Hair Extensions Grow in Popularity
Tracy Darney has a commercial pilot's license, an M.B.A. and a trim figure. But she never had thick long hair. So she has paid $6,800 to get it. On four seperate occasions, Ms. Darney has gone to a hair salon and sat for six hours for the application of human-hair extensions. Her stylist uses a tool that seems like a a gigantic pair of tweezers and applies a protein-based adhesive to the hair close to her scalp, giving her 12 inches of natural-looking hair that cascades down her back. The extensions last two to six months and cost $1,700 a sitting. "I love my extensions," said Ms. Darney, a blond pilot from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Before the extensions, she said, "if you put my hair in a ponytail, it was the size of a pencil."
Several other American women also want thick long hair and are willing to pay thousand after thousand of dollars for extensions, igniting growth in yet another business centered on beauty. Hair extensions, common among African-Americans for years, are rapidly gaining momentum among different groups as more salons promote them as they would a new hair color and highlights, or as solutions to a bad haircut or too-fine hair. Americans increasingly see long flowing hair on Hollywood and television stars, and they want to look like them, said Freddie Caldwell, owner of Chappies, a hair salon in Crescent Springs, Ky. The stars' luxurious locks may be extensions.
"You look at the red carpet, and 9 out of the 10 stars have them. They're blessed with brains, beauty and talent, but hair is very much a cosmetic additive in Hollywood," he said. "It's the top most accessory." His salon paid $20,000 for a three day session to train 18 stylists in applying extensions. The move helped to triple annual revenue at Chappies last year, to $2 million. , 60 percent of its business comes from hair extensions. "The girl who checks the gas meter stopped in two or three times and chose to do them," he said.
The market is flooded with a wide range of products, from real human hair to synthetic hair, that can be applied by bonding, braiding, sewing, gluing or clamping (with copper coils). Fusion is a popular new technique for human hair extensions. It uses protein or plastic bonds applied to hair within an inch of the scalp, employing heat or ultrasonic pulses. Stylists say that it doesn't damage a person's real hair. Human hair has emerged as the number one seller, and at prices of up to $2,500 an extension; synthetic extensions can cost about $300 to $500. The extensions will sometimes require special shampoos and brushes but often can be handled, brushed and washed like a person's own hair.
