Oftentimes, haircut scenes are faked with wigs, extensions, bald caps, and, of course, movie magic. Sometimes, however, actors take a big risk and chop or shave their real hair in one take.
Here are 13 scenes where actors cut or shaved their hair for real:
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When Felicity Porter infamously cut her hair short in Felicity Season 2, the stylist started Keri Russell’s haircut for real. The actor later went to a real salon to have it finished.
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When Sanaa Lathan first signed on to play Violet Jones in Nappily Ever After, she was against cutting her hair. However, as she delved into the character and the movie’s message, she decided, “There’s no way I can’t not do it.”
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For the Stranger Things Season 4 scene where the “gulag barber” shaves Hopper’s hair, the hair department “made sure [they] could shave [David Harbour’s] real hair cleanly and theatrically efficiently to catch on camera.”
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When Topanga spontaneously hacked off her hair in Boy Meets World Season 4, Danielle Fishel was “thrilled” to cut it herself.
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In V for Vendetta, Natalie Portman’s personal hairstylist played the role of the man who shaved Evey Hammond’s head “so that he knew what he was doing.”
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For the Les Misérables scene where Fantine’s hair is cut short, Anne Hathaway had the idea of chopping off her real hair on camera. However, Nicola Sloane, who played the “hair crone,” is “a wonderful actress but she is not a hairdresser,” so Paul Gooch, Anne’s hair and makeup artist, donned her costume and stepped in for the scene.
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Having her head shaved on camera as Catherine Dior in The New Look was a “surreal experience” for Maisie Williams. When the scene was over, the hairdresser hugged her and apologized, and she “burst into tears.”
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To film the scene where Harper McLean shaves her head at the end of Heartbreak High Season 1, Asher Yasbincek learned how to use the clippers on herself. It was actually the first scene she shot for the series.
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Naomi Scott reportedly cut her own hair in the Power Rangers scene where Kimberly Hart gives herself an impromptu haircut.
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For her role as Esty, Shira Haas’s real hair was shaved off during the last scene on the first day filming Unorthodox.
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And finally, for the The Wolf of Wall Street scene where Stratton Oakmont employee Danielle Harrison lets Rugrat shave her head in exchange for $10,000, Natasha Newman Thomas, a Los Angeles stylist who’s brother’s good friends with Leonardo DiCaprio, volunteered to let P.J. Byrne actually buzz off her hair.