Maybe it’s because my memories of Jennifer Love Hewitt go back farther than most (I can tell you literally every song she sang on Kids Incorporated back when we were both barely double digits). But the 9-1-1 star and ’90s teen icon is indelibly a brunette in my mind. So much so, that I simply couldn’t picture her with blonde hair — until I had no choice.
Hewitt shared a photo to her Instagram Story on Wednesday, May 17, in which she showed off significantly lighter hair. Could you call it bronde? Sure, it still has some brunette lowlights, but let’s be real here: This is some seriously honey-blonde hair we’re looking at.
At first, my brain could not compute — and then it sunk in like a warm ray of summer sunshine: Damn, she looks good as a blonde.
“Went even a little bit lighter,” Hewitt wrote atop the photo, which is when I realized this has actually been a gradual blonding, thanks to Nine Zero One salon founder and stylist Nikki Lee.
Behold, another selfie from a couple of weeks ago, in which Hewitt seemed to be simply dabbling in highlights. “We did a thing. She’s giving summer vibes,” she wrote. No argument here.
From the looks of it, she’s gone much blonder this time in the Instagram Stories she’s posted since yesterday.”So far, we’ve done two appointments to get her to where she’s at now,” Nikki Lee tells Allure, adding that Hewitt had layers of dark color on her hair.
“It was important to her and me both that we keep her hair healthy. We’re loving where she’s landed in this honey-golden stage, but are excited to continue to brighten it up.”
This isn’t the first time Hewitt has gone blonde. She gave it a try in 2014 and then again in 2018 and 2020. I must have blocked it out. This time around, though, I’m embracing the change. And I’m even considering taking the photo above to my salon for a break from my usual brown.