Melania Trump has notoriously kept her son Barron Trump, who was born back in March 2006, out of the public eye for most of his life. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been plenty of opportunities for us to see the youngest Trump at various points of his childhood, from when he was a baby attending his father’s Hollywood walk of fame ceremony to a teenager with a backpack slung over his shoulder on his college campus. In those intervening years, especially after his father Donald Trump became president in 2017, interest in Barron Trump has only increased.

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For instance, there’s been speculation about whether his political views are in line with his father’s, and of course, if there are any impending romances in his life.  And then there’s the hair. The world can’t get enough of the Trump clan’s coiffures, whether it’s the latest with Donald’s unruly hair mess or the hair extension fails the Trump women have suffered. In the tress arena, Barron Trump seems to be finding his footing, with a hair transformation that suggests he is determined to differentiate himself from his father’s famed locks.

Just shy of his second birthday, Barron Trump attended the annual bunny hop at FAO Schwarz’s Fifth Avenue toy store with mom Melania in 2008. In this photo from the event, we can see the bright-eyed son of Donald Trump, who is the president’s fifth and youngest child. It shows just how extreme the young Trump’s dramatic transformation from his youth to now really has been. Arguably the most adorable feature in the pic is the toddler’s hair, which has a hint of the strawberry hue from his father and the shiny waves from his mother, who has had her own hair transformation through the years.

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Even at this young age, Trump was living an insanely lavish life, which included having his own floor in the family’s New York City penthouse apartment. He even decorated one of the playroom walls himself by drawing on it.

Barron Trump continued his privileged upbringing by attending elite schools in Manhattan and jetting to his family’s properties to attend exclusive events. One such outing took place in January 2013, when Donald and Melania Trump attended the Trump Invitational Grand Prix at Mar-a-Lago with their then 6-year-old son in tow. The event, which only ran for four years, was a horse-jumping competition and fundraiser.

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In a photo from the equestrian event, Barron’s hair is sandy blonde, with the kind of natural highlights that women around the world pay hundreds of dollars every six weeks to try to achieve. In the photo, Barron seems to resemble half-sister Ivanka, who is 24 years his senior, in a big way. The second-oldest daughter of Ivana and Donald Trump had similarly sandy blonde strands at this age. Melania was always a brunette, and dad Donald was a blondie like his son.

Despite the controversy it caused at the time, Melania Trump didn’t move into the White House with her son when her husband took the office of president for the first time in January 2017. She insisted that Barron Trump finish his school year at his posh private school in Manhattan. But that summer, the pair did establish themselves at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Barron Trump, then 11, transferred to a private school in Maryland.

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Though he continued to stay out of the public eye as much as possible, there were plenty of moments when the young Trump heir was spotted with his father. Here, for example, he was photographed in August 2020 with the president as they made their way across the White House lawn. We can see that Barron Trump’s hair was trimmed short. We have to question the hairstylist’s skills, however, as the hair above his right ear looks markedly shorter than the rest of his ‘do. For a family that seems to put an inordinately heavy emphasis on their personal appearance, they do have some questionable beauty snafus.

Sure, we can all look back at our Covid-era hair and shutter a bit at the unruliness, but is that really to blame in this instance? In July 2021, Barron Trump was photographed with his mother, Melania Trump, leaving Trump Tower in Manhattan. And the youngster Trump, at age 15, couldn’t look more like an awkward teenager. There’s the acne on the chin, the angst-ridden look in his eyes, the chubby cheeks that hover between child and man, the sudden growth spurt (he shot up to 6-foot, 7-inches, per his father), and the unkempt appearance. We feel for the kid.

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It also marked a notable departure in Barron Trump’s hair transformation through the years. Prior to this, we had always spotted Trump with hairstyles that were crisp and polished. However, his fans loved the look (and new height). On one of his many Instagram fan accounts (yes, he has a number of them), followers called out how handsome he looked and one claimed he’s the next JFK Jr.

Back when he was a pre-teen and teen in the White House, Barron Trump was the target of online bullying. Former first children Chelsea Clinton and Jenna Bush Hager defended the first son, telling the media and haters to back off. Now, the Barron Trump of the 2010s is gone, and the adult version, who started at New York University in September 2024, is here. Prior to the start of Donald Trump’s second stint in the Oval Office, Barron Trump was barely visible at political rallies or other events.

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Not anymore. There’s a new Barron Trump in the house, and this one is oozing confidence. Even his slicked-back hair has a new confidence to it. The style, reminiscent of Macaulay Culkin’s titular “Richie Rich” character, which Trump sported at the January ’25 presidential inauguration, felt more mature than any hairstyle Trump has worn before. At the event, he played up to the crowd’s cheers and had a bit of banter with his father. It seems shy, reserved Barron Trump has turned over a new leaf, with his hair serving as the starring accessory.