Expand Photo
Grace Jones When: Late '70s Why: In her memoir, Jones explained why she got razor-happy: “It made me look hard, in a soft world. It made me look more ... more
Grace Jones When: Late '70s Why: In her memoir, Jones explained why she got razor-happy: “It made me look hard, in a soft world. It made me look more like a thing than a person, but that was how I had felt I was treated growing up — as a thing, without feeling, an object, not even human. Without fully understanding it at the time, I savored the response to what I did to myself, by breaking certain laws about how I was meant to behave and look — as a model, a girl, a daughter, an American, a West Indian, a human being.” Photo: This content is subject to copyright.
Expand Photo
Sinéad O'Connor When: Late '80sWhy: O’Connor explained the impetus behind her shaved head in a 2014 interview with Oprah. “I got put into the record b... more
Sinéad O'Connor When: Late '80sWhy: O’Connor explained the impetus behind her shaved head in a 2014 interview with Oprah. “I got put into the record business at a time when record executives were a little frisky. Put it that way,” O’Connor said. “They wanted me to grow my hair really long and wear miniskirts and all that kind of stuff because they reckoned I’d look much prettier. So I went straight around to the barber and shaved the rest of my hair off.” Photo: RONCEN Patrick/Sygma via Getty Images
Expand Photo
Sigourney Weaver When: 1991Why: Because long hair might get in the way of defeating that angry alien. Photo: This content is subject to copyright.
Expand Photo
Alek Wek When: Mid '90sWhy: Because she wanted to. Wek used her hair to break down beauty standards. While walking in a Betsey Johnson show in 1998, s... more
Alek Wek When: Mid '90sWhy: Because she wanted to. Wek used her hair to break down beauty standards. While walking in a Betsey Johnson show in 1998, she ripped off her blonde wig and threw it to the crowd, as if to say: “I’m beautiful as I am.” Photo: 2012 Getty Images
Expand Photo
Demi Moore When: 1996Why: Paid $4 million to star as the first women to join an elite, fictional version of the Navy SEALs, Moore shaved off all her h... more
Demi Moore When: 1996Why: Paid $4 million to star as the first women to join an elite, fictional version of the Navy SEALs, Moore shaved off all her hair per the tough-lady actress trope. G.I. Jane may have been a critical failure, but Moore’s hair was a hit. Photo: This content is subject to copyright.
Expand Photo
Cate Blanchett When: 2000Why: More of the same story here. Blanchett played a role that pitted her against a drug cartel boss in 2002’s Heaven . In an ... more
Cate Blanchett When: 2000Why: More of the same story here. Blanchett played a role that pitted her against a drug cartel boss in 2002’s Heaven . In an interview with the Daily Telegrap h, Blanchett explained that this was not her first foray into baldness: “Shaving off my hair is so liberating. I had to do it once for a film role, but I’ve done it periodically too.” Photo: This content is subject to copyright.
Expand Photo
Erykah Badu When: 2001Why: Around the same time Erykah Badu ditched headwraps, she also went bald. It’s not clear why she shaved her head, but she exp... more
Erykah Badu When: 2001Why: Around the same time Erykah Badu ditched headwraps, she also went bald. It’s not clear why she shaved her head, but she explain to Essence that she stopped wearing wraps after an encounter with a Santeria priest. “I realized it wasn’t necessary anymore,” she told the magazine.”That man was from a long line of healers and he didn’t have to look like one. He was born with it. No matter what he did or what he said, no one could take that away from him. That’s when I was freed and began to evolve. I began to focus on being more in here than out there.” Photo: This content is subject to copyright.
Expand Photo
Amber Rose When: 2002Why: Amber Rose’s blonde shave was influenced by another famous woman: Sinéad O’Connor. "I was inspired by her. And I grew u... more
Amber Rose When: 2002Why: Amber Rose’s blonde shave was influenced by another famous woman: Sinéad O’Connor. "I was inspired by her. And I grew up in Philly ... Eve was really popular, and my friends said, 'Please don't do it, Amber, you're gonna look crazy.' And, of course, me being me, I rebelled against everyone and went straight down the middle at a barber shop. Fourteen years later, I still have it." Photo: 2016 C Flanigan
Expand Photo
Natalie Portman When: 2005Why: Portman’s V for Vendetta character was forced to shave her head as punishment. Faking it with a cap simply wouldn’t do.... more
Natalie Portman When: 2005Why: Portman’s V for Vendetta character was forced to shave her head as punishment. Faking it with a cap simply wouldn’t do. Photo: This content is subject to copyright.
