Ice Spice is known for making bold and unique fashion and beauty choices, and her iconic hair isn’t an exception. The Bronx native, whose real name is Iris Naija Gaston, often wears her hair in a bright, orangey copper shade, occasionally swapping her staple curled afro for sleek, straight hair or soft beach waves. Since the up-and-coming rapper is rarely — if ever — seen without her signature brassy hue, it’s no surprise that many believe she’s a natural redhead, but you’d be surprised to learn that her original hair color is nowhere near that tone. In fact, Ice Spice’s natural hair color is black. Yep, really.
If you scrolled through the rapper’s Instagram, there aren’t any old pictures on her feed that might give you a peek at the shade she was born with, but an old high school picture of Ice Spice recently resurfaced on the internet, which shows her hair long, straight, and jet black in color. Since then, the “Deli” singer has set the record straight, directly addressing the old picture of herself in a chat with MTV.
“This is me. Junior High, I think. Or something like that,” she says, confirming the picture is real as she holds it up for the viewers while wearing her bouncy, shoulder-length curls in the reddish hue we know and love. “A lot of people think that my hair is naturally straight and that I wear like a curly wig or something, but my hair was straightened this day,” she says, pointing to the old picture. “So my hair’s always been curly since I was born, but, yeah, that’s me.”
While Ice Spice has rocked many amazing wigs during her time in the public eye since rising to prominence following the runaway success of her 2022 single “Munch (Feelin’ U),” she often wears her natural curls dyed in her favorite copper or ginger-brown shade. Speaking with British Vogue in an April 2023 story, she touched on her many hair transformations over the years. “Besides the current curly short ‘fro, I’ve had pretty much every hairstyle in the book,” said the rapper. “And every time I change my hair, I look like a different person. I’ve done curly wigs, straight wigs, short wigs, long wigs; I’ve done braids, swoops — basically everything. I tried everything and just got back to square one.”
Even though Ice Spice pulls off damn near every hairstyle and hair color she wears with confidence, finding that footing proved to be a bit of a challenge for her, at first. In a 2022 candid chat with the legendary R&B icon Erykah Badu for Interview Magazine, she opened up about not being as comfortable wearing her natural curls when she first came into the spotlight. “When I started putting music out, I was wearing wigs a lot,” she said. “I didn’t show my natural hair until I put out ‘No Clarity’ in November 2021. I noticed it was doing so much better than all my previous work. I don’t think my fan base was ready for me to be in heels and a lace front. I think they like that I’m being myself. “
Ahead, take a look at Ice Spice’s natural hair color for yourself.