Halle Bailey’s flawless hair for the duration of “The Little Mermaid” was achieved at an astronomical cost to the producers, it has been revealed. The team had to carefully consider how they were going to achieve long, red hair without cutting the young actress’s naturally dark, waist-length hair.
The “Little Mermaid” actress had to change her hair to get the complete look needed for the movie, but the film’s hair department head said they tried their best to keep the actress’ natural hair during filming because they knew it was a big deal to her.
The head hairstylist, Camille Friend, explained in an interview with Variety that creating the character for Ariel involved a lot of “trial and error” and costly false starts in order to obtain the desired look. In addition, he said that he had to leave Halle Bailey’s hair alone since he had spoken to the actress’ family, who had helped him realize the significance of the actress’ hair: “I began to grasp who the actress was, and why it was crucial for her to talk about the element of her natural hair.
The color red was chosen for the dreadlocks that would be connected to her natural hair at a cost of about $150,000 because of this and to contrast wonderfully with her facial form and skin tone.
Friends also noted that it would have been simpler to use a wig and save money, but it was vital to replicate this persona with Halle Bailey’s hair as naturally as possible, which required around 14 hours of work.
