Dutton Ranch Star Natalie Alyn Lind Looks So Different With Her Natural Hair

Natalie Alyn Lind got a major career boost when she was cast on "Dutton Ranch" as Oreana Jackson, a feisty platinum blond ranch heiress who isn't afraid to be bold. But her signature look isn't how she's always looked. As fans of "The Goldbergs" may remember, her hair wasn't as light in her early career. In fact, if we go even further back in time, we can see that her hair seems to hover between strawberry blond and dark auburn.

Lind, who is among the many celebs who started out as child actors, was 12 in the picture below, taken in October 2011. At the Sue Wong event, the actor sported reddish-blond hair that is nothing like her "Dutton Ranch" character's. At the time, her hair closely matched the shade of her eyebrows, suggesting this was her natural tresses. When Lind made her acting debut alongside her mother as one of the stars of "One Tree Hill" at age 5, her hair was also strawberry blond, though it appeared slightly lighter than in the photo below. 

Jordan Strauss/Getty

Over the years, Lind's hair has been different shades of red and blond at various times, so nailing down her exact natural color isn't an easy feat. Social media users have tried, with no conclusion reached. "I'm having a debate with a friend who insists that he can tell it's not naturally blonde but I have my doubts," a Reddit user commented. Another suggested that Lind's hair may turn blonder with sun exposure during the summer, but not everyone was convinced. "I doubt it though when you consider how different the blonde looks to the auburn," one Redditor argued. Regardless of her hair's specific shade, Oreana from "Dutton Ranch" looks gorgeous in real life. 

Oreana Jackson's blond beach waves require quite a bit of work to perfect, but they are worth it. In a behind-the-scenes clip, Natalie Alyn Lind went into what it takes to get her ready for shooting. "It usually takes around like 45 minutes to kind of do hair," she said in the Paramount+ Canada video shared on Instagram in July 2026. She sat in a chair with rollers in her blond hair, which she joked was her "George Washington look."

Makeup takes a lot longer, but that's her own fault. "[It takes] about 45 minutes for makeup, depending on how chatty I am, which is usually very chatty, so sometimes it takes a lot longer," she laughed. All that work creates a character who is free-spirited and sure of herself, traits that drew Lind to Oreana in the first place. "She's bold, passionate, stubborn, and impossible to ignore," she said in an interview with RUSSH. "What resonated with me most is that she doesn't spend much time worrying about what other people think."

Oreana's cool cowgirl style may not be what Lind was used to before she snagged the role, but she loves playing with it. In a May 2026 interview with Us Weekly, she revealed that Oreana's look was hugely influenced by Bella Hadid, who has been rocking the glam cowgirl aesthetic ever since she moved to Texas to live with then-boyfriend and professional horseman Adan Banuelos in 2024. "I have pictures of her all over my wardrobe mood board," she said.