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Home • Hair

Lena Waithe Explains Why She Chopped Off Her Signature Locs: 'I Was Holding Onto a Piece of Femininity'

Lena Waithe Explains Meaningful Reason Why She Chopped Off Her Signature Locs
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – AUGUST 09: Lena Waithe arrives at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Grants Banquet at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on August 9, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage)
By Paula Rogo · Updated October 23, 2020
Lena Waithe cut off her signature locs last month, and the Hollywood triple threat says that the decision has made her feel “so free and so happy and so joyful.” “The Chi” creator told Variety at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s annual grants banquet Thursday that she’d been thinking about letting her locs go for a while. But she hesitated because of how others might perceive her. “I felt like I was holding onto a piece of femininity that would make the world feel comfortable with who I am,” Waithe said. “I think I thought for a long time, ‘Oh, if I cut my hair, I’ll be a stud, I’ll be — in the gay world, there’s a lot of categories — I’ll be a stud or I’ll be a butch,’ and I’ve always thought, ‘Well, no, I’m not that, I’m still soft,’” the actress continued, “and I said, ‘Oh, I gotta put that down ’cause that’s something that’s outside of me.’”

.@LenaWaithe explains why she cut her hair: "I felt like I was holding onto a piece of femininity that would make the world feel comfortable with who I am" #HFPA pic.twitter.com/GTlxZJ11uO

— Variety (@Variety) August 10, 2018
She debuted her fresh cut on Instagram last month. “New tings,” she captioned the photo, which raked up more than 80,000 likes.
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lena Waithe (@lenawaithe)

Overall, Waithe said the decision to cut her hair allowed her to really step into herself. “If people call me a butch or say ‘She’s [a] stud’ or call me sir out in the world — so what? So be it. I’m here with a suit on, not a stitch of makeup, and a haircut. I feel like, ‘Why can’t I exist in the world in that way?’” The year 2018 has been a big year for Waithe, who has a number of TV shows in the pipeline. Check them all out here.
TOPICS:  Lena Waithe Locs