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I am in my 50s and have always wanted long hair--I just missed the hippie period! My hair is fine and thinning, but down to the nape of my neck. I am considering hair extensions to bring it down to shoulder length (I discovered that is how movie actors change their hairstyle so easily!)
Has anyone had experience with hair extensions? If so, what type do you recommend or what experience have you had? Any advice appreciated.
I have a friend who has extenstions. I am not familiar with the type of extensions. But i do know that what he had was held together (i believe with some type of glue, looked like rubber cement) with his real hair and he had problems with matting. He also had to go in on a regular basis for touch ups. You will have to make time to take care of it to keep the matting down. If you get the right kind it can nicely blend in with the rest of your hair and look quite well.... Hope this helps some.
Now this is something that I have a little bit of experience in. About 4 years ago, I was dating a hairdresser. The main bulk of his business was the installation and maintanence of weaves. The style that he chose was about mid-back for me. Well, first off it took about 7 house for him to "corn-row" my hair then sew the extentions to the small "rows". I was not expecting the pain that I had to endure for the braiding, as well as the headaches that it caused. I also was not ready for ALL THAT HAIR. I had no idea how to take care of it. it was ALOT of work. Sometimes the thread would come loose and have to be redone. And every so often it had to be tightened up. All in all, I got the results that I wanted...it looked really cool. But I would NEVER do it again.
I am a white female in her teen years and I was considering hair extentions. I know a couple of people who have gotten them and have been satisfied and I have seen in beauty magazines were women get makeover's and get them but no actual advice. I wanted to know if they are expensive and if it will damage your hair to get them. Please e-mail me : TsukinoUsagi2000@aol.com
I want to know how real the hair actually looked??
I have no experience with hair extensions. But I recommend to stop cutting it so it can grow. Most hair grows about 6 inches a year. It should take only a few months to grow to shoulder length.
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I've had some experience with extensions. My own hair is now waist length, thinning toward the ends (I'm in my mid 40's). Several years ago I got the nerve to go into a wig shop in a city a couple of hours away--a Chic Wig Boutique (I think it may be a national chain). At that time I bought a long, clip on ponytail to add to my own when I worre my hair back. The store manager was very accomodating and understanding.
A few years later I returned for a visit--I don't think she remembered me and I did not remind her. After looking around for a while and getting comfortable in conversation, she asked if I would like to try on anything! I said that while I liked my own hair very long, the idea of wearing a different style and/or color was intriguing.
I tried on a mid-back length honey-blond wig with straight bangs--it looked great! I also tried a dark brown bob a little longer than chin length, also with bangs. That one reminded me of the bob I wore for a while when I first went long in the sixties. It was fun to sit there and have them put on me. I was also wearing my earrings--gold hoops about an inch and a half in diameter and gold balls, in each ear. I don't know if she thought I was gay (I'm not), but I enjoyed it anyway. I bought both wigs.
On a visit about a year ago, when I was looking at a full, straight brown wig like my own hair, she suggested I try an extension to add thickness to my own. She found a matching one and attached it temporarily so I could see how it looked--it was wonderful! I paid for it and she fitted for me. It is human hair, about 24 inches long, and comes sewn ont a strip of dark net-like fabric. The strip I bought was about 40-45 inches long, and she folded it back on itself twice to produce a thicker 'curtain' of hair about 11 inches wide, to
fit around the back from ear to ear. She sewed this together and sewed on three spring clips that you use to attach it to your own hair. I pull my top hair together and clip it up high out of the way. Then I clip it to the lower hair. If I clip it high up it reaches to my waist with my own hair. Lower and it reaches my butt. I then let my top hair loose over it and brush it all together. Since my own hair is not blunt cut but thins to my waist, you can't tell where my hair ends and the extension begins. (You can see an image of my hair without the extension, taken several years ago in the gallery at this site). If there is interest, I can upload an image of me with it on, to Victor's ftp site. I'll have to take a photo first.
It's fun to wear it and feel that mass of hair! I do not think anyone has been the wiser and I have gotten more compliments with it on. It is easy to put it on (I can do it 'blind' anywhere), and remove. It cost $123, fitted.
So, go for it! You can find a store or beautician to fir it. Remember, a wig store is a business and they won't mind working with you to make a sale (and repeat sales, as they will find out).
