Sophie Thatcher has become one of the breakout stars of Yellowjackets, a hit Showtime series that blends survival drama with psychological horror. Since the show premiered in 2021, Thatcher has gained a strong following—thanks not only to her performance as the troubled teenager Natalie but also to her unforgettable hair.
In Yellowjackets, a 1996 girls’ soccer team crashes in the wilderness while en route to nationals. The survivors must fight to stay alive, making grim choices along the way. In the present day, the now-adult women face the psychological toll of their past. While the story is dark and gripping, much of the show’s appeal lies in its strong characters—especially Natalie, played by Thatcher.
From the start, viewers noticed Natalie’s platinum shag haircut, which helped define her edgy, guarded persona. Off-screen, Thatcher says her iconic look wasn’t created in a stylist’s chair—it was hers from the beginning.
“I’ve been through everything with my hair,” she said in an interview. Thatcher, who describes her style as a mullet-shag hybrid or “shaglet,” explained that she’s had versions of this cut since her teens. She used to get her hair done at Shizen, a salon in Brooklyn, and has experimented with different styles over the years—from bold mullets to bowl cuts with long sides.
Her bleach-blonde look in Yellowjackets came by chance. When she filmed the show’s pilot, her hair was already platinum. The creative team loved it and made it part of young Natalie’s character. This caused a challenge when Thatcher dyed her hair brown shortly after to appear in The Book of Boba Fett, a Star Wars series for Disney+.
Once Yellowjackets was picked up for a full season, the production team tried to bleach her hair back to blonde. But her hair, already damaged, couldn’t handle more treatment. “It wasn’t really thick enough to bleach,” she recalled.
To fix the issue, they added extensions at first. Eventually, Thatcher wore a wig for most of Season 1. “In the pilot, it’s all my hair,” she said. “Then it’s real hair with extensions. At some point, we switched to a wig, but I don’t even remember when.”
The result was a surprisingly polished look for someone stuck in the wilderness. “We’re working on that,” she joked, acknowledging that Natalie’s clean, rootless hair was too perfect for her character’s harsh environment. For Season 2, she said, the goal was to “rough it up more.”
Before switching to a wig, the styling process was simple. “My hair is naturally pretty straight, so they just used a curling iron to match Juliette’s waves,” she said, referring to Juliette Lewis, who plays adult Natalie. To get Natalie’s signature texture, stylists used Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray—a product Thatcher still uses off-screen.
Today, Thatcher’s hair is dark again, cut into a short mullet that hits the nape of her neck. Years of dyeing have taken a toll. “My hair was so, so damaged,” she said. “So many pieces in the back were falling out.”
To restore her hair, she relies on Olaplex No. 3 Hair Perfector and uses a silk bonnet every night. “It’s not glamorous, but it helps,” she said. “I move around a lot in my sleep. I used to wake up with the worst rat’s nest.”
Thatcher’s hair—like her role in Yellowjackets—has become iconic. As she prepares for the show’s third season, which airs February 14, fans can expect more drama, more tension, and yes, more of that unforgettable style.
