In the era of 'Mad Men,' Christina Hendricks came out of nowhere as Joan, the polished-up and put-together (well sorta) redhead. Even though the show has ended, she's still that character to many fans.
Though the actress has been plenty busy since wrapping 'Mad Men,' it remains one of her most well-known roles. While the rest of the cast has been pretty well booked up, too, the famous redhead is definitely keeping up.
Her IMDb accolades since 'Mad Men' include everything from voice roles on 'Robot Chicken' to a star appearance in 'Toy Story 4' to a recurring role on 'Good Girls.' And all this time, it seems, she's been a redhead.
The thing is, that's not her natural hair color.
Christina Hendricks grew up as a blonde, but she began dyeing her hair at a very young age. As she related to Marie Claire, she was only ten years old when her mom first used Clairol products to help her fair-haired daughter become a redhead.
What was Hendricks' inspiration? Anne of Green Gables, of course! Luckily for Christina, her mother was on board with the hair color change, even as the young actress outgrew red. What's funny about the star's story is that in the original telling, Anne of Green Gables hated her own red hair.
In fact, throughout the character's trajectory, she is teased about her red mane, tries to dye it black (and winds up with green), and just generally dislikes her pale countenance and freckles. But for a budding actress who wanted to be different, red was the ideal look for Christina Hendricks.
As Marie Claire noted, Christina has also been a brunette, and she dyed her hair pastel shades too; pink and purple were fun while she was working in a salon. A Goth phase led her to black hair, but not "extreme blue-black," she elaborated.
Once she became a model at the age of 19, it was back to blonde, because that's what the modeling agency wanted, admitted Christina. A few years later, she got hired for Clairol, of all brands, and they wanted a redhead. The magical red hair returned, and Hendricks kept it for years afterward.
People assumed she was a natural redhead anyhow, noted the actress, and she says the shade suits her. That said, Christina isn't averse to continuing to change things up. Post-'Mad Men' in 2015, she returned to blonde and felt 20 years younger, she says.
Though fans would likely argue that just like the ageless January Jones, Christina doesn't appear to be her true age, either, and it didn't take a box of Clairol to prove that.