Blake Lively's Most Disastrous Hairstyles That Had Heads Turning

Whether you're a Blake Lively fan or not, you have to admit that she's stunning. Even without makeup, Lively radiates with her piercing blue-green eyes and flawless complexion. But part of what makes the mom of four such a timeless beauty is her long, wavy blonde hair. In fact, if you ever want an elegant layered haircut, she's the perfect celebrity to bring your hairdresser a photo of. 

The "It Ends With Us" star has many tips and tricks for keeping her hair on point, including using salt water to achieve those beachy waves. "My hair is always better in California than it is in New York, so I got a big water jug and I filled it with ocean, which is probably a really bad idea, but I would put it on my hair, and actually, it worked," she said in 2014 while speaking to Style.com (via Women's Health). Furthermore, when she released Blake Brown Beauty in 2024, conditioner wasn't one of the haircare products offered. She told Vogue it's because she doesn't use it. For some, this was just another addition to Lively's most controversial moments, but it's only because she swears by hair masks instead. 

But now that we know some of Lively's haircare secrets, we'll let you in on one of ours. While we think Lively has one of the best heads of hair in Hollywood, we don't always agree with the way she wears it. Even she's had a few hairstyles that had us gossiping. 

Blake Lively sure knows how to grace a red carpet, and the 2014 Cannes Film Festival was no exception. While at "The Captive" movie premiere in support of husband Ryan Reynolds, she stepped out in a black-and-white formal dress that was pure Old Hollywood glam. She accessorized it with a diamond necklace, earrings, and a bracelet while sporting a bold red lip. But it was her slicked-back low bun that had us wondering how she could be in one zip code, but her hair was in another. 

Don't get us wrong, Lively's hairstyle seemed like a safe, elegant choice at first glance. But given her Rapunzel-like long hair, the resulting chignon was quite large. Seriously, if she moved too fast, she could easily whack someone with that boulder bun. 

Weirdly enough, an up-close look at her hair reveals some seemingly shoddy craftsmanship. While it's constructed well, there appear to be either tiny black hair ties or pins peppered throughout the bun to hold it in place. It's unclear if that was an intentional style choice or if her hairstylist didn't have properly colored accessories that blended in with her hair, but it looked tacky. We also can't help but wonder if Lively's bun was actually a hairpiece, which could explain the tremendous size and stitching. After all, Lively previously wore extensions to give her hair more body, but her hairstylist Rod Ortega told Refinery 29 in 2018 that she has since retired them.

On "Gossip Girl," Blake Lively's character of Serena van der Woodsen became a fan favorite for her effortlessly cool nature. But at times, viewers were taken aback by some of the unconventional hairstyles Serena entertained. On Reddit, one user nodded to an instance in which half of Lively's hair was down and the other half was loosely braided. "Does anyone else agree that this just was not cute, why the random braid, why was it SO straight other than that," implored the user. 

But one of Lively's biggest offenses was Serena's look for Blair's wedding, in which she donned a voluminous ponytail and beehive adorned with a Gatsby-esque feathered hairpiece. It sounds cute, but when you look at the photos, you'll wonder what-in-the-Leaning-Tower-of-Pisa is happening on Lively's head. It's as if her hairstylist was trying to style her like Amy Winehouse for the most un-Amy Winehouse event. "Who thought this looked good?? What were they thinking? Poor Blake," quipped one person on Reddit. And as if things couldn't get any worse, it appeared that Lively's own hair was knotted into a bow in the back, which besides being an eyesore, seems awfully damaging and perhaps painful to her hair.

In 2005, Blake Lively stepped onto the red carpet for the very first time for the premiere of her movie "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." At just 17 years old, she was young, naive, and likely just wanted a fun outfit and hairstyle to celebrate her first movie's debut, completely unaware that now the whole world would silently be critiquing her head to toe. That night, Lively arrived in a satin orange dress with a long beaded necklace and hoop earrings — which were each individually on-trend. But together, it felt like she had grabbed everything labeled "fashion" at the time and thrown it on at once.

And then, there was her hair. From afar, Lively's loose bun seemed chic. Up close, however, it was wildly messy, with strands flying in every direction. It's the type of imperfect bun you wear your hair in the privacy of your own home (often with sweatpants!) and not at all to a movie premiere. While we could give her the benefit of the doubt that perhaps she was in a pinch for time and the look was last-minute, a single braid woven around the bun suggests that this hairstyle was indeed a choice. A choice we hope she never makes again.

In 2011, Blake Lively attended the Teen Choice Awards, where she wore a half-up, half-down hairstyle, featuring a mini ponytail and the rest of her hair falling straight down over her shoulders. The resulting mini-mound atop her head lacked structure and lift. Additionally, her uneven hairline caused half of the mini ponytail to sit slightly more forward than the other half, creating an asymmetrical look.

To give us even more to unpack, Lively appeared to have gone even blonder — a move that complemented her tan, sun-kissed skin, but was a little too matchy-matchy with her orange dress. Seriously, this look was like the precursor to when now-President Donald Trump wore the orange garbage man costume in October 2024. But hey, at least Lively won a surfboard that night, which could come in handy because if you stare at the front of her mini ponytail pouf long enough, it kind of looks like a wave. Surf's up!

In 2009, Blake Lively attended the "Sherlock Holmes" premiere, and it didn't take a real Sherlock to deduce that half of her hair's length had gone missing. What remained was likely one of her shortest hairstyles to date — which we applaud her for as it probably helped her get rid of any split ends. However, what we're not clapping for are Lively's tighter-than-usual curls concentrated in the lower half of her hair. Truthfully, we couldn't decide whether these curls made her look years younger or older.

Hear us out: In one way, Lively's hair here looks like she's ready for a middle school formal. On the other hand, the curls give off a strong retro vibe, making Lively look like a '50s housewife. Let us remind you that she was only 23 in this photo, and it was years before the moment she fell in love with Ryan Reynolds. Therefore, being a housewife or attending a middle school formal were both not on her agenda, yet she found the hairstyle for either occasion. Perhaps Lively could have benefitted from running a wide-tooth comb through these ringlets so they wouldn't bunch together so much.