Is this description that 'she is not as mean as the way she looks.' right?

Question

1. she is not as mean as the way she looks.
2. she is not as mean as how she looks.
3. she is not as mean as what she looks like.

Which one do you guys describe generally? or I would be happy, if you teach me another expressions.

Answer 1

My first choice for something like this would simply be "She is not as mean as she looks."

None of your examples sound natural to me, mainly because they contain unnecessary words, and spoken language is typically quite 'lazy'.