Joy-Anna Forsyth (née Duggar) dyed her full head of hair for the first time with boxed hair dye, but felt “instant regret” and ended up in tears over the transformation.
“‘You only live once’ & ‘girls just want to have fun’ was behind this decision,” Joy-Anna, 27, captioned an Instagram Reel on Monday, October 28. “& then I quickly realized this was a stupid decision.”
In the video, Joy-Anna documented the process as she and her friend Gaby dyed her hair a dark shade in their bathroom as a DIY project. Joy-Anna predicted she was going to “regret” doing her hair transformation, adding, “I’m going to love it or I’m going to hate it, then I’m going to go get it fixed.”
“You only live once right? Might as well just do it. I’ve been talking about wanting to do it for almost a year now,” she explained in the footage. “A little bit nervous, I’ve never done anything like this before in my life but I’m excited.”
Unfortunately, after washing and drying her hair, the result was not what the TLC personality had hoped for, and she struggled to hold back her tears. “It’s a little darker,” Gaby said as the Counting On alum took in the result. “Instant regret but OK it’s going to lighten with washes … It’s a very dark bathroom.”
“It’s a very dark bathroom,” Joy-Anna’s sister Jessa Seewald (née Duggar) echoed in the comments. Meanwhile, other fans encouraged the mom of three to give the look a chance and reminded her that the color would fade quickly.
“Awww! I like it. It is dark but like she said it will lighten up. It always does,” one user said. While another follower added, “I LOVE IT!!! Sure it’s a change but it’s not like you went deep black or white blonde. It’s actually nice and I hope you live with it for a couple days at least before doing anything.”
Joy-Anna shared the start of her transformation a day earlier, revealing that she made a “last-minute decision” to spontaneously dye her hair with store-bought color.
“It’s probably so bad for my hair but it’s going to be fun!” she said while shopping for the dye. “I’ve gotten highlights before but I’ve grown all of those out.”
Joy-Anna dyeing her “virgin” hair for the first time was a significant moment for the 19 Kids and Counting alum, as she had previously been prohibited from even cutting her hair due to her family’s strict religious beliefs.
“Our hairstyle is our choice, and we choose longer hair based on our understanding of 1 Corinthians 11:14-15,” one excerpt from their 2014 book Growing Up Duggar read, adding, “While it is a shame for a man to have long hair, a woman’s hair is her glory.”
The Institute of Basic Life Principles, a nondenominational Christian fundamentalist organization that the Duggar parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar raised their children to follow, was led by Bill Gothard. Gothard had strong views on women’s hair, advising his followers that long hair with soft curls was deemed attractive.
