Florence Pugh is a risk-taker, both in her choice of roles and her beauty routine. The actor never shies away from making a statement, and her shaved head is the perfect example. According to Pugh, the buzz cut wasn’t done for a role, but instead to help audiences shift their perspective from her overall look to her acting itself.

Picking up the razor was a conscious choice for Pugh. “I purposefully chose to look like that. I wanted vanity out of the picture,” the Oppenheimer actress star recently shared in an interview. “Hollywood is very glamorous — especially for women — and it’s hard for an audience to see past that.” According to the actor, she’s always in favor of unretouched, reality when it suits the character and the project. “Whenever I’ve not needed to be glam or have a full face of makeup, I fight to keep it that way. It helps the audience. Vanity is gone. The only thing that people can look at then is your raw face.”

Though we’ve seen Pugh all glammed up in movies like Don’t Worry Darling, she uses hair and makeup strategically to really enhance her performance; she doesn’t want to be seen as a Disney princess in full makeup when it doesn’t make sense for the role. “Even at the beginning of my career, I was always fighting to control my image,” the actor explained “It helps me when I’m wearing less makeup because then I’m less of a sparkly thing on screen. I feel like I’m allowed to do ugly faces, like it’s more acceptable.”

Pugh debuted the buzz cut at the 2023 Met Gala after rocking a bob for most of 2022, and has since been having fun with the grow-out period. She first dyed it pink and then Oppenheimer orange while promoting the movie, and it seems like the hairstyling skies are the limit for the fearless actor. We’ll be staying very closely tuned for what’s next.

See Pugh pre- and post-shaved head below.