More often than not, female celebrities make headlines for sporting a buzz cut or shaved head. Seeing how important hair is to a woman’s celebrity, not seeing it (in all its glory), raises quite a few brows.
However, bald female celebrities aren’t always so by choice. Many of them go bald for their film roles like Charlize Theron for Mad Max, Natalie Portman for V for Vendetta, Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables, Demi Moore for GI Jane, and the list goes on.
Not all celebs are forced to shave their hair off, but some choose to do it anyway to make their character more authentic.
Then there are others who decide to go bald for fashion, to make a statement, or just to feel more liberated. But there are also a few celebrities who struggle with different types of hair loss, and, sometimes, they just decide to embrace their bald head. Here, we’ll list a few bald celebrities females who belong to the last two categories.
Bald Female Celebrities
Here’s a list of a few famous bald female celebrities:
Jada Pinkett Smith
Actress and talk show host, Jada Koren Pinkett Smith, has been very open about her hair loss due to alopecia areata. It’s an autoimmune condition in which the body’s immune cells start attacking healthy cells.
With the hair cells getting swept up in this fight, the person is left with round or oval-shaped bald patches on the scalp. And of course, this can be very distressing.
While she wasn’t always bald, she eventually decided to “take it down to the scalp.” She said she didn’t want people speculating that she had “brain surgery or something.”
In her Instagram post, she also went on to say, “Me and this alopecia are going to be friends … period!” And has even joked about putting rhinestones on her head to fashion a “little crown.”
Viola Davis
The Oscar-winning actress and producer Viola Davis has also had many experiences with hair loss.
In an interview with Vulture, she recounted that in her 20s, she woke up with a “splash of bald” on the top of her head. She also had alopecia areata, which can be triggered by stress (as was in her case).
She wore wigs to hide her alopecia until eventually, she felt like she was at a different place in her life. In the same interview, she also said, “I am telling you, I have spent so much of my life not feeling comfortable in my skin. I am just so not there anymore.”
While Viola still wears wigs, she says that now she considers her “hair to be an option in the broad spectrum of whatever I do as an actress”.
Selma Blair
Actress Selma Blair, best known for her role in Legally Blonde, also lost her hair while getting chemotherapy for multiple sclerosis. Eventually, the “Cruel Intentions” also shaved her hair and kept it quite short for a while.
However, more recently, she has grown it back to shoulder length.
Naomi Campbell
Supermodel Noami Campbell also lost her hair as a result of traction alopecia. It developed from years of wearing weaves and extensions that put a lot of pressure on her hair follicles.
Photos of her receding hairline surfaced a few years ago, which sent the media into a frenzy, especially considering that long, straight hair was the model’s signature.
However, in an interview, the model said that her hair has grown back, “Thank God.” She also said that she takes better care of her hair now and even does “different things.”
Keep in mind that traction alopecia can be permanent (especially if the traction persists for years), so Naomi was lucky that her hair grew back.
Ricki Lake
Actress and TV show host Ricki Lake suffers from a permanent type of hair loss known as androgenetic alopecia or pattern baldness.
It occurs due to a combination of genetic and hormonal factors which result in the permanent miniaturisation of hair follicles, resulting in thinning and baldness.
Taking to Instagram she said, “It has been debilitating, embarrassing, painful, scary, depressing, lonely, all the things. There have been a few times where I have even felt suicidal over it. Almost no one in my life knew the level of deep pain and trauma I was experiencing.”
While she tried different things to grow her hair back, she recently posted how Harklinikken hair products ended up helping her grow her hair back.
A lot of their products contain natural plant extracts, which may not always work. Therefore, make sure to consult a doctor before you consider investing in them.
Gail Porter
TV star Gail Porter suffers from a more rare subtype of alopecia areata known as alopecia universalis. This condition causes a complete loss of her on the scalp, face and body. Unfortunately, it’s chronic and can come and go.
The actress was first diagnosed in 2005 and has chosen to completely embrace her condition.
In the Sacrifice and Success podcast, she said, “My personality took a bit of a knock. Jobs just stopped, because you don’t look the same. ‘Would you wear a wig, would you mind wearing a wig?’ No I don’t want to wear a wig. This is how it is.”
Lupita Nyong’o
The Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o also recently bade goodbye to her hair. Taking to Instagram, she shared a picture of her shaved head with the caption, “Happy without hair!”
She did give any more details about why she decided to shave her head. However, in a 2018 interview with Allure, she shared that she’d actually gone completely bald even as a teenager “almost a dare” to herself, and she found the experience quite “liberating.”
ZaraLena Jackson
Model and reality TV star, ZaraLena also lost large clumps of her hair due to alopecia areata. It first happened back in 2020, and reportedly, she even lost her body hair within 6 weeks.
Seeing how much pressure women can feel for looking perfect all the time, ZaraLena felt like quitting social media as she felt that the “pressure was going to break me.”
However, since then, she has also come to terms with her condition, saying “I am bald, bald is beautiful. Life’s way too short to worry about hair.”
Rosie O’Donnell
The comedian Rosie O’Donnell is also among the celebrities with female pattern baldness.
It’s one of the most common types of hair loss that women experience. And although they don’t usually lose all their hair, it can cause significant thinning (with the scalp showing through).
Rosie tweeted a picture of her temple hair loss with the caption, “male pattern baldness … aging is fun.”
Kayla Itsines
Personal trainer and social media personality Kayla Itsines has also opened up about her struggles with pattern baldness.
In an Instagram post, she explained that she had a “family history of female pattern baldness.” And while she’d “tried everything to fix it,” she says, “I am at peace with it and I will not let it rule my life.”
Amber Rose
Amber Rose’s signature blonde shave was something that happened when she was just a teenager. Recounting her story, she said, “…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.”
Even with short hair though, she says that it’s not a completely no-maintenance situation. “You have a good three days of waking up and your hair literally being done. But every three days, you have to cut it and bleach it, which becomes a process,” Rose told Oxygen.
Sinead O’Connor
The Irish singer and songwriter chose to shave her hair quite a long time ago. She explained the reason behind it in an interview with Oprah, saying, “I got put into the record business at a time when record executives were a little frisky. Put it that way.”
And they wanted her to look a certain way with her hair really long while she wore “miniskirts and all that kind of stuff…” As a result, she “went straight around to the barber” to get her head shaved. And that’s how it is even today.
How Do Celebrities Treat Baldness?
How a bald celebrity female gets her hair loss treated depends on why she’s losing hair loss in the first place.
As mentioned above, hair loss can occur due to many, many different reasons (like even from chemical treatments and pressure on hair). If the hair loss is temporary, it can be possible to reverse it. They may try to help it along with non-surgical treatments like minoxidil, LLLT, or PRP.
However, if the hair loss is permanent as is the case with female pattern baldness celebrities, they can consider getting a hair transplant. But for that, they need to have stable hair on the back of their head.
Since hair transplant is a surgical procedure it’s not available on the NHS or covered by insurance. It can also be quite expensive, which is why you can consider going to Turkey for a hair transplant.
There are bald celebrities who have chosen to undergo a female hair transplant in Turkey with much success. Rapper Paigey Cakey is one example of it.
Conclusion
Female celebrities balding is news to many people because there’s constant pressure on celebrities to look nothing but their best selves. Of course, it’s an unrealistic demand as celebrities are very much human after all. And just because they’re celebrities, doesn’t mean their struggles are not real.
Whether or not you’re a celebrity, hair loss can be very stressful. And keep in mind that stress can cause more hair loss.
So, if you’re losing your hair, it’s important that you seek the help of a medical professional for an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment plan.
