Blonde Marilyn Monroe Hair and Makeup Secrets
Behind Ana de Armas's Transformation Into Marilyn Monroe
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None of Armas's real hair was used in the film — it was all the work of wigs. "We worked with wigs to try and grab all those bits and pieces of Marilyn's hair that we all know," says hair department head Jaime Leigh McIntosh. To her, one of the most important details to get right was Monroe's hairline. "Having her little baby hairs, the shape of the hairline, the widow's peak — and then just looking very closely at her texture, the density of her hair, how thick it was, and then moving on to shapes and styles and silhouettes."
Armas had a total of five wigs for "Blonde," which were created by wigmaker Rob Pickens. Three of them were classic Monroe styles — two in a creamy blonde and one super platinum blonde version for the end of the film when Monroe went white-blonde. Then there were also two wigs that Armas wore while in character as Norma Jean — one brunette "which we see for a split second," McIntosh says, and one golden blonde.
That said, even though Armas's real hair didn't make an appearance in the film, McIntosh used the Olaplex No.3 Hair Perfector (£28) to treat and protect her hair underneath the wigs to keep it healthy through all the tension.