Sinead O’Connor
As women, our hair is very important to us. We covet one another’s locks and are often dying to replicate celebrity hairstyles despite the fact that we lack their team of professionals and arsenal of extensions. That said, there is a new movement of women (and a future generation, we hope) who are fighting back against the idea that long hair = femininity and beauty. They are embracing new ideas of beauty and body image. Among them is the straight-shooting and sassy Hillary Rodham Clinton who once said, “If I want to knock a story off the front page, I just change my hairstyle.”
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Fighting the good fight alongside Clinton are the eight bald women on this list. These brave ladies are taking a stand against antiquated ideals and standards of what makes a woman a woman. So in honor of them and Hairstyle Appreciation Day, we celebrate how they rock their bad-ass baldness!
1. Sinead O’Connor: Sinead made music headlines and history in the 1980s as no one had seen or heard anything like her before. While she’s since shared that she shaved her head, in fact, to become less attractive as a sort of attempt to become immune from the dangers of being a woman, no one could deny that she was (and is) a beautiful woman.
2. Sigourney Weaver As Ripley in Alien: In 1992, Weaver was paid $4 million to star in Alien 3, playing the recurring role of Ripley. That the role called for her to be bald seems to have in no way harmed her career as she’s gone on to play major parts in blockbuster films since.
3. Erykah Badu: In concert, as she broke into her song Cleva, it was reported that Badu removed her headdress to bare her bald head to audience members who had shown up for her sophomore tour. This woman just oozes positivity, poise and grace, bald or not!
Amber Rose
4. Amber Rose, Model: This model and former arm candy for Kanye WEst always wanted to look like Sinead O’Connor. So at 19 years of age, she says, she shaved her head and hasn’t looked back!
5. Jessie J: Jessica Ellen Cornish, known as Jessie J, appeared on a Comic Relief special in 2013 and, for charity, had her head shaved for all to see. We actually think her eyes look even more beautiful without her long bangs covering them.
6. Demi Moore in G.I. Jane: Demi’s role in the film was iconic, brave and incredibly important. It also involved her shaving her head on screen as part of her mission to prove she was “tough enough” to be a NAVY Seal. Tough, and still gorgeous.
7. Grace Jones: Grace Jones was a singer, model, and a million other things and is now one of Lady Gaga’s heros. She broke down barriers decades ago and her image of strength and femininity with unapologetic baldness is beautiful.
8. Alek Wek, Model: Alek Wek broke down barriers in the modeling world when she fled Sudan with her ebony skin and shaved head and became a model. Darker than the black models before her, Alek has been and will continue to be a true, modern representation of strength, sophistication and stunning beauty, bald head and all!
