You Won't Believe What OITNB's "Skinhead Helen" Looks Like In Real Life

It's no secret that plenty of us look a lot different without makeup. There's a transformative power in beauty products, which is why so many people use them every day.

But for most inmates, going without makeup isn't a choice. And many of the characters on Netflix's Orange Is The New Black look nothing like the actors who play them.

Laura Gomez, for example, is hardly recognizable as the woman who plays Blanca, an inmate who purposely keeps her hair and eyebrows unkempt to avoid being frisked by the COs. And Taryn Manning, Emma Myles, and Julie Lake don't look much like their drug-addled characters, Pennsatucky, Leanne, and Angie.

In season 5, the white supremacists play a bigger role than they have in past seasons. And the stars who play the despicable characters are just as unrecognisable without their tattoos and shaved heads. Francesca Curran, who plays "Skinhead Helen" on the show, has been sharing Instagram photos to show how dramatic her transformation into character is.

Wearing makeup is a personal choice, and there's no right or wrong answer. Curran's post is all in good fun, though, and it shows how much work went into her character, too.

And if you're wondering about Helen's tattoos, "100%" is recognised as a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League. "100% is shorthand for '100% white' among white supremacists," according to the ADL's website. "It is also common to create alphanumeric variations to proclaim solidarity with a particular white supremacist group or gang, such as '112%' for '100% Aryan Brotherhood.'"

Here's another one of Curran's Instagram posts, which also demonstrates makeup's transformative power.