Lupita Nyong'o Recalls the Time She Shaved Her Head

Lupita Nyong’o is on the cover of Allure magazine’s Culture of Hair issue, on national newsstands on February 20.

Here’s what the Black Panther star had to share with the magazine:

On shaving her head as a teenager: “I went into the hair salon, and I said, ‘Let’s cut it off.’ It was almost a dare to myself: Can I live without hair? He shaved it right off. It was so scary but so liberating because I went completely bald.”

On the language of hair: “I like the term ‘kinky.’ Some people don’t like that term, but when I think about my hair, I think of it as African kinky hair.”

On fame: “What fame does is there is an illusion of familiarity that is cast into the world. So it’s about negotiating with that illusion because oftentimes you encounter people who have encountered you, but you haven’t encountered them. It’s a little weird to find your footing. I have to be aware of that possibility, not imprisoned by it. It’s like, how do I find freedom within that awareness?”

For more from Lupita, visit Allure.com.