NATURAL SELECTION
Both Danilo and Hoffman use only the gold standard of hair extensions: Great Lengths, a patented system that owes its innovation to the textile industry. Great Lengths founder David Gold got his start by developing flexible iron-on heat transfers. Nike and Adidas used his technology to print movable, stretchy logos on the newly invented Lycra, while Valentino employed the same technique to lay intricate patterns on pantyhose. Treating hair as just another type of fabric, Gold created a keratin-based protein bond (don't call it glue!) that would adhere to hair yet allow movement.
Great Lengths creates its pricey extensions with rare "temple hair" collected from Hindu shrines in India. Women cut off their hair as an offering to the temple's deity in the hope that their prayers will be answered. After an appropriate time period (or whenever the hair piles become too high), the temples auction off the hair to the highest bidder. Gold persuaded an Irish
THE MAJORITY OF AMERICAN MEN
PREFER LONG, STRAIGHT HAIR TO
ANY OTHER STYLE.
wool manufacturer (a friend from his textile days) to share a highly guarded technique for removing pigment from cashmere and wool without the use of bleach (which breaks down the fibers). The temple hair soaks in this special chemical bath for two weeks as the color molecules are gently pulled out without compromising strand strength. "They'd use this in a salon, but no one would want to keep her hair in
a bath for that length of time," explains Brett Butcher, the national director for Great Lengths.
THE NUMBER OF HAIR STRANDS
ADDED DURING AN AVERAGE
EXTENSIONS SESSION: 15,000
another of Hoffman's clients. "Once you see it happen on TV, you're not so upset when it happens to you."
ASSET MANAGEMENTFor those who aren't ready to commit to extensions, the right haircut can create the illusion of length.
Bangs make hair look longer by accentuating the length of the rest of the hair, according to stylist Damian Santiago of New York City's Bumble and bumble salon. Santiago also recommends occasionally
using a flatiron, which will straighten hair to its maximum potential and can increase length by 10 to 50 percent (depending on how curly your hair is). And next month, Danilo launches Flawless by Danilo, a line of synthetic clip-on, clip-off hair extensions that he's tested on clients like Ms. Stefani. We figure if they're good enough for Gwen, they're good enough for us.
THE FALL OUT
Extensions aren't all gain, no pain. "I couldn't sleep for a week because the little glue spots felt like razors on my scalp," says one LA-based screenwriter. "But I got so many compliments that the sleeplessness was almost worth it. However, the hair also smelled funny no matter how many times I washed it."
One of the main draw-backs of adhesive extensions is that most conditioners can cause them to become unbound. One of Hoffman's clients made a $3,000 mistake when she couldn't resist her roommate's deep conditioner: "It was like kryptonite. All the extensions just slid off." Great Lengths designed NXT Care Collection, a line of gentle moisturizing products that keep hair from becoming parched without
weakening the bonds.
Practically anyone who has tried extensions has at least one "The Time My Hair Fell Out in Public" story. A London-based writer who got five-inch-long extensions to add volume to her chin-length bob says, "You will get loads of body, plus the little knots lift the hair at the root. But on the other hand, you might be holding a glass of champagne, talking to someone at a party, and you'll run your fingers through your hair and come away with a handful of it." Recently, a host of an LA morning show had an extension drop
into her cup of coffee while she was on the air. "She just said, 'Oh look, there's one of my extensions,' and threw it behind her shoulder," says
For around the same price as a stainless steel Cartier Tank watch or an Hermes Kelly bag, women can buy themselves something that's practically priceless: perfect hair. For $3,000, you can get the hair you've always wanted, in the form of semi-permanent extensions that add length and volume. "Extensions Started in the fashion world, then Holly-wood adopted them," says Danilo, a bi-coastal hair stylist who has added faux hair to the heads of celebrities such as Gwen Stefani and Cate Blanchett. Danilo notes that many actresses acquire a taste for extensions on movie sets. "They love how their character's hair looks, and they want that same body and length in real life," he says. "'These are dramatic people who want dramatic hair. Their hair performs just as much as they do." Danilo says that at least 90 percent of his clients have tried hair extensions but they wont always own up to it. "[Most] celebrities regularly wear hair extensions, and they all make us sign confidentiality agreements," says the LA based stylist Erick Hoffman, who believes that within a few years, any stigma attached to extensions will disappear. Danilo agrees: "It's not like hair extensions are anything new. Even cavemen added stuff to their hair."
While there's little historical data on Cro-Magnon coiffure, we do know, thanks to Ovid, that wealthy Roman women would enhance their look by adding on the blond hair that they'd cut off of prisoners. In 1635, the first women's hair salon, Champagne, opened in Paris to fulfill the nobility's demand for intricate styles piled high on the head and held with glue. Returning home from Champagne, women had to crouch on their knees on the floor of their carriage to make room for their towering updos.
Today, almost half of American women have hair that's naturally shoulder length or longer. And, according to a national survey by Remington (a blow-dryer manufacturer), the majority of
MOST CELEBRITIES REGULARLY
WEAR HAIR EXTENSIONS.
men prefer long, straight hair to any other style. However, DNA has as much to do with the length of hair as does a pair of scissors. On average, hair grows about a quarter of an inch each month and has a
genetically determined life span of around five years before falling out. Furthermore, as we age, each strand of hair gets thinner, and some follicles stop producing hair altogether. Extensions, however, aren't bound by Mother Nature's clock. Says one dedicated faux-hair fan, a Hollywood movie executive in her forties: "High school boys think I'm their age when they see me from the back" Plus, extensions can help ease one through that awkward phase when growing out a short cut. "I'm addicted to going to my hair stylist-it's a hobby for me---so I never seemed able to grow out my hair," says one of Hoffman's clients, an LA-based music publicist. "I'm never jealous of anyone's hair anymore, because now I know that it's probably fake."
GROWING ATTACHMENT
The most common temporary extensions, those used for runway shows and photo shoots, are strips of synthetic
ALMOST HALF OF AMERICAN
WOMEN HAVE HAIR THAT HANGS
PAST THEIR SHOULDERS.
hair (which run a fraction of the cost of natural hair) attached directly to the scalp with a gentle glue. However, for a look that will last (from three to six months), hairstylists have several option--some safer than others. Weaving, a technique developed in salons with a predominantly African-American clientele, works best on very thick, coarse hair. Stylists sew either synthetic or natural extensions onto hair that's braided into right cornrows.
Because fine to medium hair wont hold a weave and right braids can damage the scalp and cause hair loss, most extensions experts prefer the bonding method, in which small segments of hair (of about 50 strands each) are attached with a permanent adhesive to the base of the same amount of original hair.
An average head receives about 300 bonds (which takes about seven to eight hours), while fine hair requires more bonds with fewer strands. In the dark ages of extensions (the '60s and '70s), glue caused scalp irritation and tore out hair, which is why today most stylists will never use the words glue or adhesive. "It's not a glue, it's a special polymer bond," Danilo says.
TYPES OF HAIR EXTENSIONS:
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