Gabrielle Union, 48, shows off short new haircut: 'Summer chop'

Gabrielle Union is soaking up the summer with a fresh haircut.

The actress, 48, took to Instagram to post a series of chic photographs of herself revealing her short "summer chop." Dressed in a black-and-white dotted dress and sporting large gold hoop earrings, matching necklaces and a bold red lip, Union smiled for the camera as she showed off the new 'do.

"So, I did a thing," Union captioned the photo, explaining that the new haircut was an expression of joy, rather than negativity. "The movies always show women cutting their hair when all is lost but I wanted to know the feeling of making a change when things are gravy. It hits different and it's foreign to me but I love this new new." Union added the hashtags "summer chop" "flawless chop" and "flawless cut" to the post.

Union's haircut garnered plenty of praise from followers and friends, including Tracee Ellis Ross, Zooey Deschanel, Alyssa Milano and Kerri Washington.

Union, who owns the haircare line Flawless by Gabrielle Union, has been outspoken about her own struggles with having natural hair in Hollywood. She frequently came across stylists who didn't understand how to properly care for Black hair, and ultimately decided to strictly work with stylists she trusts.

"They know my hair, they know what it takes to keep it healthy. They know what can cause damage quickly. So we create rituals in the hair and makeup trailer. Before work, we treat my hair. After work, we treat my hair. We do different steams every few days just to make sure it’s healthy and I survive a project," explained Union in an interview with MadameNoire, Yahoo Life previously reported. "But I was able to do that the longer I’ve been in the union and the business by putting my stylists in my contract. So there can be no funny business."

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