Hair Extensions -
the Truth About Instant Long Hair
By Tanya
Turner
Hair extensions - a few hours in the salon and you have
long hair that looks like a dream. But is there a downside?
Professionally made hair extensions can completely transform
your appearance without affecting the health of your hair,
but if they are done wrongly extensions can seriously
damage your hair. You should know what to expect before
going to the salon.
Would hair extensions cost a fortune?
Yes, extensions done by a professional hair extension
artist and made from high quality hair would cost you
several hundred dollars. The price really depends on the
quality of the hair used - Asian hair is cheaper, while
European hair costs 2-3 times more. If you want good looking
hair - especially blond hair - you will have to pay for
European material.
Online you might find hair extension ‘starter kits’
with complete instructions, which aren’t difficult to
apply. So if you feel adventurous, you can buy a do-it-yourself
kit and save significantly. If done correctly, this type
of hair extension looks as good as any salon made one.
If you decide to follow this route, though, make sure
that you order high quality hair.
What types of hair extension are available?
The two major types of hair extension are individual
strands and wefts.
Individual strands, as the name implies, are attached
one piece at a time to your own hair, usually using glue,
or with waxes and polymers. The problem here is that most
of the attachment methods require coating your natural
hair with rather unfriendly chemicals. Attaching these
extensions isn’t a problem, but removing this type of
extension can seriously damage your hair.
Wefts, on the other hand, are braided into your hair,
so no chemicals are needed. A weft looks like a curtain
of hair held together at the top and hanging freely toward
the bottom. It is braided into your hair around the midline
of your head - about ear level. It is safer for your hair
but, on the downside, as you own hair grows wefts have
to be rebraided - about once every two months.
What materials are used for hair extensions?
First, hair for extensions can be either synthetic or
real human hair. Synthetic extensions are cheaper, of
course, but you get what you pay for - they look like
artificial strands attached to your hair. They’re not
very pleasant to the touch, either.
Human hair used for extensions gives better results.
Human extension hair differs by origin. The most common
are hair from India and Asian countries. They are great,
if you are an Asian woman yourself. Unfortunately this
type of hair has a noticeably different texture from a
Caucasian’s natural hair, so on Caucasian women they just
don’t look right.
European hair is of better quality, usually originating
from Spain and Italy, is of better quality but costs more.
The only problem is that its natural color is usually
coal black. To make a blond extensions out of them, Italian
or Spanish hair needs to be heavily bleached.
There are also so-called ‘raw’ or ‘virgin’ hair. This
is European hair coming from Central and Eastern European
countries, like Russia and Poland. The advantage of this
hair that it is naturally light and of a very high quality.
However, this type of hair is difficult to find and costs
an arm and a leg.
Tanya Turner is wig and hair extensions expert and a
founder of http://www.wigsguide.info/, where you can
find unbiased information about all types of wigs and
hair extensions with pictures of most popular wig styles
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
