By For those in the number 2 clipper club, a shaved head is more than a haircut; it's a statement. As model Jourdana Phillips told us, backstage at the Victoria's Secret show in Paris, "I no longer feel forced to adhere to society's beauty standards and feel free to do as I please,"–a sentiment shared by many women with the gender-norm-defying haircut. Similarly, when Internet trolls criticized Jada Pinkett Smith for allowing daughter Willow's 2012 shave, she fired back on Facebook: "Willow cut her hair because her beauty, her value, her worth is not measured by the length of her hair." Here, a look at some of the most memorable buzz cuts of all time–from K-Stew to bald Britney–and the meaning behind each look.
Kristen Stewart
"I'm doing a movie in a couple of weeks called 'Underwater,' and I play a mechanical engineer that's working in an oil rig that's on the bottom of the ocean floor," Stewart explained in a recent interview. "So for me, I was like, 'It's practical! I mean, I'm not going to be able to have touch-ups once I put the helmet on. I must shave my head!'"
Adwoa Aboah
"When I moved to LA, I was desperate for a hair trim. It went completely wrong, so I went to the hair genius, Gareth Bromell, to see if he could fix it. The solution was either to grow it out or cut it short; both ideas were horrific and staying the same would mean running around with a very strange Vidal Sassoon-looking hairdo. So I decided to go for the complete shave, and I couldn't have wished for anyone better to do it. After many years of hating my hair, I finally felt no attachment to it. I was empowered, and for the first time, I don't need to carry around a large plastic bag of products, and it doesn't take me an hour to find all the hairpins after a night out," Aboah recalls in an interview.
Amber Rose
"I think that I'd definitely seen Sinead O'Connor's 'Nothing Compares 2 U' video," Rose explained in an interview. "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."
Amandla Stenberg
"I just finished working on a film called Where Hands Touch directed by the incredible @iammaasante. The story is about the experience of biracial children growing up in Nazi Germany. I shaved my head for the role. Feels really good. I feel so aerodynamic now," Stern revealed on Instagram.
Jourdana Phillips
"Can you believe this was me a year ago!!? I've had two major hair cuts in the last year and I never thought in a million years I would cut my hair. I'm so glad I did! It's helped me overcome the idea that my beauty is synonymous with the length of my hair," Phillips said. "I no longer feel forced to adhere to society's beauty standards and feel free to do as I please. You are sexy, strong and beautiful with long hair/short hair/pink hair/blue hair whatever!!"
Toni Collette
"I find it quite cleansing," said Collette in an interview on shaving her head.
Jessie J
The singer shaved her head in 2013, raising half a million pounds for Comic Relief.
Lupita Nyong'o
Nyong'o first shaved her head at 19, she told Redbook: "But it wasn't on a whim—I spent days thinking about it first. Once I did it, it was very liberating, but I also felt very naked. When you feel the wind on your scalp, it's like, Oh, my God. But I've kept my hair short ever since."
Charlize Theron
"I just had this moment where I was like, 'I need to shave my head! I can't think about what I'm going to do with my hair in this movie. I'm going to be in the desert. I'm a new mother. Let's just shave it.' The next day we did it. I can't even imagine doing it any other way," Theron told Entertainment Tonight.
Cynthia Nixon
Nixon shaved her head in 2012 for the role of a cancer patient in the Manhattan Theatre Club production of Wit.
Solange
When haters likened Solange's 2009 shave to Britney Spears' 2007 short hair moment, the singer fired back on Twitter:
i. have. done. this. twice. in. my. life. i. was 16. i was 18. did. not care about your opinion. then. dont. care. now.
dont. need. your. attention. or. your. co-sign. i am #3. trending topic. before. IRAN. &. some of you cant even locate it on a map. its sad.
dont. want. a. edge. up. or a perm. because. im not trying. to make this "a style" or a statement.
i. just. wanted. to. be. free. from. the. bondage. that. black. women sometimes. put. on. themselves. with. hair.
this. phase. of. my. life. i. want to spend . the time. the energy. and the money. on something else. not in the hair salon.
Natalie Portman
Portman buzzed her hair for her role in 2005's V For Vendetta.
Cate Blanchett
Blanchet went completely bald for her 2002 role in Heaven.
Jada Pinkett Smith
Pinkett Smith experimented with short hair in 1998, and when daughter Willow followed suit in 2012, she shutdown critics on Facebook with the perfect clapback: "Willow cut her hair because her beauty, her value, her worth is not measured by the length of her hair."
Angelina Jolie
Jolie went super short to play Gia in 1998.
Demi Moore
When Moore shaved her head for her 1997 role in GI Jane, suddenly (and strangely) everyone wanted to touch her head.
Sinead O'Connor
"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," O'Connor told Oprah in a 2014 interview. Instead, "I went straight around to the barber and shaved the rest of my hair off," she said.
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