I'd like to see you with the extension as well as the extension by itself. A closeup of the attachment mechanism would be great.
This is the key, and I think several posters here missed the point.
Does anyone really think that if a person was physically able to grow his own lush head of hair, even if it did take several years of patience and work, that he would just opt for something artificial instead? If someone uses hair extensions or a wig, as HisHair mentions, it's gotta be because there's something physical that prevents them from going the natural route. Either age or illness are both valid reasons why hair won't grow the way we want it to be, or has stopped growing. (My own situation is medical but I found HisHair's story remarkably similar to one I've experienced.) I wouldn't for a moment take anyone to task for wanting to experience the same feeling of pride and self-esteem that someone with a full, natural head of long hair gets every day they look in a mirror (or puts it on a scanner!) ;-)
So what's wrong with hair extensions or a wig if it's done right? As long as the end result is that the person looks good, and feels good, and gets compliments about their choice of a look, that's all that mattters. I don't believe that a person who has to use good-quality artificial means to achieve that result does anything to cheapen the efforts of those who have the youth and the genes to be able to do it on their own. For those who can't:
Look around; there are people out there who want to make you look good. Don't be afraid to ask; that's their livelihood, after all. I've discovered that if you're willing to talk to them about what you're looking for, most of them will bend over backwards to give you what you need.
So Dick, HisHair, maybe we should start a Men's Long Hair
(But Not Quite Real) Hyperboard. ;-)-Rob
when I first saw this post I didn't reply because I figured someone
would say what I was thinking, but no one has.
am I the only person here who thinks hair extensions are completely
hideous, disgusting bits of glued-on coloured horse tail? Yes, I
know that there are high quality extensions that are not glued on, and
they haven't made them of horsehair for years, but that doesn't mean
they look any better.
And anyone who wants to say that I'm being a bit insensitive because
I have the genetics for nice thick hair which grows like a weed can,
but I have been taking care of my hair and growing it out, including
through the most awkward lengths, for over six years now, and my time
and patience has paid off and I'm continuing to grow it for as long as
nature will let me. And considering how much time it took me to do
this, when someone else tries to throw down some cash and catch up to
me overnight, I can't help enjoying the fact that it looks like crap.
-Coyote Pup
Right on, Coyote Pup! You have great hair and have all the right to be proud of it. Long hair that looks like yours only comes after applying much care and undergoing much frustration. It is a labor of love.
Thanks for sharing the jpeg that resulted when you laid your hair
on the scanner, by the way! I enjoyed that a lot.
I've seen it done badly, and I've seen it done well. Done well, I only know because the individual suddenly appears with more hair than he or she had the previous day.
You are quite right: you have put a *lot* of time and effort into your hair, and that deserves recognition and appreciation.
If you refer to the six years, I think you've done rather well. I think you may be taking credit for the genetics here, which was a very happy gift, pure and simple. It seems to me that you had the gift of the genetics, the gift of "having permission" to grow your hair out, or, alternatively, the self confidence to do it. Remember, the original poster is a product of a time when conformity to a rigid and specific norm was not only expected, but demanded.
To say that the original poster need merely "throw down some cash" and catch up to you is somewhat unrealistic. He won't catch up to you; he won't have anything like the appearance, let alone the hair, that you do: color, texture, length, amount. And if the poster goes through with the project, he'll initially spend about five or six hours having the weave done, several days with some pain, and it won't be "some cash." If he has it done right, it should set him back a few hundred at the beginning, and a BIG chunk of change to have maintenance done every two to three months.
Please don't misunderstand me, C-Pup: I'm not taking to task, or dissing you. You are correct when you say that you have put much time and effort into your hair, you've dealt with those people for unknown reasons disapprove and feel a duty to tell you so. I would only like you to understand that the original poster isn't getting off easy. Thanks for posting the pic, and I hope that someday soon you'll post at least an "anonymous" back shot.
To the original poster, I think you ought to give some thought to going with what you've got. I know two guys who are balding longhairs. Both of them have what is called "male pattern baldness." One guy has dark brown shoulder length hair, which he usually wears in a braid; the other has hair more of a glorious color like C-Pup's, mid back length, which he wears loose. In both cases they look fine.
Stephe