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Halle Bailey’s hair for the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid cost six-figures. Read more about what it took to create her legendary look inside.
By now, we hope you’ve seen Bailey’s all-star performance in the new Disney film. Disney’s newest Princess Ariel is famously known for her gorgeous locs. Lately, Halle has shown fans how diverse locs can be with an array of looks for each of her red carpet appearances.
What fans might not have known is that it costs $150k to achieve her look in the film.
In an interview with Variety, the film’s hair stylist and Oscar-nominee Camille Friend revealed the process of achieving the final hair look for Bailey. The original character was known for her signature long, red hair. The hairstyling team made an effort to honor the original in the remake, while also celebrating Bailey’s natural tresses.
“I started to understand who [Halle] was and why the natural hair element was important to keep,” Friend said about the masterful hair creation. “I knew a wig just wasn’t going to work.”
Bailey makes history as the first Black woman to portray the Disney princess in a live-action film, so preserving her natural hair was critical to her.
“Halle’s locs are down to her waist, over 24 inches. And putting her in a wig was going to look crazy,” Friend added. “If we take hair and wrap it around her locs, we don’t have to cut them and we don’t have to color them. We can change her color without changing her internal hair structure. Her structure and her hair are her.”
Friend shares that the process to achieve the red color in Bailey’s natural hair was a long and tiring process. The acclaimed stylist said Bailey sat for 12 to 14 hours during the wrapping process. The hair that was added was Keratin-infused, three different shades of red, and 30 inches long. This equates to a whole lot of money, nearly $150k.
“I’m not guesstimating, but we probably spent at least $150,000 because we had to redo it and take it out,” Friend said. “You couldn’t use it and we’d have to start again. It was a process.”
Friend also mentioned they faced other challenges to create her mermaid underwater look, with hair floating around the star. The celebrity hairstylist was forced to improvise.
“Locs don’t float,” Friend shared.
So, she would add loose pieces of hair to give it a signature bouncy look that Ariel is known for underwater.
Be sure to check out the expensive hair for yourself. The Little Mermaid is out now in theaters.
Halle Bailey’s Hair In ‘The Little Mermaid’ Cost Six Figures To Create was originally published on globalgrind.com
