At first sight, Dawn’s look is pretty over-the-top. With long, blonde extensions, large breast implants, eyelash extensions, tons of makeup, and tons of Botox, there’s a lot going on with this mother of two from Alberta, Canada. Her kids were less than happy with her super sexy look, so they decided to contact Oprah to give their mom the classy makeover they felt she deserved! Oprah sent in Carson Kressley, style expert for OWN, to help Dawn embrace her natural beauty in an elegant new look.

When Carson first arrived at Dawn’s house, she confessed that she had been making herself up in this way for well over 20 years. But what Carson wanted to make clear wasn’t that her style was wrong – he wanted Dawn to feel happy in her own skin. And, as her kids were sensing, Carson felt this overdone look might have been a cover-up for Dawn’s unhappiness.

He asked Dawn to look into the mirror and tell him what she saw. Her response is heartbreaking, as you can see that her overdone look and how her kids feel about her look is obviously something she’s struggled with for years.

“I see someone who…has a lot of makeup on and somebody that is pretty overdone,” Dawn said. “I don’t think that my kids are very happy with what they see. You know? They see somebody that’s supposed to be a role model for them and they would really like to just have a mom, just like everybody else’s mom.”

With that motivation, Dawn underwent her transformation with Carson. The style expert completely took away her caked-on makeup, her false lashes, her hair extensions, and her skin-tight clothes. Instead, he left her with a classy, beautiful look that made Dawn absolutely glow.

On the day of the big reveal, Oprah brought Dawn’s kids on the show to see their mom’s new look. Dawn’s teenage daughter told Oprah that all her life she’s struggled with her friends cruel judgments about her mother, and that it was time for her mom to embrace a fresh, new look.

Despite that, we doubt they expected their mom to come out looking so fabulous.

Dawn is a naturally gorgeous woman, so by striping away the tons of makeup and giving her a more subdued look, Carson really emphasized her true beauty. With her hair extensions gone, Dawn’s beautiful blonde hair looked amazing in a long bob (or a “lob”), and her incredible figure was flattered in a classy, vintage cocktail dress.

Her and her kids looked absolutely ecstatic by the new look – but did Dawn stick with it, or did she gradually go back to excess?

Well, yes and no.

Catching up with Dawn years later, the OWN crew found her happily engaged and living in a beautiful new house with her kids. But her Stepford Wife look was no more! Dawn hadn’t reverted completely back to her original style, but her hair extensions replaced her motherly bob and her makeup was revved back up again – although, it was admittedly more toned down from her original look.

Dawn confessed to OWN that she went into a bit of depression after she was made-under, wondering if this look actually represented who she was. About eight months after coming on Oprah, Dawn started playing with hair extensions again; it was then that she realized dressing the way she used to made her happy, and that was all that mattered.

We hope her kids came to accept that their mom dressing in a way that made her comfortable was the number one priority!

Now, Dawn has found a balance between her old look and her new one, and it’s a look that lets her shine! Truly, she is clearly so happy two years down the road and we’re so glad the experienced with Oprah helped her discover a bit more about herself.

What do you think of Dawn’s look? What do you think of newest look, in between the two extremes?