The Surprising Inspiration Behind Demi Lovato's New Hair Colour

Demi Lovato has solidified herself as a hair chameleon throughout her career, but as of recently, the singer's stayed true to her signature dark 'do — even if she has played around with different styles and lengths. But following the end of her Tell Me You Love Me European tour, Lovato decided that her time off called for a big change. Before long she posted a cryptic photo of her new honey-blonde hue to her Instagram story, no captions needed.

It's all par for this beauty lover's course, this we know, but where the inspiration came from might surprise you.

Although the transformation came out of nowhere for her followers, Amber Maynard, Lovato's longtime hairstylist at L.A.'s Nine Zero One salon, reveals that this was in the plans for quite some time. "This is something that we talked about right before she went on tour. It's been in the works for awhile, so we were waiting until she was done touring," Maynard tells Refinery29. "She literally flew home [and] two days later we made her blonde."

As for the colour choice, it was all about experimenting away from the usual, with Maynard adding, "She's been platinum blonde before, she's been brown before, we wanted to do something slightly different than what we've done on her in the past."

According to her colourist of seven years, Lovato was so prepared for this transformation that she picked out Pinterest photos beforehand for inspiration. But it's one internet photo that really tapped her interest, Maynard reveals. "Someone FaceTuned her image with someone else's hair and it kind of gave her an idea of what she wanted to do," she says.

Of course, as ready as she might have been, the singer couldn't escape from the tedious hours that come with going light. This hue, for example, took two people working for five hours. "If I were to have done that on my own, it would've taken double the amount of time," admits Maynard with her co-colourist Anthony Holguin jokingly adding, "Ten hours!" But Lovato won't have to worry about making that time commitment again soon, as the colouring duo matched her base to her natural hair colour for an easy grow-out.

Want to try the colour on for size? While most of us aren't going to find a selfie with a new 'do on Pinterest (ahem, unless you put it there) we can all prep in advance another way. "If you know you're going to go light, you want to give your hair a break beforehand," Maynard says. That means laying off all colour for weeks before, avoiding hot tools, and masking regularly to get your hair as healthy as you can. And like Lovato, it's also good to make sure you think long and hard about making the change — whether from a European tour or the comfort of your own couch.