Halle Bailey, who plays Ariel in the Disney movie, had her hair styled by Oscar nominee and hair stylist Camille Friend, who described the procedure in an interview. It was crucial to the production that Bailey’s natural hair and locs be featured with her long, red hair because the original character was well-known for having it.
Bailey is the first Black woman to play a Disney princess in a live-action movie, and the actor felt strongly about keeping her natural hair.
It took a lot of work to dye Bailey’s natural hair crimson. Friend claimed that Bailey once sat through the wrapping procedure for 12 to 14 hours.
The additional hair cost a lot because it was 30 inches long, and had three distinct colours of red and Keratin-infused.
Friend had to improvise in order to give Bailey an underwater mermaid appearance with hair flowing all around her.
“Locs don’t float,” Friend stated that she would add loose hair to give Ariel her famously buoyant appearance underwater.