The Stunning Hair Transformation Of Cynthia Erivo

Even before she stepped into the monumental role of Elphaba in 2024's "Wicked," Cynthia Erivo was making waves across the entertainment industry. Turning heads for her undeniable talent on the stage and screen, the British-born Nigerian star stood out from the masses in Hollywood thanks to her unapologetic take on beauty and self-expression. And when she rose to global fame through her portrayal of the prolific green witch, one element of Erivo's image seemed to draw the most attention: her hair, or lack thereof. Having appeared on screen under a wig of micro braids, Erivo rocked a shaved head for her press tour — a gutsy look that she'd been subtly moving toward for years. 

Back in 2020, when Erivo was most well-known for starring in the historic 2019 biopic "Harriet," she opened up to Essence about her decision to embrace a daring, short style in 2020. "You can't miss me," she said. "I just stopped being afraid of my face. My hair was really long and I just want to spend less time doing it and have you see my face. Never want to hide behind hair." Before transitioning to her "Wicked"-era shaved head and brows, Erivo favored cropped, natural hair, buzzcuts, and bright colors — she's definitely one of the celebs who looks totally different with eyebrow makeup. Regardless of how short the "Pinocchio" actor chooses to go with her locks in the future, she's established herself as a role model of self-love and confidence, leaving fans with a clear message in a 2023 interview with Shape: "My beauty doesn't stem from how I do my hair." 

During Cynthia Erivo's early years in the public eye, the triple threat regularly switched up her tresses, but a few common threads began to emerge in her hair story. Namely, Erivo seemed to favor her natural curls, a short length, and a show-stopping blond hue. At the Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony in 2016, the star donned a curly, platinum-blond undercut, which looked stunning paired with a classic red lip and bold eyeliner. She went even shorter at the Tony Awards that year, where she picked up the award for best leading actress for her work as Celie in Broadway's "A Color Purple." To match her yellow-toned multi-colored dress, Erivo slicked her blond curls back, hinting at her future exploration into even shorter hair. While she generally kept her tresses cropped and blond, she did serve a few unexpected looks in between. 

At Glamour's Women of the Year Awards, she flipped the script with Rapunzel-length hair cascading down her back in a beehive-inspired half-updo. While Erivo's hair remained warm blond, her roots were dark brown to give the look some dimension. Then, in a 2016 tribute to Billie Holiday, the star majorly switched up her look yet again, opting for bouncy, pinup-like curls from the '40s to create an ultra-glam aesthetic. Some celebrities rarely show off their natural curls, but Erivo isn't one of them. At the Vanity Fair Oscar Party the following year, she rocked a similarly bright tone, this time leaning more toward a cooler cream, and wore her natural hair in an asymmetrical style with a clear part line. 

In 2018, Cynthia Erivo was gradually transitioning from a star in the world of theater to reaching a mainstream audience through her work in Hollywood. Overall, she maintained her preference for super-short locks, but there were notable departures from the norm. She opted for a Rapunzel length again with two white-blond braids at the Essence M.A.D.E. Upfronts event. But otherwise, she continued to serve up cropped looks while embracing her natural curls, finding new and creative ways to style her tresses. At the Met Gala that year, Erivo made headlines for her bejeweled brows, which were reminiscent of a Catholic chalice to fit with the "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination" theme, but the real star of her ensemble was her 'do. Created by stylist Vernon Scott, the look featured her natural platinum-blond hair strategically shaved to create a V running from her hairline to the back of her head.

Ultra-short buzzcuts became the new norm in 2019, as Erivo made her way through press for "Harriet," but the star now experimented more with diverse shades, regardless of the length of her strands. Early on in February, she graced the red carpet at the BAFTA Film Awards rocking an amethyst-gold color on her long, braided hair, which was embellished with jewels. Admitting to an interviewer that the look made her "feel great," Erivo was a picture of confidence. At the LACMA Art + Film Gala Presented by Gucci in 2019, Erivo paired her satin, purple 'fit with pastel-purple tresses. Sporting slightly longer strands in a BuzzFeed Celeb video in October that year, she had veered to a bubblegum-teal tone, maintaining that alluring color for an appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," where she returned to an undercut style. Clearly, Erivo has all the info you need for growing out a buzzcut.

