
Sanaa Lathan’s new Instagram post is giving us all the hair-spiration we needed to close out the week.
The “Nappily Ever Actress” famously shaved her head in the film and made headlines as she proudly rocked her cropped look. Three years later, Lathan is debuting a full and lengthy head of hair. Her secret? Meticulous hair care and lots of patience.
“Three years after shaving it off,” Lathan captioned a photo of herself rocking her natural hair. “Protective styles, braids and almost no heat.”
Back in September 2018, Lathan spoke to ESSENCE about being hesitant to do the big chop. “In the beginning, [I said], ‘I’m not cutting my hair.’ I said, ‘You know, this is the 21st century. We have the technology. We can do a bald cap,’” she recalled. After talking with a “couple of people,” including producer Tracey Bing and celebrity hairstylist Larry Sims, Lathan decided to throw caution to the wind. “I said, ‘It’s just hair,’” she said. “If I don’t like it I can just throw a wig on.”
After the movie wrapped, Lathan fully embraced her new cut. The gorgeous actress rocked it to the Nappily Ever After premiere and even did a photoshoot showing off her short ‘do.

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Keep the hair tips coming, queen!