Halle Bailey sports a bright red headpiece in Disney’s new live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.
But the 23-year-old singer-actress typically sports a more natural dark shade for her waist-length hair, forcing her to take extreme measures to achieve the red look without dying or cutting her natural hair.
In an interview with Variety on Friday, the film’s head of hair, Camille Friend, revealed the painstaking process she went through to give Hale’s character Ariel her classic fiery hair, admitting that the entire process cost somewhere in the ballpark of $150,000.
To make matters worse, it took her hours to get her look right, and there were frustrating false starts along the way.
The friend made it clear that for the film – which was positively reviewed – it was important to preserve Halle’s natural hair instead of replacing it with a wig.
Pretty penny: 23-year-old Halle Bailey had to go through an extensive process that took up to 14 hours and cost $150,000 to achieve her red hair in The Little Mermaid live-action. Seen in Sydney, Australia on May 22.
Clever: Hair department head Camille Friend revealed she came up with the idea to wrap red hair around Hale’s locks so they wouldn’t cut or die. Still from The Little Mermaid
The hairstylist says dating the Chloe x Halle singer convinced her to let Halle’s hair shine.
I went to meet Hale’s family. Her mother is spiritual and they are a kind family,’ she recalls. ‘I began to understand who she is and why it is important to keep the natural hair element.’
Director Rob Marshall and Disney executives were reportedly on board, giving Friend the freedom to try.
She said she studied Halle’s ‘face shape, skin tone and eye color’ along with her dress colors to find the perfect shade of red for her surroundings.
A wig would be the easiest option, and the price would be lower than the final product, but the friend was determined not to cover the star’s natural hair.
Halle’s locks are over 24 inches to her waist. And putting her in a wig was going to look crazy,’ said the friend.
With Hale’s patience and involvement, the hairdresser began a 12- to 14-hour trial.
The actress said she was a ‘soldier’ and finally got comfortable enough with the process to do it in no time.
Time consuming: The strands of hair were 30 inches long and customized in three shades of red. The friend said that Hale was a soldier during the first 12 to 14 hours of hair dyeing, which included false starts. Still from The Little Mermaid
Adjustments: A friend adjusted Hale’s hair slightly for the scenes on the ground. She also added loose hair to make it ‘dance’ in the water because ‘locks don’t float’.
‘If we take her hair and wrap it around her, we don’t have to cut it and we don’t have to dye it,’ said a friend. We can change her color without changing her inner hairstyle. Her body and hair are her.’
To wrap her locks in another strand of red hair, she needed 30-inch strands with keratin tips that would bond with Hale’s hair.
To get the multi-colored red look, the extra hair must have a custom dye job and the friend described it as ‘three shades of red’ mixed together.
But the large amount of natural hair required, along with dying and labor, was incredibly expensive for a big budget production.
‘I didn’t estimate, but we spent at least $150,000 because we probably spent it again,’ the friend said. They can’t use it and we have to start over. It was a process.’
She did not mention that the hair had to be replaced regularly during production or that it usually stayed in place after the first successful bonding.
However, it still requires more care and shooting on set. Although most of Halle’s underwater scenes were shot on a completely dry set in front of a blue screen, she filmed a few scenes in a water tank, which initially made her hair look less cinematic.
The friend said ‘locks don’t float’ so Ariel didn’t have the bright and shiny hair she was known for in the first animated film.
To make it ‘dance’ in the water, she added loose strands of slightly thicker hair that helped it float.
Extra Size: The movie cheats when it comes to Ariel’s iconic hair flip. The production ended up using CGI to increase the movement; Appeared in London on May 15.
My friend Ariel changed up the style a bit by adding straight hair when he was on the ground.
Although Disney’s latest remakes are often described as live-action, they use a great deal of computer-generated graphics, and this production was no exception.
Her friend had to digitally enhance Ariel’s iconic hair flip – which she shot off-set – for the new version of the film.
The Little Mermaid is currently playing in theaters in wide release.
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