Britney Spears's Natural Hair Color May Surprise You

Britney Spears's much-anticipated memoir "The Woman in Me" was released on Oct. 24, giving readers a peek into the singer's previously very private life. There have been many shocking revelations along the way, but the book has also given lifelong fans an excuse to take a trip down memory lane. This has resurfaced many basic questions about Spears, including: what is her natural hair color?

As far as iconic blondes go, she's certainly up there. Spears has been blond since she came onto the scene with her breakout hit single, "Baby One More Time," in 1999. Still, she spent a few years here and there with light to dark brown hair, like in 2005 when she had brown hair with blond chunky highlights and in 2008 when she went super-dark chocolate brown. Still, that begs the question: is Spears a natural blond?

The answer, to many people's surprise, is no. In "The Woman in Me," Spears said her natural hair color isn't blond but instead black. She mentioned it while referring to a famous Dolly Parton joke: "I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb. And I also know that I'm not blonde." Spears went on to say, "My real hair color is black."

This news was unexpected for some fans, while others are pointing out all of the overlooked signs. If you look closely at photos of Spears over the years, it's not uncommon to see her blond hair paired with dark roots, giving almost a shadow-root effect. Her mom, Lynne Spears, also has dark brown hair, which may be closer to the singer's natural color.

So there you have it: that's Britney Spears's real hair color. Ahead, take a closer look at Spears with black hair, as well as the singer with the blond hair color that she's known best for.