From Bowl Cut to Brunette, Adir Abergel Reflects on Charlize Theron's Epic Year of Dramatic Hairstyles

By the end of the month, Abergel knew he wanted to bring Theron back to blond, but it wasn't a process that could happen in one go. "I knew that I had to do it incrementally because there was bleach underneath from when we first gave her the bowl cut. To get that original tone, I had to bleach her out completely and then put back the color to get those beautiful brown tones, so we couldn't just go in and start bleaching her whole head."

With her hair blown out smooth and sleek for the Governors Awards, you can easily see the beginning stages of the lightening process, which required Theron's colorist to add threads of blond highlights throughout that not only lightened up her ends but also seamlessly blended with her naturally dark blond base.