Coronation Street’s Alexandra Mardell celebrates birthday by letting her hair down naturally

Alexandra Mardell – who plays Emma Brooker on Coronation Street – often shows off different hairstyles and wigs on her Instagram page.

But the actress is celebrating her 26th birthday by letting her REAL hair hang naturally, just days after posting an inspirational message about the struggles she faces with her locks.

Sharing a series of pics of herself looking stunning in the back garden holding a glass of fizz and a birthday balloon, Alexandra was having a ball.

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🧡 26 here I come! Bday part 1 with my gorgeous besties from the north!! Love you!!!

A post shared by Ali Mardell (@alexandramardell) on Jul 26, 2019 at 3:15am PDT

Read more: Coronation Street’s Elle Mulvaney shows off sophisticated holiday photos

She captioned the shot: “26 here I come! Bday part 1 with my gorgeous besties from the north!! Love you!!!”

Lots of fans wished her a happy birthday and co-star Julia Goulding, who plays Shona Ramsey commented: “Happy birthday gorge! Hope you have one as fabulous as you!”

And Charlie De Melo, aka Imran Habeeb, added: “Happy birthday lovely! Hope you have a brilliant day xxx.”

The actress, who earlier this week donned a sleek black wig for co-star Katie McGlynn’s birthday party, was letting her hair hang au naturel, making it look MUCH shorter than normal.

Earlier this month Alexandra posted a lengthy message about the challenges her hair provides her with on a daily basis.

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Warning ⚠️ This post contains completely irrelevant info for some. It’s about my hair. So feel free to scroll on! I have struggled with my hair ever since I can remember. At school I wanted it to look like everyone else’s. So I scraped it back, had those two silly little noddles at the front. Even went through the straight fringe stage! My Mum would tell me to leave it be! Let it be big! But I felt like my hair wasn’t acceptable in my friend circuit. (Mum, as usual, you were right 🙄)I used cheap products, lots of hair spray and lots of heat (and I mean LOTS! I have set 2 hair dryers on fire oops) to style my hair into what I thought was accepted. People would, and still do, compliment me on how my ‘natural’ hair was so lovely. But that wasn’t natural at all. It would take me hours to style and my hair would suffer because of it. Dry, damaged, knotted ends, breakage, and it would never grow. Because of my own insecurities I have damaged my hair and stunted it’s growth. People would ask me what I used and I was always so embarrassed to say because I knew it was so bad for my hair. I would give out advice that I wasn’t even taking myself. I was mostly surrounded by my Caucasian family, so we never really knew what products to use. And on the high-street, products for black hair were never available. Thankfully, this is starting to change. I was recently recommend some new products, and finally, I have found the solution. Cantu! After one use, my hair has its loose bouncy curl back. And even with the heat and dye damage, it is soft, moisturised and untangled. The only sacrifice is the length. I have not had my hair cut. But if I leave it to dry naturally it shrinks to half its length. Which I hate! But the heat I use to make it big and long, is also what stops it from growing. I have never had the confidence to leave it short, and still don’t. But in the long run, I feel as though it will pay off. So at almost 26 it’s time to take the leap. No more burning my hair and stretching it out. So here is my 100% natural hair. Using products that are made for it, left to dry naturally(and also rained on) It doesn’t get more natural than that! Shrinkage is soooo real!

A post shared by Ali Mardell (@alexandramardell) on Jul 12, 2019 at 2:39am PDT

She insisted to her 44.3k followers that although her hair looked much shorter she hadn’t had it cut, she had just left it to dry naturally.

The star revealed she has been styling it and dying it for so long, she had stunted her hairs’ growth and after discovering a new product that left it “moisturised and untangled” she had decided to “take the leap” and leave it to dry naturally.

She added that although she has “never had the confidence to leave it short” she felt it will “pay off” in the long run if she does so now.

Her co stars were quick to comment with Lucy Fallon (Bethany Platt) writing: “BEAUTIFUL GAL AND BEAUTIFUL HAIR.”

And Katie McGlynn (Sinead Tinker) adding: “I love it.”

“Love you gorgeous girl,” Sally Ann Matthews, who plays Jenny Connor, wrote.

And Angela Griffin, who is returning to Coronation Street as Alexandra’s character’s mum, Fiona Middleton, added a series of hand clapping emojis, plus a heart.

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10k recovery: good friends, Domino’s, wig. Sorted

A post shared by Ali Mardell (@alexandramardell) on May 19, 2019 at 2:45pm PDT

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Fans were also quick to send positive vibes, with one writing: “Your hair is beautiful you are so lucky!”

“I think your natural hair is absolutely gawjus,” said another.

A third commented: “Rock those curls.”

Alexandra is set for a busy time on screen in the coming months as Emma’s going to have her world turned upside down by the news Steve McDonald is her real dad. 

Do you like Alexandra’s hair au naturel? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!