How the ‘Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies’ Hair Department Paid Homage to ‘Bad Sandy,’ Rizzo and Frenchy

variety.com:

McKinley Franklin editor “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” hair department head Jaala Leis Wanless had the tall order of preluding the Pink Lady look that was to come in the “Grease” world.

While the original Pink Ladies were defined by permed, pink, 1980s-inspired hair, Wanless tells Variety that her muses for the prequel were real-life people from the 1950s.  “When I’m entering into a creative process, I do tons of research,” Wanless told Variety. “Especially when dealing with ‘Grease,’ going back into the 1950s.”  Like showrunner Annabel Oakes, Wanless did extensive research surrounding the demographic of real people living in the time period set by the prequel series. “I tried to [fully] immerse myself into what I was seeing,” Wanless shared. “I went through a lot of print, advertising [and] movies from that era…I was trying to [make] our version swing right into [the 1950s].” However, it’s evident that the Paramount+ series was developed in modern years, and this is something that Wanless acknowledges. “[Modern influences are] always going to creep in no matter how much you try [to diminish them]…There are always moments where you’re like, ‘Is it [the ‘50s]?” Nonetheless, the hair team did a noticeably upstanding job at replicating that classic 1950s Grease look with each of the characters.

In order to expedite the responsibilities, Wanless created a lookbook for her team to reference, loaded with inspiration from the time period.  “I put a bible together for my team so that everybody had an idea of styles that they could do,” said Wanless. “[The] book explained cultural differences; what was happening in segregation, women’s rights, [etc.], and then I went into men’s hairstyles, the background of what the