Granted, I’ve never been a big fan of Hayden Panettiere, but this is not a good look for her, right? I mean, I like red hair, I love gingers, but not every woman can pull off red. Hayden is 21 years old, and as many have pointed out, at times her styling is that of a middle-aged woman. Except middle-aged women now dress to look 21 years old, and 21 year-old women dress like 40-somethings. The world is turned upside down! But seriously, Hayden looks like she’s about 35 years old with that red hair and that styling. Her makeup is flawless though. Maybe too much – but still, it’s good work.

Why’d Hayden Panettiere ditch her blonde ‘do to become a redhead?

“Because I could!” the Heroes star, 21, told UsMagazine.com at the NYC premiere of Temple Grandin Tuesday night. “I was tired of being a blonde and being… you get stuck in one thing and known for one thing and as a cheerleader or whatever that image.”

Continues Panettiere,”It’s fun to change things up, and I feel I don’t have to overcompensate as much personality-wise when I have red hair as I do with blonde hair.”

Panettiere says the new look suits her better.

“I’m typically a very fiery person anyway, but I just feel like cute and blonde and little is just so one category and one thing and changing my hair color, I feel like I don’t have to overcompensate so much for the fact that I don’t like being called cute or anything like that — especially being all 5-foot-2 of me,” she told Us.

The actress also told Us that she shrugs off criticism for dating older men. (She split from Milo Ventimiglia, 32, in last February, and is currently cozying up to boxer Wladimir Klitschko, 33.)

“It just happens to be the people that I’m drawn to, and you go, ‘How old are you?’ And then it’s like ‘Typical!'” she said while laughing. “It’s just a number and it’s just on a birth certificate and whoever it may be, older, younger, blonde, brunette….”

[From Us Weekly]

Will Hayden going red be like the other major hair controversies of the past decade? And now I’m drawing a blank, because I think that Felicity stuff was more than a decade ago, and I can’t remember any other hair controversies. Like, maybe Jessica Alba going blonde? That was a dumb move. Or Britney putting on the pink wig of doom? But she was crazy, it wasn’t a styling choice. I’m at a loss… but anyway, I doubt people will care too much because people barely care about Hayden, right?

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