Elvis Presley was a natural blond.

Young Elvis Presley, 1947

The king of rock ’n’ roll’s talent may have come to him naturally, but his signature hairdo didn’t. Elvis Presley was a natural blond who dyed his hair black for a number of reasons, all of which evince an intuitive understanding of show business. In addition to wanting to emulate two of his heroes, actors Tony Curtis and Marlon Brando, he thought darker hair would accentuate his blue eyes. (That’s also why he wore eyeliner, another trick he picked up from Curtis.) However, he couldn’t afford proper dye as an up-and-coming artist, so he initially used shoe polish to darken his locks.

Once Elvis was successful enough for money to be no object, he settled on a few favorite dyes: Miss Clairol 51D and Black Velvet/Mink Brown by Paramount. He was so enamored with the look that he even asked his wife Priscilla to follow his lead: “He did want me to dye my hair black when I was young so we could look alike a little bit,” she said in a 2015 interview.

Elvis’ hairstyle continued to draw attention when he was drafted into the military, with Time reporting that he “jumped the clippers by getting a ‘normal’ haircut that shortened his sideburns a good inch” and “left him still looking much too dreamy for the Army.” His hair also turned brownish-blond during his military service since he wasn’t allowed to dye it; anyone who wants to see Elvis’ natural hair color can do so at Graceland, where there’s a portrait from his Army days showing off his lighter locks.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

Elvis never performed outside the U.S. and Canada.

Despite being beloved around the world, Elvis Presley never performed outside North America. The prevailing (though never officially confirmed) belief is that the king of rock ’n’ roll had to turn down every offer he received to play abroad because his controversial manager, Colonel Tom Parker, was an undocumented immigrant from the Netherlands who didn’t have a passport and feared he would be denied reentry to the U.S. if he left. (If Elvis ever had a fear of flying, as is often suggested, he evidently got over it. He purchased and customized several planes over the years, including the especially tricked-out Lisa Marie, a Convair 800 jet.) Other than three 1957 shows in Canada (in Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver), Elvis only ever performed in his home country.