Beauty YouTube star James Charles stepped out with a bald head, but most fans think it's an elaborate prank

• James Charles is a celebrity beauty YouTuber with more than 25 million subscribers.
• He showed up at a popular LA steakhouse with what looked like a freshly shaven head.
• Fans think the bald look is an elaborate prank, and it looks similar to a wig cap.

James Charles has become recognizable among fans for his Instagram-ready makeup looks and styled brunette hairdo. On Thursday night, when the beauty YouTuber with more than 25 million subscribers stepped out at the influencer favorite BOA Steakhouse, he was just missing one thing - his hair.

Pictures of a seemingly bald Charles instantly became a viral sensation, trending on Twitter and grabbing the attention of a half-dozen internet-famous "Minecraft" players, including Dream, one of the fastest-growing creators on the platform.

The replies from the gaming YouTubers boosted the response to Charles' new look, especially since players like Dream and Quackity have huge fanbases that love to trend on Twitter. For a while, some of the players' replies to Charles' tweet even had more likes than the original.

Charles had previously teased the look on an Instagram story, saying, "wait until you guys see what I did with my hair..."

From a distance and with a heavy Instagram filter, it appeared as though Charles had actually shaved his head. But after a closer inspection, most fans began saying that the look was most likely an elaborate prank. Many pointed out that Charles' head appears to have a texture similar to a wig cap, which has a history of being used for YouTube "shaving my head bald" pranks.

It's also unlikely that a beauty YouTube star like Charles, who has a consistent look and sense of style, would do something as drastic as shaving his head.

Whether or not Charles had shaved his head, there were lots of memes about the supposed prank, including fan tweets that compared Charles to Jeff Bezos, the Mr. Clean mascot, and more. Charles himself has been reposting many of the memes on his own Twitter account.

Charles' representative did not immediately reply to Insider's request for comment about whether or not the look was real.