Gabrielle Union Reveals a Cute, Chopped 'Do as She Assures 'Things Are Gravy': 'It Hits Different'

Gabrielle Union/Instagram

Gabrielle Union doesn't want her fans to read into her new look too much.

The L.A.'s Finest actress, 48, revealed her cute, new chopped hairstyle on Instagram Friday. She also assured her 18.4 million followers that the change was not to signify that she's "lost," noting the film trope of women cutting off their hair to symbolize some form of trauma.

"So, I did a thing," Union wrote in the caption. "The movies always show women cutting their hair when all is lost but I wanted to know the feeling of making a change when things are gravy. It hits different and its [sic] foreign to me but I ❤❤❤ this new new."

She modeled the new 'do in a ruched black mini dress, accessorized with gold necklaces and matching hoop earrings, which were accentuated by her shorter hair.

RELATED: Gabrielle Union on Learning to Love Her Hair: 'I Wanted It to Be Anything But What It Was'

Union was praised in the comments by some famous friends, who complimented the chic look. "Amazing," wrote Tia Mowry. "STUNNING XOXOXO," Kerry Washington commented. Ashanti and Regina Hall both commented with heart eye emojis, while Tracee Ellis Ross added some fire emojis.

The Bring It On star opened up to PEOPLE earlier this year about learning to love her Blackness and her natural hair. "When I was younger, I hated everything about [my hair]. I wanted it to be anything but what it was," she said in February.

"I wasted so much of my youth in my 20s, 30s, and certainly my teens wanting to be someone else," Union continued. "I was inundated with images and messages saying, 'You're just not as pretty as so-and-so.'"

She eventually found a sense of self-love in recent years that overshadowed those images. "I used to think you had to have a certain hair texture in order to be seen as beautiful or dynamic," Union added. "I don't have that anymore. I love my own hair. Everything I want to achieve, everything I can dream of, I know I can do it with my own hair."

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Union and husband Dwyane Wade, 39, have implemented that sense of self-love in parenting 2½-year-old daughter Kaavia James, as well as Zaire, 18, Zaya, 14, and Xavier, 7. They've also been raising Wade's 19-year-old nephew Dahveon.

"I was raised to assimilate," Union told PEOPLE in April. "I was raised to conform. But we are raising our kids to know they are worthy because they exist. We don't want them to ever shape shift for anyone else's approval or acceptance. We want them to be free to be who they are."

RELATED VIDEO: Dwyane Wade And Gabrielle Union "Allow Their Kids' Uniqueness To Shine"

The couple has fiercely come out in support of Zaya, after they revealed she's transgender last year. "My focus when it comes to any of my kids is to let them know who they are so that when other people's opinions about them are formed, it's not hitting them," Wade said.

"If we allow our kids to be their true selves, we don't have to worry about them conforming with anything or anyone," he added. "Why wouldn't we push our kids to be their authentic selves?"