Halle Bailey’s bright red locs seen in the live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid” cost production a staggering $150k, which was well spent.
Hair department head Camille Friend was the mastermind behind Bailey’s luxurious locs. She shared that a wig would not suffice, and she wanted a way to keep the star’s natural hair intact. For these reasons, Friend settled on adding custom-colored hair extensions to Bailey’s already nearly 24-inch natural locs. Due to the trial and error of the hairstyle, it quickly totaled around $150,000.
“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,” she revealed to Variety.
Friend took red hair and wrapped it around Bailey’s locs, fusing the 30-inch hair with Keratin. She completed the style by adding loose pieces of hair that would appear to float during underwater scenes. The individual weave bits had a slight wave applied, which was accomplished by using an oval-shaped GHD iron. This gave Bailey a beachy look as she portrayed Ariel on her quest to go from mermaid to human. The end result was a fiery red flowy style that appeared beautifully on screen. Bailey’s hair in the film has been a point of debate, with some viewers believing it is not red enough, while others argued that the color was perfect. Nevertheless, Bailey’s stunning performance has overshadowed such nuances.
It’s no wonder that Bailey’s hair came out flawlessly. Friend is an Oscar-nominated hair stylist who famously worked on the set of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
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