Pauly D without hair gel? That’s something way beyond the realm of MTV — and yet, many fans admitted they preferred his au naturel look more!

Pauly D, 38, and a tube of hair gel have gone hand in hand since Jersey Shore premiered in 2009. But the times are changing, most of the cast is married, and the ’20s are approaching — meaning fans were open to an era of a gel-free Pauly. The DJ showed off his natural black hair, pushed back with a headband, in a shirtless selfie for his social handles on June 12. Lacking his normal New Jersey-esque accessories (gel, tank, bling), Pauly even poked fun at himself: “Haters Will Say It’s Sweat, No Gel, Beard, Chest Hair, Outside :).” But we couldn’t see any haters in his mentions.

“You look so good with your hair like this!” one fan tweeted, and another echoed the approval: “I dig the no gel look 👀.” Some MTV fans had more blunt opinions, like one Twitter user who wrote, “Honestly your hair looks way better without all that crap in it 😊,” and an especially honest tweeter who commented, “Boy why you been lookin like a slim Jim for the past 10+ years?! I’m team #nogel all the way 😂😍.” And then there were the die-hard fans, who thought Pauly looked smoking, gel or no gel — honestly, we’re on this team.

However, the hair gel is still firmly rooted in Pauly’s ‘do on his new MTV show, A Double Shot at Love. The show premiered on April 11, and consider it a Jersey Shore spin on The Bachelor — Jersey Shore creator SallyAnn Salsano is behind this dating show, in which 20 initial bachelorettes try to win the affections of Pauly and his longtime co-star, Vinny Guaagnino, 31. The powerhouse herself even chatted with HollywoodLife for an EXCLUSIVE interview before the show aired! When we asked if the Jersey Shore tag team is ready to settle down and get married, SallyAnn told us, “I really, truly do. I hope that they both play into it, saying like, ‘Look.’ They both live right by. They both feel very blessed. Like, they both are living a life that I think they didn’t even dream that big. You dream of things, but I think the life that they live is even bigger than the dream that they had, and it is a little bit lonely.”

Haters Will Say It’s Sweat, No Gel, Beard, Chest Hair, Outside :) pic.twitter.com/mfNowYT5aW — DJ Pauly D (@DJPaulyD) June 12, 2019

Since this is a “hater” free zone, we don’t see sweat in the selfie above, as Pauly wrote — instead, we see the sheen as a happy glow! The reality television star is living his dream as a heavily booked DJ (peep his Instagram), and the Jersey Shore creator even touched on this with HollywoodLife: “I’ve watched Pauly D dream of being a real DJ, even in his town, the biggest person on the East Coast, and now I see the advertisements for him all over the world.”