| Hair Flashbacks: Kristen Bell & Veronica Mars |
| Karen Marie Shelton |
| Date: 12/12/2004 |
Introduction
 If
you're a fan of the hot new UPN show - Veronica Mars, you know that
the central theme of the show is woven around the mysterious death
of Veronica's best friend - Lilly Kane. In a series of swirling
flashbacks you may have spotted the normally short coiffed Veronica,
played by Kristen Bell, suddenly sporting a cascade of long golden
tresses.
(Kristen
Bell as Veronica & Percy Daggs III as Wallace star in Veronica Mars
on UPN. Photo: Cliff Lipson/UPN 2004 CBS Broadcasting Inc.)
Every week Veronica shows off some sizzling current short hair
styles ranging from the flirty soft choppy bob shown above to a wide
range of cute mini ponies, pigtails and slicked back strands.
Not only do the quick and easy short styles perfectly suit her
naturally fine, straight hair, they are absolutely adorable when
coupled with her beautiful blue eyes, porcelain skin and slightly
squared face shape.
So how do the producers morph the actress back and forth into time
changing her hair length and style in such a dramatic way?
I'll bet you're thinking hair extensions. Nope. Guess
again.
 One
of the Veronica Mar's hairdressers and master hair colorist knows from firsthand experience how Veronica
Mars slips back and forth between being long and short tressed in a
matter of minutes.
(Kristen
Bell as Veronica & Percy Daggs III as Wallace star in Veronica Mars
on UPN. Photo: Cliff Lipson/UPN 2004 CBS Broadcasting Inc.)
Not only did the hairdresser act as the chief
hair designer and hairdresser when the original Veronica Mars pilot
was shot last summer in San Diego. She personally hand
created, colored and highlighted the wig that was custom designed to
match Kristen Bell's natural hair texture and current color.
 As
the hairdresser explained "creating that long wig for Veronica's flashbacks
was a painstaking process because it had to perfectly match
Veronica's current hair color and style".
(Image of Kristen Bell as Veronica in
Veronica Mars on UPN. Photo: Cliff Lipson/UPN . 2004 CBS
Broadcasting Inc.)
The stylist explained that "ongoing filming issues with Veronica's
flashback hair would become complicated, especially when beach
related episodes would take several hours to shoot. Especially when
sea air, salt, sand and humidity would strip the wig of all previous
styling attempts." At that point, the hairdresser would basically have
to start over from scratch and recreate the appropriate style for
the wig.
The hairdresser, who is also responsible for a lot of the fabulous hair
styles worn by the actors in HBO's Carnivale series felt that will
there were a lot of constant challenges to making sure that
Kristen's hair was just right for her Veronica part, she enjoyed how
much the experience helped her grow as a hair colorist and set
hairdresser.
She also reported that in real life "Kristen is a real doll and
more gorgeous in person than she appears in real life".
If you haven't been watching Kristen on Veronica Mars on UPN, be
sure to tune in. Not only is a great television series,
there is a lot of great hairstyling to be viewed at the same time. |