Rep. Tulsi Gabbard says isn't keeping the gray spot in her hair to make a fashion statement, but as a way to remember American military personnel.
“I started going gray in that one spot during and after my first deployment to Iraq,” the Hawaiian Democrat and presidential candidate said during an Instagram Live video while in Iowa, reports The Hill. "I keep it just as a remembrance of those who we lost there and the cost of war and why we fight so hard for peace...no, I'm not going to fix [it]. If you mean dye, no, I'm not going to dye it."
Gabbard, 38, is the first female combat veteran to run for president, after serving in Iraq from 2004-2005 and in Kuwait from 2008-2009. She recently took two weeks off the campaign trail to travel to Indonesia for a joint training exercise mission.
Her hair has gotten her attention on social media, and her sister, Vrindavan Gabbard, answered questions in March on Twitter about the hairstyle.
“Natural,” she tweeted through the Hawaii congresswoman’s account. “It happened after her deployment to Iraq. She keeps it as a daily reminder of her experience and her purpose.”
Gabbard did not qualify to take the stage in the September Democratic debate, as she was two polls short of the number required by the Democratic National Committee. She did have the required 130,000 unique donors, however.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.