The Stunning Hair Transformation Of Meghan Markle

Here at Gliz, we adore Meghan Markle, not just because the Duchess of Sussex is the epitome of beauty, style, and grace — essentially all things that Gliz stands for — but also because of her resilience and strength, which she has showcased over and over again. "I feel very confident that you can be a feminist and still be feminine, you can be a sexual creature and a mum and run a company," Markle told Gritty Pretty in 2015. "I think it's a sad misconception that the second you have more intellectual prowess or become a CEO that suddenly those other facets [like beauty or fashion] of being a woman go out of the window. You truly can find a way to have it all — and all of those elements make us interesting and dynamic."

And while we love everything Markle stands for, today we are focusing (mostly) on her hair — although not mentioning the former actor's personality and life is impossible, so there's some of that sprinkled throughout as well. Markle's hair changes have never been drastic (at least not in the way those of stars like Miley Cyrus or Kristen Stewart have been). No, Markle has always stuck to hairstyles she loves and knows work for her, but she has played around with hair lengths and hair colors over the years. 

At the end of the 2000s, Meghan Markle was still mostly working on television projects and her big break hadn't happened just yet. During the time, the actor was still rocking her signature layered straight hair with subtle side bangs. However, as the 2010s were approaching, it seemed as if she decided to add some very subtle highlights to it — slowly changing her hair towards a chocolate brown.

Of course, in the 2000s, all of us fell victim to the constant hair straightening, and it seems as if Markle was also no exception. As someone who has naturally curly hair, Markle was always spotted with sleek locks. And while most of us suffered from the aftermath of consistent straightening at the time, the actor's hair always looked healthy and voluminous. This definitely makes us wonder whether Markle was doing keratin treatments even back then, especially as her hair always seemed to remain straight throughout the night.

Having gotten tired of lighter hair, Meghan Markle decided to go for a drastic change in 2013 when she embraced a dark brunette hair color — you know, the kind that is often mistaken for black. In a 2013 interview with L'Oréal, Markle revealed what her favorite hairstyles were. "I love hair in a really high top knot, a little messy, but I think men really love hair down," she said. "There's not a day that goes by that I don't try to change things up and do something different — either tied up or down with waves or stick straight. I just like to have fun with it."

And while the actor was indeed switching up her hair styling, one thing remained constant — her locks continued looking healthy and shiny. And even though Markle always looked perfectly put-together, there was an inherent effortlessness and laid-backness to her, one we're pretty sure has a lot to do with her upbringing. "I will say that I am such a California girl, and in real life [I'm] as minimal and relaxed as it comes," the star told Glizour in 2013. "LA is my home, born and raised there."

2016 marked a very important year in Meghan Markle's life, as that was when she began her relationship with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. Their romance was instantly in the spotlight, and it was noticeable that Markle became much more private. However, even though her life was drastically changing, she continued advocating for humans by sharing her story. In her piece for Elle, she opened up about what being a mixed-race woman felt like. "Just as black and white, when mixed, make gray, in many ways that's what it did to my self-identity: It created a murky area of who I was, a haze around how people connected with me. I was gray," she wrote. "And who wants to be this indifferent color, devoid of depth and stuck in the middle? I certainly didn't. So you make a choice: continue living your life feeling muddled in this abyss of self-misunderstanding, or you find your identity independent of it."

As far as Markle's hair goes, it remained the same in length and just slightly lighter in color, but one thing that changed was her favorite hairstyle. While the star always looked put-together and chic, in 2016, she took that to the next level by channeling Old Hollywood. She didn't wear this look exclusively, but she rocked it often enough that it surely seemed like she was very fond of it. With a deep side part and gorgeous big curls at the bottom of her hair, Meghan Markle was serving us a hairstyle that is just as timeless as her beauty.

Even though Meghan Markle has rocked long hair since the beginning of her career, she decided to take her length a notch further in 2019 by exploring what even longer hair has to offer. And even though cassy updos and hats remained a big part of her style, the star also brought back some of that casual California-girl look by frequently going for loose waves.

"One of my signature styles is the undone wave, as seen on the Duchess of Sussex and many of my other clients," Markle's hairstylist George Northwood told Vogue in 2020. "This makes hair look chic and naturally effortless without that overly straight or overly curly look. As the style looks natural, it will help to give the impression of healthier hair. It can also hide a multitude of sins, such as hair in need of a good trim, as you can get away with it looking a bit more unruly." And while we doubt that the royal's hair was damaged, we have to admit that we adore seeing Markle with a slightly more disheveled and messy hairstyle.

A sleek low bun has been incredibly popular in recent years, and not even Meghan Markle was able to withstand the trend. In 2022, Markle was frequently rocking the popular and easy hairstyle, proving just how versatile the look is.

In an episode of her "Archetypes" podcast, the Duchess of Sussex opened up about having curly hair to her guest, singer Mariah Carey. "My hair is so curly and it's so thick," Markle admitted to Carey. "I just remember as a child, because my mom's Black, and so my grandma Jeanette would do my hair. She'd go, 'Just hold onto the sink,' and I would grip my little hands on both sides." Having shared similar experiences, the two bonded over how their hair was handled when they were children. "You have no luxury of being tender-headed because she would take the brush and just whoosh, whoosh and tie it," Markle added. Of course, since the star has been doing certain hair treatments for years (we suspect even since the aughts), we never got to see her real hair texture apart from in a few throwback photos from her childhood featured in the 2022 Netflix series "Harry & Meghan."

Today, Meghan Markle is all about staying true to herself while still having some fun with her look. In 2024, Markle's makeup artist Daniel Martin revealed to Us Weekly that the star actually often does her makeup and hair — and that he loves witnessing it. "I feel like when I'm not with her, she has more room to play," he told the outlet. "I think that's the fun thing when you see her, like, she's in Nigeria right now. It's just her. There's no stylist, there's no hairdresser. She's doing everything herself and she's so good at it."

One hair change that may have gone unnoticed by many just because it's so subtle is Markle's new hair color — a brown with red and gold undertones. Highbrow Hippie, the hair salon responsible for Markle's hair, shared a carousel of photos of the royal on Instagram, captioning it, "This mixture of red and golden undertones makes a dynamic shade of brunette that not only gives skin the healthiest glow, especially during the colder months of winter, it also provides the hair with a next level high power shine." And while we'd be shocked to see a drastic and dramatic hair change from Meghan Markle in the future, we're still incredibly excited to see just how the Duchess of Sussex continues spicing up her hair in her signature subtle way!