Keke Palmer Goes Back to Dark Brunette Hair at the Time 100 Gala 2026

Keke Palmer is officially done with the copper hair color trend—for now, at least.

The actress, podcast host, and Marie Claire cover girl was one of many attendees at the 2026 Time 100 Gala in New York City this week. She hit the red carpet wearing a silky, black corset gown with a textured skirt that flared at the waist and featured a leg slit on one side. She paired the gown with a set of closed-toe, black pumps and tied the whole look together by wearing smoky eye makeup and dark nail polish. Possibly the best part of Palmer's look for the night, though, was how she styled her hair.

If you can recall, Palmer underwent a few major hair transformations last year. First, she kicked off spring by trading in her dark natural hair color for a lighter copper shade, and a few months later when everyone else in Hollywood was entering their bob eras, she went all in on a cropped pixie cut. After wearing the copper color for over a year, the 32-year-old showed up to this week's gala and casually revealed that she's officially back to having dark brown hair. At the event, she styled her newly-colored tresses in chic finger waves.

Usually the spring and summer months see plenty of people choosing to lighten their hair colors in correspondence to the weather heating up, but deep, dark hair colors like "velvet black" and "espresso" are expected to be highly-requested this season. "Velvety black tones are making a comeback, but with more shine and softness so the color never looks flat," celebrity hairstylist Laurie Heaps previously told MC. Palmer's color appears to be more of a black-brown that's darker than an espresso color (which is also trending for spring) but a little warmer and more natural-looking than a jet black.

If dark hair is currently on your spring hair vision board, read ahead for styling and care tips.