While the Food Network would like us to believe that Guy Fieri’s bleached spikes grow naturally out of his head like wheat out of the ground, the food star’s hairdo hasn’t always been a “thing.” Pre-famous Fieri may have reminded us of our offbeat, loveable uncle, with a head that matched his facial hair. Even his white goatee—the one that looks like a little hanging slice of white pizza when you think about it for too long—was nonexistent.

It takes some digging to find pictures of pre-bleached Fieri online, most likely because Fieri wants us to forget this version of himself. We can only hope that his former self still exists in an alternate universe, where his last name is still “Ferry” and he’s still selling pretzels from a street cart with his dad.

Fortunately, a Guy Fieri fan blog managed to preserve a picture of him with his virgin locks. A fan on Twitter also blessed our feeds back in 2014 with a photoshopped picture of Guy Fieri sporting a normal hairdo.

But...how did we get here? One moment we’re watching Emeril explain how to boil water, the next we’re watching an endearing spike head drive a red Camaro and grow his net worth to $20 million.

According to Guy Fieri and his wife, Lori, Fieri never really experimented with his hair in the beginning of his career. Everything changed after one fateful visit with his longtime friend and hairdresser, Christina Jones.

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In the Beginning, Guy Fieri Had Pretty Normal Hair

Guy Fieri first met his now-wife Lori in 1992 at a California restaurant where he worked as a manager. According to Lori in an interview with People magazine, he looked drastically different than he does now.

“When I first met him, he had no goatee. He had dark hair. He wore a suit to work every day,” Lori said, leaving everyone wondering about a world where such a man existed.

“Now I look at him and I’m like, ‘Where’s that man I married with the whole clean look?'”

Though most fans would much rather burn this new image taking up space in their brains, one couldn’t ignore the desire to make it a reality. Twitter user @PorkTartare posted a photoshopped picture of Fieri in 2014. “I’ve created something the world was never meant to see,” he joked in a separate tweet.

Related: Fans Are Questioning If Chef Ramsay Really Took A Dig At Guy Fieri

The Guy Fieri Look was Impromptu

In the People magazine interview, Guy Fieri admitted that the choice of an explosion-in-seventh-grade-science-class hairstyle was quite unexpected, from his perspective. The day that it changed forever, he had gone in for a routine appointment with Christina Jones.

“I was just kind of having one of those moods one day, and said, ‘Just do whatever you want,’” Fieri explained. “She goes, ‘Whatever I want?’ ‘Whatever you want.’ I get done and I’m like, ‘You gonna wash that out, that shampoo?’ She goes, ‘No, that’s your hair color.’ I’m like, ‘My what!’”

The shock was enough for Fieri to want it changed immediately. “It was Friday night at like six o’clock. I had to be at the restaurant. I’m like, ‘No.’ She’s like, ‘Yeah.’ So, I put a ball cap on and walked to the restaurant.”

Related: Food Network: 10 BTS Facts About The Making Of Guy's Grocery Games & More

It Took Some Time for Fieri to Embrace His New Hair

Even after accepting his fate that night, Fieri didn’t take to the new look for some time. Lori Fieri explained that he wouldn't leave it bleach-white for the first few years.

“It used to be seasonal. Because he used to do red-blonde in the summer for fun,” Lori said. “And then in the wintertime, he’d go back to dark.”

Eventually, Lori and her family realized that Fieri’s famous fried ends were here to stay. He hasn't changed his do for any of his TV shows and he probably won't change it anytime soon.

I always say, ‘When are you going to change your haircut?’” Lori admitted. “But it stuck and it’s him."

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