With summer just a few weeks away and things starting to return to normal, Mandy Moore is ushering in the change with a sunny new look. On Wednesday, the This Is Us star debuted a brand new hair color for the season: creamy blonde.
“Back to blonde for summer. ☀️” she wrote on Instagram, alongside a carousel of photos showing off her new hair color. Moore, who is a natural blonde, has not been this light since 2005 during her “Candy” era, and it’s a shade she has never done before.
Her new color is a darker blonde that combines toasted almond tones with brighter bits for a multidimensional effect that allows her highlights to show through. And while it looks like the work of a professional hairstylist, Moore actually dyed her hair herself—with box color!
The actress worked with Garnier (she’s a spokesperson for the brand) and virtually consulted with her longtime colorist Nikki Lee, of Nine Zero One salon in Los Angeles, to achieve the look. According to the brand, after using the shade selector on their website, she selected the Garnier Nutrisse [70] Almond Crème shade and got to work at home.
“I’ve been longing for some much needed change,” Moore told People of her new look in an exclusive interview. “It really felt like now was the perfect time to do something different, with the world seemingly opening back up again… normal feels like it’s really right around the corner.”
“With this new chapter of my life, it just felt like the right time for a hair change,” she continued. “The color feels indicative of how excited and hopeful people are.” Moore described the look as sunshine-inspired, adding “it’s buoyant and bouncy and glossy and shiny and all the things I wanted.”
Moore no doubt has a lot to celebrate, in both her personal life and professional career. In February she welcomed her first child, son August “Gus” Harrison, with husband Taylor Goldsmith. “We were prepared to fall in love in all sorts of brand new ways, but it goes beyond anything we could have ever imagined,” she wrote on IG of becoming a new mom.
It was also announced just last week that This Is Us will be coming to an end with season 6 in 2022. Moore, who stars as Rebecca Pearson on the show and won an Emmy for best lead actress in a drama series in 2019, addressed the news on her Instagram Story.
“I’m already VERY emotional about my favorite job coming to an end. BUT…. We have a whole season to wrap things up the way it was always intended,” she wrote after the announcement.
As for how long she plans to stay a blonde, Moore told People she will wear a wig while filming the final season so she can keep the sunny shade for as long as possible. “It’s just so thrilling to be able to lean into whatever change feels right at any given time.”
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