Gina Rodriguez feared panic attack while shaving her head

Actress Gina Rodriguez was convinced she would suffer a panic attack and cry when she shaved off her hair for a new movie role.

The Jane the Virgin star had to undergo a dramatic makeover for her upcoming sci-fi thriller, Annihilation, in May (16), shaving the sides of her head and cutting her brunette locks short.

Gina admits she was full of nerves before her hairdresser took the buzzer to her head, because she had kept her hair at a decent length for over a decade.

"Honestly, in the moment, it wasn't emotional," the 32-year-old tells PeopleStyle. "I thought I was going to have a panic attack. I thought I was going to cry, all those things, because I haven't had my hair cut off since I was, like, 15, but I didn't do any of those."

The actress came to embrace her new look, but it took some getting used to - and she confesses her self-confidence initially took a huge hit without her long luscious locks.

"(Shaving my head) was transformative because I came out stronger than I ever thought I would," she says. "But I went through a journey that probably made me the weakest I'd ever been."

Gina has since grown out her tresses and lightened them up with an ombre bob.