "Subject to mockery over the past couple decades, the modest scrunchie has prevailed as an awesome accessory to put your hair up. So instead of making fun of Hillz, let's embrace her favorite hair accessory. It's hard enough to just BE A WOMAN without other women tearing you down," the website read.