Why Does Wicked: For Good Star Cynthia Erivo Shave Her Head?

Cynthia Erivo is unmistakable on any Hollywood red carpet for her bold and gorgeous bald head.

The Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress initially chose to shave her head to accommodate multiple wigs and body paint on the set of 2024’s Wicked, in which she plays the green-skinned witch Elphaba. Erivo loved her new look so much that she decided to keep it after filming on Wicked and its 2025 sequel, Wicked: For Good, wrapped up.

“This is what I want to look like,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in October 2025. “I love a heel, I love a nail, I love a jaw, I love a bald head, I love a good outfit. It is legitimately a way of just expressing parts of myself.”

The actress now shaves her own head and has even incorporated bleaching or shaving her eyebrows in order to look like “a pretty thumb.”

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Keep scrolling for the background on Erivo shaving her hair and eyebrows.

Why Did Cynthia Erivo Start Shaving Her Head?

When Erivo was cast as Elphaba — a.k.a. the Wicked Witch of the West — in director Jon M. Chu’s film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Wicked, she knew she would have to undergo an extensive physical transformation.

Since she’d have to wear four different wigs throughout the filming of Wicked and For Good, Erivo thought it would be easiest to completely shave her head. Speaking to Vanity Fair in 2024, the actress recalled her reaction when she first saw “green-scalp Cynthia” on set after several hours in the makeup chair.

“[I looked] like a little bald-headed green lady,” she teased.

Why Did Cynthia Erivo Choose to Stay Bald After ‘Wicked: For Good’ Wrapped Filming?

The bald look may have taken some getting used to, but Erivo completely embraced it once she finished shooting the two Wicked movies. Erivo remembered wanting to do something radical with her hairstyle for a long time, even though her hairdressers always hesitated.

“[My hairdresser] would only cut some of [my hair]. So I left with a haircut that I didn’t want,” Erivo told Slate in 2023. “I allowed [my hairdresser’s] fears or something she was projecting onto me to affect how I made my decision.”

Erivo confessed that she also used her previous shoulder-length hairstyle to distance herself from others — both in her work and in real life.

“I was doing it for such a long time,” she recalled. “I remember saying to myself, ‘I’d like to walk into a room and have people just see my face.’”

While she faced some opposition for choosing to go bald, Erivo assured Elle in 2024 that she is no longer influenced by others’ fashion tips.

“I keep spotting people saying, ‘Why is she bald? She needs to get a wig,’” she admitted with a laugh. “Why does it bother you so much that I don’t want to wander around with blonde tresses? I like my bald head. There’s nothing wrong with my hair – it grows in very fast. I just like my face.”

She went on, “When I walk into a room, I’m not pretending. I’m gonna come in with my nose ring, I’m gonna come in with my earrings and my many piercings and my nails, and I made that decision a long time ago to just, like, be [me].”

Why Does Cynthia Erivo Shave Her Eyebrows?

As with her hairstyle, Erivo initially decided to shave her eyebrows in preparation for Wicked but she enjoyed the look so much that she kept it in her everyday life.

“I have no eyebrows. I shave them off on purpose,” she confirmed to W Magazine in October 2024. “Whenever I’m talking to my makeup artist, I tell her that I just want to look like a pretty thumb.”

Related: Why Cynthia Erivo Requested Micro Braids in ‘Wicked’

Cynthia Erivo had one request when it came to Elphaba’s hair. Erivo, 37, opened up about the micro braids she donned while playing Elphaba in Wicked, while chatting with Variety on Tuesday, December 17. While other actresses who played Elphaba wore their hair in black waves, Erivo opted for braids to feel “a direct connection […]

Erivo may not have preferred to keep her eyebrows but they were a necessity for her Wicked character, Elphaba. In 2024, Wicked makeup and hair designer Frances Hannon walked People through the process of stenciling a specific eyebrow design for the film.

“We used eyebrow stencils because Cynthia shaves her eyebrows,” the designer said. “I worked out the best shape and had them all bespoke made.”

What Other Physical Transformation Did Cynthia Erivo Undergo on ‘Wicked’ Set?

Erivo needed several hours in the makeup chair every day on the set of Wicked, depending on how much green body paint was used for any given scene. Before filming even started, she took part in several “green tests” where Wicked’s makeup team tried to find the right shade of green for her skin.

“Some greens really didn’t work,” she told Vanity Fair in 2024. “We had alien-esque ones that were just too far.”

The makeup team ultimately went with a shade of green that had a “highlighter-yellow undertone” because it looked the most realistic on camera.

“On brown, it reads like skin,” she explained.

Aside from her wig and green body paint, Erivo wore colored contact lenses and lipstick to complete her Elphaba costume.