If you’ve watched Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making The Team or Netflix’s America’s Sweethearts, then you know that the often imitated never equaled Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (DCC) usually have big, curled hair that is never pulled up in a ponytail—until now. Rookie candidate Faith Ward recently went viral for letting people know that DCC director Kelli McGonagill Finglass and head choreographer Judy Trammell were allowing her to wear it up in a ponytail. We look into how that decision came to be and discover which cheerleaders wore their hair up publicly below!

How Faith Ward’s ponytail changed DCC hair history

Ward is a Rookie Candidate for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders 2025-2026 season. She is the first-ever team member from New Zealand and the fourth candidate overall to be from Oceania.

“I’m proud to be the first New Zealand DCC and the fourth Aussie to join the team,” she wrote on Instagram. “So beyond grateful and blessed to turn my biggest dream into a reality.”

She was officially announced as a team member on Thursday, July 17 and following the social media post, people were quick to notice that Ward had her hair up in a ponytail, which is very different from the rest of the girls on the squad.

“It’s crazy because obviously the DCC hairstyle is out, fluffy, voluminous, luscious, long locks. I’ve broken that stereotype,” Ward told ABC Perth earlier this week, before explaining how her ponytail came to be. “So, I’m in rehearsal one of the days with my hair out, and I am sweating after doing ‘Thunderstruck ‘ [and] she’s [Finglass] looking at me and she’s like, ‘You know what? I really want to see what your hair would look like tied up. So I put it up for her, and she really liked the way it danced, which was really cool because I was super excited about that. Your girl doesn’t want to have her hair out, sweaty in her face [while] dancing.”

“I go into uniform fittings and keep my hair up in hopes that she would like it still, and I walk in and she goes, ‘You’re giving Ariana Grande! Like, we need an Ariana Grande moment on the team,” she continued. “I was like, ‘Are you serious right now, Kelli? Like this is so exciting.’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, but I want your ponytail longer, I want it blonder, and then I want to see a cameo day where I prefer you be with your hair out.’”

Then, just yesterday, Ward posted a video of herself on Instagram with a ponytail at cameo day, which seemed to confirm that it was there to stay. It was Ward’s first-ever cameo day and the first time that she had ever gotten to try on the full DCC uniform.

“This journey has been incredibly challenging, both physically and mentally, but I wouldn’t change a thing! I’ve been pushed in ways I never imagined.  I’ve learned and grown so much already. I’m excited to see where this wild ride takes me! I feel so privileged to stand alongside not only the most talented dancers but also some of the most amazing women I’ve ever met,” Ward wrote on Instagram after making the team.

“I want to thank, from the bottom of my heart, the Cowboys Organization for believing in me and giving me this life-changing opportunity. It is truly an honor. To my family, friends, coaches, and mentors who have been by my side throughout this entire journey, thank you will never be enough. I wouldn’t be where I am today without you,” she continued. “This year is going to be the best yet, and I can’t wait to share it with my new family of sisters!

Who else has ever worn a ponytail in DCC history?

Before Ward came along, there was Tami Barber, a DCC from 1977 to 1980, who went viral for wearing her hair in two very high pigtails. She has since received the look several times over in the organization’s yearly alumni halftime show.

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