Pics Of Celebs Before & After Shaving Their Heads

Beauty is crucial for female celebrities, who are often known for their signature looks. In particular, many famous women are iconic for their hairstyles. Unsurprisingly, celebrities tend to look completely unrecognizable with a shaved head. Audiences are used to seeing their favorite actors, in particular, with long hair, which makes it especially striking when these women buzz their heads for a role, as Emma Stone, Anne Hathaway, and Demi Moore all famously did. Some love it so much that they've actually shaved their heads multiple times — looking at you, Joey King — whereas others had a more difficult time losing their locks for a job.

Florence Pugh summed it up best when she described what it was like debuting her freshly shorn hair at the 2023 Met Gala. "Hollywood is very glamorous — especially for women — and it's hard for an audience to see past that," the "Oppenheimer" star admitted to the Radio Times in a July 2023 interview (via the Daily Mail). Pugh also pointed out that, with a shaved head, she couldn't hide behind her looks. "Vanity is gone. The only thing that people can look at then is your raw face," the actor asserted. Still, the celebrities who chopped their hair short and never went back deserve to be celebrated. They were just as beautiful as ever bald, and it's so refreshing to see some of the most admired women make such a bold beauty move. 

After shaving her head sometime in April 2023, for 2024 movie "We Live in Time," Florence Pugh had an unexpected reaction. "[Shaving] it was really bizarre," she confessed to British Vogue in September 2024. "My head was so sensitive and so many people were trying to touch it and it was so alive. My body went into a bit of trauma from it. I was cold all the time." The British star proudly debuted her shaved head, in a rather dramatic manner, at the 2023 Met Gala with an eye-catching feathered headdress. Pugh looked completely different than she did with hair, such as in the photo on the left, from March 2023.

Anne Hathaway's most dramatic hair transformation took place when she shaved her head for the 2012 film "Les Misérables," in which she played a poor woman starving to death. The picture on the left was taken before the buzzcut, when Hathaway showed off her long brown locks at Paris Fashion Week in July 2011. On the right is after her hair started growing back, during a June 2012 appearance at the Stella McCartney Store. Hathaway won a best supporting actress Oscar for her "Les Misérables" role, so clearly her sacrifice was worth it. 

Emma Stone shaved her head for the 2025 film, "Bugonia." And the Oscar winner enthused to Vogue, in September of that year, that there was "no better feeling in the world." After shaving her head, Stone wore hats and wigs to hide the fact that she was bald. In the picture on the left, the "Superbad" star rocked her signature red hair at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations "Kinds of Kindness" in June 2024, which was notably just a few weeks before production began on the film. On the right is a shot of a beaming Stone at the 82nd Annual Golden Globe Awards in January 2025, where she revealed a short pixie cut that was gradually growing back but still suited her perfectly. 

Demi Moore somehow looked even more stunning when she shaved her head for the 1997 film "G.I. Jane," in which the Oscar nominee played the titular role. Her head shape was perfectly round, her cheekbones were more prominent, and her bright eyes made Moore look even more beautiful without any hair, in a shot from the "Striptease" movie premiere in June 1996 (right). In the picture on the left, from "Striptease" itself, you can see how different she looked beforehand. Even though "The Substance" star was still undeniably gorgeous, Moore acknowledged to People in 2022 that she would be "hard-pressed" to ever do it again, adding, "I think now that I'm older, I also know, I don't have anything to prove."

In a February 2006 appearance at the Berlin International Film Festival, Natalie Portman shared why she shaved her head for her role in "V for Vendetta." "I was really excited to get to shave my head — it's something I'd wanted to do for a while and now I had a good excuse," the actor confirmed, per Today. "It was nice to shed that level of vanity for a girl." On the left, she showcased her shoulder-length brown hair in February 2003. On the right, the "Black Swan" star showed off her buzzcut at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, in May. Portman is gorgeous either way but her features really pop without hair. 

Joey King has actually shaved her head for three different roles; "The Act," "The Dark Knight Rises," and "Wish I Was Here." In a July 2022 interview with Allure, the actor detailed how having no hair made her feel: "I think every woman should [shave their head] at least once in their life. I've never felt more free or more in tune with my beauty. I couldn't hide behind my hair." King showed off her long blond strands at the September 2018 premiere of "Summer '03" on the left, and her stunning bald look at the 2018 Hulu Holiday Party in November of that same year on the right. No wonder she loved the bald look! 

Angelina Jolie looked totally fierce when she shaved her head for the 1998 TV movie, "Gia." The pic on the left was taken long before, in 1995. On the right, the Oscar winner proudly shows off her buzzcut, which was growing back in at the time, in 1997. The shorter haircut highlights Jolie's dramatic features, including her big eyes, strong jawline, and plump lips. The "Girl, Interrupted" star later shared her feelings about shaving her head in a September 2017 interview with People. "I kind of loved it. It was kind of freeing to feel like hair doesn't matter and get rid of it," she opined (via Facebook).