Ella Gaines' Light Auburn Hair Looks Longer Than Ever In A New Post
Like many parents, Joanna Gaines had a lot of feelings during back-to-school season. On August 16, 2026, the former "Fixer Upper" star took to Instagram to both mourn and celebrate her two kids who have gone off to college. In the carousel, she included a rare picture of Ella Gaines, the second of Joanna and Chip Gaines' five children and oldest daughter, that showed just how long her light auburn hair has gotten since we last got a glimpse of her. While Ella definitely inherited her father's hair color, the waves and volume are all Joanna.
Given that Joanna avoids sharing her kids' faces on her social media, she tends to showcase them from behind. That's what she did here, featuring Ella standing with her back away from the camera as she held a camera to her face. The pose put Ella's stunning hair center stage, showing that she shares a similar style with her mother. In fact, Joanna included another picture that featured her with both of her daughters as they walked through a field. Captured from behind, Joanna was on the right, Ella on the left, and Emmie Gaines in the middle.
The snap proved that the Gaines girls lucked out in inheriting Joanna's gorgeous, full head of hair. Only Ella has her father's light hair, though. In the October 2025 clip of the spinoff "Fixer Upper: Colorado Mountain House," Ella's hair looked considerably shorter, showing how much it has grown in a few months. While beautiful either way, we have to say the long hair looks great on her.
Chip and Joanna Gaines' eldest daughter left home in 2025
Ella Gaines may have been the second to leave the nest, but her mother felt it very deeply. It's not that Chip and Joanna Gaines' oldest son, Drake Gaines, wasn't missed, but Ella was Joanna's partner in crime. "I think there's an emotional difference," Joanna told People in July 2025, just before Ella set off for college. "With Ella, we love to go to antiques shops, plant shops and go get coffee — that's our rhythm. I kind of feel like I'm losing a friend in my everyday life."
The mother-daughter bond had always been present, with Joanna noticing similarities between them from an early age. " ... Ella is like me," she told People in 2019, when her oldest daughter was 12. "I think she'll follow in my footsteps and have her hand in a lot of things. Right now she wants to cook, be a lead designer and have a donut truck." It turns out that Joanna's instincts were right on the money. Even though Ella chose to leave Texas behind for college, she has remained involved in her parents' business.
In mid-2024, she was an intern on Magnolia, where she participated in meetings and stayed up late brainstorming ideas with her mother. "She was writing down things as I was saying, 'Okay, if we do this, if we do that,'" the proud mother recalled on the "Business of Home" podcast in 2025. Later, Ella debuted as a designer on "Fixer Upper: Colorado Mountain House" (seen above), showing the apple didn't fall far from the tree at all.