Dolly Parton Reveals Why She’s Been Sleeping in Her Makeup for More Than 40 Years

Country music icon Dolly Parton, renowned for her timeless beauty and flamboyant style, has recently divulged a surprising beauty secret that has been part of her life for decades. In her new book, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, the 77-year-old singer-songwriter unveiled that she routinely goes to bed with a full face of makeup.

Dolly’s intriguing nightly beauty routine traces its origins back to the 1980s when she first arrived in Los Angeles. She humorously explained, “I started sleeping with my makeup on, partly because of the earthquakes. I thought, ‘I’m not heading out on the streets without makeup in case there are cameras out there! I’m going to be ready to go!'” It seems that the prospect of being caught off-guard by photographers was enough to persuade the country legend to maintain her glamorous appearance even in her slumber.

However, beyond earthquakes and impromptu photo ops, Dolly Parton offered a more sentimental reason for sticking with her unconventional bedtime beauty ritual. She confessed, “I don’t want to go to bed looking like a hag with Carl,” referring to her husband of over 50 years, Carl Dean. 

Dolly’s approach to skincare might raise eyebrows among beauty experts, as most advocate removing makeup before bedtime. Nevertheless, Dolly maintains her unique routine but assured that her face is eventually cleansed. “It doesn’t matter when you clean your face,” she commented, “as long as you clean it once a day. After I wake up, I do all the little rituals, and then I start over again and go out every day and look good all day long.” It’s an ethos that perfectly aligns with the “9 to 5” actress’s larger-than-life persona and her signature glamorous makeup looks.

Dolly’s love for cosmetics is deeply rooted in her personal history. Growing up in humble beginnings in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, she didn’t have the luxury of purchasing makeup. Instead, she improvised by using items found around her home and in nature. 

Dolly reminisced, “Pokeberries were major because you could mash them up and make a stain that—boy!—takes forever to come off. I would paint my lips with that.” Her resourcefulness didn’t stop there, as she ingeniously used household items to create homemade cosmetics. “I’d strike one of Mama’s long wooden kitchen matches, put a little spit on the end of it, and use that to color in my eyebrows and my beauty mark.”

Last week, Parton opened up about her iconic style. In an interview with ET’s Rachel Smith, the 77-year-old singer, who’s promoting her new book, revealed she has hundreds of wigs, and says her husband, Carl, isn’t a fan of all of them.

Parton told ET that her wigs are “all big and they’re all sexy,” but notes, “When I wear my hair too stationary, I said, ‘You don’t like my hair?’ And he said, ‘Well, it looks too important.’ There’s a certain look that looks important.”

As for the specific number of wigs she has, Parton said, “Once somebody asked me, ‘How many wigs do you have?’ I said, ‘Well, I must have at least 365, because I wear one almost every day.'”

Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones is out now.

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