Expand Photo
Ellen Page When: 2005Why: Page played a runaway teen in the film Mouth to Mouth . The part appears to have required a razor to the scalp. Photo: ©Artis... more
Ellen Page When: 2005Why: Page played a runaway teen in the film Mouth to Mouth . The part appears to have required a razor to the scalp. Photo: ©Artistic License/Courtesy Everett Collection/©Artistic License/Courtesy Everett Collection
Expand Photo
Britney Spears When: 2007Why: It's often thought that Britney was simply expressing her inner turmoil with a radical cut. But her former manager claim... more
Britney Spears When: 2007Why: It's often thought that Britney was simply expressing her inner turmoil with a radical cut. But her former manager claimed she was actually trying to foil an upcoming drug test. Photo: Copyright © 2017 BACKGRID, Inc.
Expand Photo
Willow Smith When: 2010Why: Pre-teen rebellion was the driving force for Willow Smith’s shaved head. Eleven-year-old Smith wanted to end her “Whip My ... more
Willow Smith When: 2010Why: Pre-teen rebellion was the driving force for Willow Smith’s shaved head. Eleven-year-old Smith wanted to end her “Whip My Hair” tour early, but her pleas had fallen on deaf ears. So she took matters into her own hands. Will Smith explained how he found out that his daughter shaved her hair on Jay Z’s “footnotes” to 4:44: "We came downstairs and she had shaved her head bald," he remembered. "I'm looking at that girl and I'm like, 'Got it. I understand. You will not have this trouble out of me ever again. Let's go, baby. We can go.'” Photo: 2012 Taylor Hill
Expand Photo
Mel B When: 2010Why: Mel B technically didn’t shave all of her hair, but she still had a fairly dramatic cut. Spices are anything but bland. Photo: 20... more
Mel B When: 2010Why: Mel B technically didn’t shave all of her hair, but she still had a fairly dramatic cut. Spices are anything but bland. Photo: 2010 Getty Images
Expand Photo
Cassie When: 2012Why: A little more of the same here. Why did she do it? “I just wanted to do something for me that kind of set me apart," she sa... more
Cassie When: 2012Why: A little more of the same here. Why did she do it? “I just wanted to do something for me that kind of set me apart," she said in an interview. Photo: 2012 Venturelli
Expand Photo
Vivienne Westwood When: 2014Why: "Vivienne cut her hair as we must all wake up to Climate Change," a spokesperson for the fashion veteran ex... more
Vivienne Westwood When: 2014Why: "Vivienne cut her hair as we must all wake up to Climate Change," a spokesperson for the fashion veteran explained, adding, "And secondly she wanted to cut the red out for a while and have it white — to show she's proud of her age." Photo: 2014 Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho
Expand Photo
Kate Hudson When: 2017Why: Hudson is starring in an upcoming movie directed by Sia, and part required the big chop.
Expand Photo
Expand Photo
Danai Gurira When: 2017Why: Gurira’s role in Black Panther called for a totally bald look. In the film she leads an all-lady special forces unit that’... more
Danai Gurira When: 2017Why: Gurira’s role in Black Panther called for a totally bald look. In the film she leads an all-lady special forces unit that’s tasked with protecting a king. Photo: Robin Marchant/Getty Images
Expand Photo
Amandla Stenberg When: 2017Why: Stenberg explained why she shaved her head in a caption on Instagram. "I just finished working on a film called W... more
Amandla Stenberg When: 2017Why: Stenberg explained why she shaved her head in a caption on Instagram. "I just finished working on a film called Where Hands Touch directed by the incredible @iammaasante," she wrote. "The story is about the experience of biracial children growing up in Nazi Germany. I shaved my head for the role. Feels really good." Photo: 2017 Gregg DeGuire
Expand Photo
Cara Delevingne When: 2017Why: The model-cum-actress plays a woman battling cancer in the film Life in a Year . No one asked her to shave her head: she... more
Cara Delevingne When: 2017Why: The model-cum-actress plays a woman battling cancer in the film Life in a Year . No one asked her to shave her head: she actually volunteered, despite objections from her agent and manager. She told Elle that she found it to be “liberating.” Photo: 2017 Jason LaVeris
Expand Photo
Sanaa Lathan Sanaa Lathan Photo: @sanaalathan/Instagram