The legend of the perm.
Bob Ross didn’t always have his iconic hairdo, resurfaced photos of the famous painter reveal.
The black-and-white images show a clean-shaven Ross with straight hair, years before he got his signature perm.
In one photo, Ross is rocking his straight hair while wearing a white T-shirt as he’s sitting at a kitchen table, staring at the camera without a smile.
In 2016, Ross’ longtime business partner, Annette Kowalski, revealed the real reason why he got a perm.
“He got this bright idea that he could save money on haircuts,” Kowalski told NPR at the time. “So he let his hair grow, he got a perm, and decided he would never need a haircut again.”
Kowalski also claimed that Ross hated his perm, but it became his signature look.
“He could never, ever, ever change his hair, and he was so mad about that,” she shared. “He got tired of that curly hair.”
Kowalski also spoke about Ross’ hair to Mental Flossin 2015.
“When we got a line of paints and brushes, we put his picture on,” the Bob Ross Company co-founder recalled. “The logo is a picture of Bob with that hair, so he could never get it cut. He wasn’t always happy about that.”
When Ross got sick with lymphoma later in life, he wore a wig to maintain his signature look and hide his illness.
“He didn’t have any hair,” his son Steve explained in a past interview. ‘He was skinny, so skinny. And we had to wet his lips because he couldn’t drink.”
During the NPR interview, Kowalski explained that Ross — who died of lymphoma at 52 in 1995 — acted as a “tyrant” offscreen, a far cry from his TV persona.
“You don’t believe that? Do you really think this company would be as successful as it is, if he didn’t insist that everything be done a certain way?” she said.
“I don’t want to leave the impression that he was rude or nasty,” Kowalski continued. “He just wanted things done his way. He was wonderful.”
Kowalski also noted that the “Joy of Painting” star was extremely meticulous and rehearsed when it came to his career.
“He’s making you think it’s so easy. Well, let me tell you something — these are not as spontaneous as they look,” she shared. “Bob used to lay in bed at night, he told me, he rehearsed every word. He knew exactly what he was going to say on every one of those programs.”
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