The passport hair color options are eight standardized choices on Form DS-11 and Form DS-82: Black, Brown, Blonde, Red, Sandy, Gray, White, and Bald. You pick one from the dropdown or checkbox, and the abbreviation goes into the federal database attached to your passport record. There’s no free-text field, so if your hair doesn’t fit neatly into one bucket, you pick the closest match.
The Eight Official Choices
The Department of State uses three-letter abbreviations:
- BLK — Black
- BRO — Brown
- BLN — Blonde
- RED — Red (includes auburn shades)
- SDY — Sandy (a light brownish-gold tone, roughly between blonde and light brown)
- GRY — Gray
- WHI — White
- BAL — Bald
Those are the only options. You can’t type “strawberry blonde” or “dark auburn.” Pick whichever abbreviation best describes what someone would see looking at your head at the time you apply.
Dyed, Multicolored, or Unnatural Shades
Blue, green, purple, pink, and other fashion colors aren’t on the list. Select the standard color closest to what you actually see. Bright purple might be closest to BRO or BLK depending on how dark it reads. Pastel pink could lean toward BLN or RED.
For heavily highlighted or multicolored hair, go with whichever shade covers the most area. Hair color is a rough descriptor meant to help officials match you to your passport at a glance. Border agents rely on your face, not a three-letter code, and a mismatch between the listed color and your current look won’t get you turned away.
Bald or Shaved Heads
If you’re completely bald or you shave your head, select BAL. It doesn’t matter whether you lost your hair naturally or shave by choice. If you buzz your hair short enough that the color is still visible as stubble, you can list that color instead. The test is simple: can someone looking at you identify a hair color? If yes, list it. If not, BAL.
Wigs, Hairpieces, and Extensions
If a wig or hairpiece is part of your everyday appearance, wear it for your passport photo and choose the hair color that matches how you typically look when traveling. The photo should look like you do when you’d actually present the passport at an airport or border crossing.
If you only wear a wig occasionally, take the photo without it and list your natural hair color. The passport should reflect your default, recognizable appearance.
Head Coverings in the Photo
You generally can’t wear a hat or head covering in your passport photo. The State Department allows two exceptions.1U.S. Department of State. U.S. Passport Photos
For a religious head covering worn daily in public, you can keep it on, but you’ll need to submit a signed statement confirming it’s religious attire you wear continuously. For a medical head covering, include a signed statement from your doctor confirming it’s worn daily for medical purposes. In both cases, your full face must be visible with no shadows across it, and the covering must be a single solid color with no patterns or small holes. If the covering hides your hairline entirely, list whichever hair color applies underneath, or BAL if appropriate.
Does Changing Your Hair Later Require a New Passport?
No. The State Department explicitly lists coloring your hair as a minor change that does not require a new passport.1U.S. Department of State. U.S. Passport Photos You can go from jet black to platinum blonde and keep using the same passport until it expires, as long as your face is still recognizable in the photo. Because a passport book is valid for ten years, your hair may bear no resemblance to the color you listed by the time it expires, and that’s expected.
The changes that do trigger a new application are more dramatic: significant facial surgery or trauma, adding or removing many large facial piercings or tattoos, and significant weight loss or gain. Growing a beard and normal aging fall in the minor category. The working test is whether a border agent can still match the photo to your face.1U.S. Department of State. U.S. Passport Photos
How to Decide When You’re Between Two Colors
Pick the color that matches your everyday look at the time you apply. Don’t overthink it. If you’re genuinely torn between two, lean toward whichever you’ve had longer or expect to keep. A natural brunette who bleached last week might list BRO if they plan to grow it out. Someone who has dyed red for twenty years and considers it part of their identity could reasonably list RED. No one is going to check your roots.