Halle Bailey's hair in 'The Little Mermaid' cost at least $150,000 (P8 million) to style
In Disney's original version of The Little Mermaid, one of Ariel's most distinguishable features is her striking red hair. So in the live-action remake, it was important that the character's actress, Halle Bailey, also sport some eye-catching red locks, and the result cost an astounding six-figures to achieve.
In an interview with Variety, the production's hair department head Camille Friend shared that they spent at least $150,000 (P8.4 million) in perfecting Bailey's hair.
This was primarily because the actress wanted to keep her long natural locs intact so as to pay homage to her Black heritage, and that wearing a wig would diminish an important moment for representation and Bailey’s identity as Disney’s first Black princess in a live-action movie.
Friend realized its importance when she had a chance to talk to Bailey's family, "I went to meet with Halle’s family. Her mother is spiritual and they’re a kind family. I started to understand who she was and why the natural hair element was important to keep."
During the creation process, Friend said that she took into consideration Bailey's facial shape, skin tone eye color, as well as what color her costume was going to be.
She was determined not to cut any of her natural hair or use a wig as it "just wasn’t going to work," adding that "Halle’s locs are down to her waist, over 24 inches. And putting her in a wig was going to look crazy."
But Ariel just wouldn't be the same without her hair's instantly recognizable redness. To achieve this, Friend said, "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."
She then took the custom-colored 30-inch hair extensions and fused it with keratin tips, using three different shades of red to perfect the color. The wrap process took 12 to 14 hours to accomplish.
But since locs don't float and the hair needed to "dance" when Ariel was underwater, Friend solved this problem by adding loose pieces of hair that were straighter with a slight beachy wave.
All of these steps cost them quite a fortune.
"I’m not guesstimating, but we probably spent at least $150,000 because we had to redo it and take it out. You couldn’t use it and we’d have to start again. It was a process," the Oscar-nominated hair stylist revealed.
The live-action Little Mermaid is currently playing in Philippine cinemas. It centers on a 16-year-old mermaid princess who is fascinated with life above the sea. She forms a contract with an evil sea witch named Ursula to transform her into a human in exchange of her voice.