Dolly Parton Sleeps in Her Makeup, and the Reason Why Is Shocking

Dolly Parton has been breaking what is perhaps the number one rule in skincare: taking off your makeup before you go to bed. But that isn’t even what’s most stunning about the recent revelation. It’s her reason for doing so that has been taking people aback.

She’s been doing it for decades.

Dolly Parton isn’t concerned about following mainstream skincare routines. In fact, she has admitted to going to bed all glammed up. Although she’s definitely not alone in doing so, as a 2013 survey revealed one third of people sleep with their makeup on at least twice a week, the consequences can be dramatic.

An experiment where a woman wore makeup for one month straight, only being able to clean her face in the shower in the morning without using any cleansing cosmetics, proved so. By the end of it, her skin had aged by a decade.

Dolly’s choice is even more surprising when you realize she’s been doing it for decades. But why does she prefer to do so? Well, that’s when it gets interesting.

In her book, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, released in October 2023, the singer explains her reasons.

It all started when she arrived in Los Angeles, in the ’80s. She started to sleep all glammed-up in part because of earthquakes. She feared having to head out outside in the middle of the night and be photographed with no makeup on, so she always preferred to “be ready to go.”

Even after switching California for Tennessee, Dolly kept up with her beauty routine. But this time, it was because she wanted to make sure she didn’t go to bed with her longtime husband, Carl Thomas Dean, looking unattractive.

She only cleans her face in the morning.

Despite the unusual beauty ritual that might shock a few, the 77-year-old still has a daily skincare routine, which she calls her “little rituals.” It’s just that she chooses to do everything after she wakes up, including cleaning her face, something she’s adamant makes no difference whatsoever at what time of day you do so.

In fact, applying new makeup is her priority, right after she has her breakfast and does her “spiritual work.”

She prefers to buy cheaper cosmetic products.

Despite her love for makeup, Dolly is a firm believer that you don’t need a lot of money in order to have good products. In an interview, she stated that cheaper products are often better than expensive ones and that it’s all a matter of figuring out what works best for your skin. So, when push comes to shove, she puts fame aside and chooses her cosmetics purely based on what her skin needs.

She also assured she doesn’t do anything major, but credited her great skin to the fact that she never sunbathed when she was younger.

Her beauty routine has always been peculiar.

Dolly has an appearance that has stood out since the beginning of her career, from the voluminous hair to the glamorous makeup. And to achieve such an iconic look took effort and the ability to never think twice when it comes to finding the next best thing to boost her looks. Even as a young girl she showed interest in glamming up and, despite not being able to afford makeup, she still found a way to make it work. Her resourceful nature made her use whatever she could find at home and in the wilderness.

In an excerpt of her book she admits to using mashed pokeberries to paint her lips, even though the stain would “take forever to come off,” and taking wooden kitchen matches, with a bit of spit on the end, to color in her eyebrows and add a beauty mark to her face.

Women aren’t the only one concerned about their appearance, men care for it just as much. Some are particularly worried about keeping their lustrous hair, even when they’re faced with a receding hairline. So, a few celebrity men have admitted to using wigs and/or surgery to fight baldness.