Hairstylist Kelsey Miller, who helped Liu achieve the look she wanted, suspects more people will get the style after her gold medal win.
ST. LOUIS — After winning gold in the women’s individual figure skating event at the 2026 Olympics, more and more people have been interested in Alysa Liu’s style — particularly her dual-toned hair.
The 20-year-old Olympian’s hair, in a style called “halo hair” was done by St. Louis hairstylist Kelsey Miller in Missouri ahead of the competition.
“That is definitely by far the craziest thing that has happened to me in my career, which is like really fun because I’ve been doing hair for so long. So to have something like this happen has really changed my career in a sense like working with her and all the publicity and stuff that I’ve gotten from, it is amazing,” Miller said.
She added that it’s all about empowering women, that the styling is more than just hair.
“I love to make women feel good about themselves and I feel like that is the power of hair, when your hair looks good, you feel so good and that is so rewarding to give that to my clients,” Miller said.
She said Liu was in St. Louis for the US Figure Skating Championships when mutual connections brought them together.
“It’s such a small world,” she said. “She just told me that there was a figure skater who needed her hair done and asked if I had any time to do it. I did, and she said, ‘OK, I’m going to give the coach your phone number and he’ll reach out to you.’ And he did. At that point, I was like, ‘OK, can you tell me who this is and what I’m going to be doing?’ Then he sent me videos of Alysa skating.”
Miller specializes in dimensional color, redheads and extensions, but hadn’t ever done the halo hairstyle Liu has been rocking since 2023.
Liu previously told reporters the stripes have a meaning and are more than just a style choice.
“I originally actually wanted raccoon stripes three years ago, but I was like, ‘Too much, too long and it’s going to be hard to upkeep,’” Liu told reporters before the Olympics. “Then I thought, ‘I kind of want to be a tree, add a new ring every year,’ and so I did my second one the next year. It just grows out, and then so this year, I just did the same thing. I’m just gonna keep adding one every time.”
Miller said she was up for the challenge when it presented itself.
“It’s time to put my game face on and, like, really put the pieces of the puzzle together and figure out how I’m gonna do this,” she said. “It’s fun to switch it up, you know, and do things that you don’t normally do that you can like bring out your more creative side.”
She said Liu was “so chill and down to earth” that it made her feel more at ease while working on her hair.
Miller told 5 On Your Side the goal was to keep the integrity of the hair strong after the figure skater bleached her own hair twice in a week.
“She didn’t lift herself light enough, so she had like really brassy warm pieces in there and she wanted them like cooler colors and she wasn’t going to get that just by doing it herself and not using a toner on her hair or anything like that, so that was where I could come into play,” Miller said.
Miller warned Liu that her “hair appointment doesn’t just end when you leave my chair” and how traveling and exposure to different climates can affect hair. She encouraged the 20-year-old to use good products and take care of her hair by keeping it moisturized and avoiding too hot of water.
Liu has described herself as an artist, and for Miller, hair is a work of art too.
“You’re basically painting on a canvas, and for her, she had already started the painting for me. It was just me finishing it off and tailoring it to like exactly what she wanted,” Miller said.
And when Liu won gold, Miller was able to see her part in the artwork really shine.
“There’s a picture I saw where she was holding the American flag after she got her medal, and just seeing her stripes alongside the stripes of the flag, it looked so cool together. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I got to be a part of that! That is such a rewarding feeling,'” she said.
For Miller, she’s still in awe to see the hair on a global stage.
“I mean it makes me like super emotional,” she said. “I would have never expected any of this to happen, but to see my work out there and everyone is talking about it.”
At the salon, they’d added Liu to their mood board.
“It’s just like the trends that are happening right now that we have upon our mood board and you know, obviously to have somebody that iconic in our salon was so huge for us as well, so we had to put her up there,” she said.
Miller thinks the halos will catch on.
“Look at Dorothy Hamill. I feel like after she won as well, like everybody wanted that haircut and for someone who’s such a role model,” she said. “I think definitely people are gonna be wanting that. I’ve already had people ask me like, oh, ‘what do I ask my hair stylist for to achieve this look?'”
Miller said moms have been reaching out, hoping she can create wigs for their daughters so they can rock the same look as Liu.
“I hope that I’m inspiring the kids to be more out there and make decisions that some people won’t agree with, because that’s how you have to be sometimes,” Liu previously told reporters.
Miller agrees with that statement, encouraging people to “follow your dreams and don’t let anybody tell you you can’t do something.”
Before Liu even went for the gold, it’s safe to say, she always had her crown.
