Did Meredith on The Office really shave her head or is it a cap?

[Corey Meredith]

I thought it was real at first too. Really amazing job.

If you pause the show when they are in the conference room discussing the need for mayonnaise, they do a good close-up of Meredith. There are a few signs that her bald head is fake:

1) There is some unusual wrinkling where the top of her ear meets her head. I suspect it's from a good amount of paste and makeup trying to conceal the cap on a tricky part of her head that flexes from muscle movements.

2) At that same part of her ear, her scalp is slightly bulging out due to the cap and hidden hair. A portion of her ear that would normally be free-standing and unconnected looks connected and somewhat recessed.

3) If you look above her ear on her head, you can notice a lumpy line running up her scalp.

4) The back of her head is excessively oblong from the hair hidden beneath the cap.

5) The smoothness of her facial skin becomes discolored and irregular about 3/4" above her eyebrows. This, I think, is the real magic of this makeup job. They blended the makeup so far down her head in order to conceal the transition and to avoid putting the transition at the point we would expect to find it.

I also think the gray coloring they did to simulate shaven hair also makes this makeup job super convincing.

I can't believe I spent this much time thinking about it.