In addition, the makeup artists added staining and wear to the actors’ teeth. For the principals, individual molds of their teeth were made using very thin plastic membrane; they were then painted so the actors could pop them on rather than have their teeth individually painted each day. Makeup artists took care of up to 120 people a day for six months, dirtying their teeth, adding makeup "dirt" to their fingernails and faces, and enhancing some of their scars. For the final battle, those numbers grew to about four hundred people when the background portraying French sailors joined the production.
Key hair department’s Yolanda Toussieng studied portraits, paintings and photos of wigs, combs and razors which had been recovered from sunken ships of the time. Again, Patrick O’Brian’s novels provided a key source of information. "From the novels, we learned how they groomed themselves aboard the ship," says Toussieng. "Men sometimes braided each other’s hair, using tar to keep their braids tight; they shaved once or twice a week, and washed their hair once a week, or so. Fresh water wasn’t plentiful aboard, so this, in part, dictated their grooming habits."
Toussieng estimates she used around four hundred bundles of hair during the course of the shoot, using five bundles per person, by applying glue, heating it and adhering it to the actors’ own hair.
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