Eleven hides her shaved head in Stranger Things by wearing various wigs, including the iconic blonde bob in Season 1 to blend in and a realistic buzz-cut wig when her head is shaved by Dr. Brenner in Season 4, a look achieved by the show's hair department to show her regression and forced institutionalization. For her natural, curly hair, she uses different styles like messy curls (Season 2) or slicked-back looks, often with hairspray and styling, but the most dramatic transformations rely on expertly crafted wigs.
In the end, the wig-that-almost-wasn't proved itself convincing, and the final results are as chilling and effective as if Eleven's hair had actually been shorn. In other words, one of the show's most memorable looks came back for another stressful spin through the Upside Down, and the rest is hairstory.
Season four. Eleven is wearing a bus cut wig but also a wig for her long hair. I did that because I wanted it to look very ordinary and plain. I wanted that mousy color.
Eleven from Stranger Things primarily suffers from severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and developmental delays due to extreme childhood abuse and isolation at Hawkins Lab, leading to issues like claustrophobia and difficulty with social cues, though some fans interpret her struggles as resembling traits of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Her experiences also resulted in physical tolls, like nosebleeds and a stroke-like episode.
In Stranger Things, several characters say the F-word, including Will Byers, Billy Hargrove, and most notably, Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) in a significant Season 4 moment when confronting Vecna, delivering a rare and impactful "You f***ed with the wrong family". Other instances come from characters like Billy (often possessed), and even faint or muffled uses have been noted from others like Jonathan.
But Will will be so much more powerful because this happened in The Upside Down where he has the powers of Vecna, not from Henry in The Right Side Up (Earth). So, Will is essentially 019 and has greater powers than Eight and Eleven.
Millie Bobby Brown has a disability of being deaf in one ear, having been born with partial hearing loss that eventually faded completely on that side, but she has never let it hinder her acting career, learning to perform without fully hearing herself and adapting to the industry's sound-based demands. She openly shares her experience with this unilateral deafness, emphasizing that it doesn't stop her from doing what she loves, like singing and acting, and inspiring others to pursue their passions despite limitations.
To play Eleven, then 12-year-old Millie Bobby Brown had to say goodbye to her hair. "The day I shaved my head was the most empowering moment of my whole life," the actress reflected during PaleyFest in 2018.
Because Eleven grew her hair out (again) after season four, Brown didn't had to don a faux shaved head on the set of season five—but there were plenty more wigs where that came from.
According to an interview with Variety Magazine, Millie was born with partial loss of hearing, and she says that her hearing then faded away over several years. This has, however, not stopped this rising star whose acting has greatly contributed to the success of the series Stranger Things.
We did have one wig for Eleven, where she has the flashbacks and it starts growing out." "Millie didn't get a perm — her hair is naturally curly! I wanted something natural and really childlike. That's Millie's hair, we just kind of scrunch it up and she goes.
Yes, Millie Bobby Brown has a small tattoo of the number "011" on her left wrist as a tribute to her character Eleven from Stranger Things, a number representing her lab subject ID in the show. She also has several other tattoos, including a heart on her collarbone, butterflies on her hip, a rose on her back, and the name "Ruth" for her grandmother.
Saying that she "loved" the experience and wants to do it again, Brown noted that there was a time in particular she is looking to shave her head. "I always tell Jake for my first baby, I wanna shave my hair off," Brown says. "I don't know. I just feel like it was really liberating.
Eleven's gamine cut in 1986 is in fact a wig, which is mindblowing for a few reasons — but more on that shortly. This and the rest of the show's radical '80s 'dos are the work of Sarah Hindsgaul, hair department head on Stranger Things since season one, wig maker Rob Pickens, and their hair team.
While Brown didn't shave her head again for season 4's flashback scenes — she and the hair team went through a meticulous process to make it look like she had a buzz cut instead — it turns out that she's actually not opposed to revisiting the look.
Yes, Millie Bobby Brown has a hidden disability: she was born with partial hearing loss in one ear, which eventually led to complete deafness on that side, a condition she manages by relying on her other ear and adapting her performance techniques, such as asking for loud cues on set. This single-sided deafness, though invisible, has been a lifelong challenge that she openly discusses as part of her journey.
In summary, Millie fixed her teeth by using Invisalign aligners for straightening, then porcelain veneers and bonding for cosmetic enhancements, followed by teeth whitening for brightness.
The richest actor from Stranger Things is Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), with an estimated net worth of around $20 million, largely due to her starring roles, lucrative contracts for the show (earning hundreds of thousands per episode), and successful ventures like the Enola Holmes films and her Florence by Mills beauty brand. She leads the cast, surpassing veteran actress Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers) and other young stars like Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler) and David Harbour (Hopper).
Marlee Matlin is, to date, the only deaf performer to have won an Academy Award. Her career has spanned nearly five decades, including acclaim for her lead role in Children of a Lesser God in 1986, which earned her an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.
Famous actors like Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom all have dyslexia. Pablo Picasso's teachers described him as “having difficulty differentiating the orientation of letters”.
It is also the reason that adults with single-sided hearing loss earn 1/3 less in salary on average than their normal hearing peers. As shared earlier, single-sided hearing loss is a disability.
Eleven's "kryptonite" in Stranger Things Season 5 is a military-developed sonic weapon, often called the "Hedgehog," which emits a crippling, high-pitched frequency that overloads her psychic powers, causing intense pain and nosebleeds, possibly linked to the powers of Kali (Eight). This technology, developed by Dr. Kay, specifically targets psychics, effectively neutralizing them in ways her own emotional limitations or physical strain (like nosebleeds) couldn't, and it's the first time she's been completely shut down by an external force.
So far, El's only weakness has been her own limitations when using her powers. The toll of incarcerating Henry Creel in the Upside Down proved to be so great that Eleven went into a coma and woke up only to lose her memories altogether.
Though he attempted to sway Eleven to his cause, she refused and overpowered him, sending him through a temporary gate to another dimension. Following the incident, Eleven suffered a coma and became somewhat amnesiac, with her powers blunted.