How Cynthia Erivo’s Hair Choices in Wicked Made an Incredible Impact

When it came to creating Elphaba in the new Wicked film, Cythnia Erivo honored Black women by having the character wear micro braids.

Typically, Elphaba is depicted as having long, black, and wavy hair onstage. Erivo wanted “something more connected to the person underneath, me.” The singer believed that having micro-braids could give the character movement with her hair but with a different texture than on stage. For the actress, it garnered an emotional connection to her being a Black woman.

At the beginning of Wicked, Elphaba starts with a tight braid when viewers see Shiz for the first time. As the film continues, she lets her hair down more. Frances Hannon, one of Wicked’s hair, makeup, and prosthetic designers, states, “It was very important to leave her face free, leave all her emotions free, leave her eyes free, but let her use her hair as she would choose.”

The Ozdust Ballroom scene is the first time Elphaba wears her hair loosely, representing her vulnerability and strength. By letting her hair down, Elphaba displays her softer side. Sims Camps, the Emmy-award-winning hair and makeup stylist, posted about the process behind Elphaba’s hair transformation.

Hannon revealed the actress had four custom wigs, each hand-braided by a team of four braiders. Samuel James custom-made the wigs and his team spent over a week making ten Elphaba wigs. The other six wigs were used for Erivo’s stand-ins and doubles.

When discussing, Erivo expressed, “We knew that we didn’t want it to be black. But, you know, that nearly black—1B. And we went through different highlights; there’s like a light brown in there, and as she gets older, it becomes a little darker.”

Hannon and Erivo opted for micro braids because “with the black hat and the huge black cloak, she could have disappeared. Her hair wasn’t black; it was brown mixed, but she could have disappeared completely within that,” she expressed.

In the actress’s interview with The British Blacklist, she spoke on why it was so important to her that Elphaba have braids. “I wanted to show how versatile braids could be, and how much fun you could have with them, and how emotional the hair could be, how much movement it has,” she states.

Wicked is available to watch in theaters nationwide.