By 2020, Cynthia Erivo had walked down enough red carpets to have carved out her place as a fashion force. Not only was she developing a pattern of headline-grabbing bold colors in her wardrobe, but her hair and makeup choices also reinforced how comfortable she was in her own skin. At the American Black Film Festival Honors Ceremony, the star went for a short and clean buzzcut, once again sticking to her favored blond shade. Around this time, she came under fire for dyeing her hair rather than embracing her natural color, but Erivo stood her ground, telling Essence that she didn't care what people thought. "I [dyed my hair blond] because I really wanted people to see my face," she explained. "The thing about me and having dark hair is I felt like I was hiding and the white hair feels like a light bulb." The star added that it was simply a style choice, and it didn't stop her from "wanting to encourage Black women."

The following year, Erivo gave us a taste of her future go-to look when she turned up to the Met Gala (the fashion event of the year) with a shaved head, embracing the brave style before the world. In 2022, it seemed the "Wicked" star had returned to her go-to buzzcut, though she kept her natural dark roots at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards. At the Met Gala that year, she opened up about hair accessories, explaining the details behind the headscarf that completed her Louis Vuitton look. "I would know it as a headscarf," she told Vogue on the red carpet. "But it came from the early inspiration from the 1800s of the women of Louisiana who used to have to wear a piece called a tignon, which is to cover their hair, and it's something that keeps being used throughout time. Black women wear headscarves in many different ways in many different situations, and for many different occasions."

Cynthia Erivo had been steadily earning her stripes, but it wasn't until "Wicked" that she became a household name. Though the blockbuster hit was released in 2024, Erivo donned a fully shaved head at the global premiere of "Luther: Fallen Sun" in March 2023. She matched her metallic gown with a fully shaved look, which included buzzing off her brows — an image she maintained for the entirety of the "Wicked" press tour. She opened up about making the shaved look her new staple to Shape, revealing that she'd been wanting to shave it off for a while. "I remember saying to myself, 'I'd like to walk into a room and have people just see my face,'" she recalled. "[My hairdresser] would only cut some of it. So I left with a haircut that I didn't want," Erivo told the outlet. "I allowed [my hairdresser's] fears or something she was projecting onto me to affect how I made my decision."

Of course, once Erivo received tabloid-level coverage in 2024, critics emerged from the woodwork to hate on her look. "I keep spotting people saying, why is she bald? She needs to get a wig,'" she revealed to Elle that year. "Why does it bother you so much that I don't want to wander around with blond tresses? I like my bald head." The star added that her standout look boils down to her no longer trying to fit in the way she did in her early 20s: " ... I made that decision a long time ago to just, like, be." 

This act of self-love also extended to Erivo's portrayal of Elphaba, with the actor telling The British Blacklist, "I know the hair that Elphaba has on stage, which is long and black and sort of wavy. I love the effect of that, but I wanted to make it more authentic to me, so I asked if we could have micro braids. Because with micro braids, you could still have the wave in it, you could still have that flow, but it's connected. So I needed it to be connected to me as a Black woman."

We might be between "Wicked" press tours at the time of writing, but Cynthia Erivo's time in the spotlight is just beginning. Her public appearances continue to make headlines and inspire fans the world over, who look up to her confidence and unique style as well as her singing chops. Stealing the show at the Oscars with her medley of "Home," "The Wiz," and "Defying Gravity," Erivo rocked her now-signature shaved head in a ballgown-inspired satin wedding dress with bold floral appliqués. Then, at the GLAAD Media Awards in March, she donned the same freshly shaved look, letting her silver eyeshadow shine.

Opening up to R29Unbothered at Essence's Black Women in Hollywood event that month, Erivo admitted that she shaves her head every three days to maintain the look, and she also uses Beyoncé's haircare brand Cécred: "I have like a little spray that works, like a tea tree, to make sure everything is taken care of. And there's a Cécred hair oil that I use on my scalp and it just keeps everything good. It keeps the scalp really moisturized."

While the star has been criticized for her hair choices, she continues to embrace a style that expresses who she is rather than try and mold herself to fit into a box. "Surface, we're different: I walk into the room, I'm bald-headed, I've got no eyebrows, I've got nails, I've got piercings, I've got tattoos, for me that's my everyday normal but a passerby might think: 'What is happening here?'" she recalled to The Guardian. "But as you peel away those layers, yes, I understand what it feels like to be set apart from everybody else, and not fit in." Every time Erivo confidently flaunts her shaved head and eyebrows, she's sending fans the message that hair doesn't define beauty and it's okay to be yourself.