Sanaa Lathan Shows Off Natural Hair 3 Years After Shaving It Off!
TheGrio.com, By DeMicia Inman, Posted January 14th 2021
The 49-year-old actress did the big chop in 2017 for her leading role in the Netflix film ‘Nappily Ever After.’
Sanaa Lathan took to Instagram to show off a head full of hair three years after she shaved her scalp bald.
The actress starred in Netflix’s Nappily Ever After (2018) and had to fully get into character. theGrio reported the film garnered a digital fandom that celebrated the portrayal. Lathan initially shared the buzz-cut in behind-the-scenes footage on Instagram in promotion of the movie. She exclaimed “just doing my reveal,” as she showed off her cut for the camera.
According to theGrio, the movie was adapted from best-selling author Trisha R. Thomas and tells the tale of Violet Jones as she maneuvers through life and love. Lathan also served as a producer alongside Tracey Bing, Jared LeBoff, and Marc Platt.
During an interview in 2018 with Entertainment Weekly, Lathan shared details on the big chop and more insider information behind the project.
“I came on as a producer and helped develop the script… We shot it last year, [and] I can’t believe how quickly a year has gone by. At first, obviously knowing that she was going to shave her head, I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m not shaving my head. We’ll just get a really good bald cap,’” she remarked.
“In today’s age, we have bald caps that look so authentic, I even did my research, I saw movies…I was in true denial. Then, as I kind of dived into Violet’s journey, and really thought about the themes of the movie, I just knew that I couldn’t not shave my head, so I went from there.”
After three years of protective styling, Lathan’s hair now touches her shoulders. She provided an update on Thursday with a new Instagram post highlighting her blown out texture.
In the interview with EW, Lathan shared she kept shaving her head beyond filming and her appreciation for the freedom to wear any style.
“I actually continued shaving my head for four months after we finished the film because it felt so freeing, so good,” she said.
“I really didn’t want people to feel like we were saying, if you don’t wear your hair natural, you’re doing a bad thing. Because weaves, wigs, I mean I’m sitting in my closet right now and I’m looking at about 12 wigs on wig heads right now. It’s part of my job, but I also believe that at this point in history, yes, it kind of came out of a conditioning that maybe our kinky hair is not as beautiful, but now we’ve kind of claimed it as our own and wigs, weaves, straightening your hair, wearing it curly, wearing it natural, it’s all an expression of all who you want to be that day. It’s almost like hair can be an accessory.”