TORONTO (CP) - It was a milestone event in Gina Sanelli's life and she was ready to spice up her look for the occasion - so she decided to lead with her head. "It was my high school graduation and my hair was a little shorter, and I just kind of wanted something nice and long, just kind of a different look for my ceremony," said Sanelli, 19. An unidentified model poses after having hair extensions in this undated handout photo.
Whether it's curly or coloured, young women are turning to hair extensions to add fullness and length to their 'dos, a trend that's all the rage with singer Jessica Simpson and hotel heiress Paris Hilton - both of whom trumpet separate hair extension lines. She picked up a couple of bundles of hair extensions for about $50 apiece. A friend at the salon where she worked took between 45 minutes to an hour to glue in the extensions.
"It kind of feels a little weird when you first have them on because your hair feels a lot thicker, you've got something just kind of at your scalp, but you get used to it," she said. Her chin-level, raven-haired cut transformed overnight into flowing, straight, lengthy locks fashioned with a loose wave. Sanelli's new look left her friends gobsmacked.
"They were shocked, they really, really liked it because I hadn't had long hair in about a year and they loved it," she recalled of the event three years ago. "It was a great reaction." Last December, she opted to extend her locks again with Great Lengths, a line of human hair extensions that are fused roughly two and a half centimetres from the hair's root.
She sported locks for five months before returning to the salon where a stylist used a solution to break the bond. Whether they're curly, coloured, clip-ons or sew-on, young women are turning to hair extensions to add instant fullness and length to their 'dos, for a night on the town or to shake up their everyday look. They're all the rage with celebrities like former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham and singer Jessica Simpson, who teamed up with her stylist, Ken Paves, to create a line of clip-on hair extensions.
Hotel heiress Paris Hilton had barely shed her orange jumpsuit following her release from jail this week when a van from DreamCatchers Hair Extensions, for which she is the celebrity pitchwoman, passed through the gates of her grandparents' home. A lot of people don't realize that everyone has a certain length their hair will actually grow to, and extensions could be the answer for those longing for longer locks, said Claire Asprey, director of education at the Aveda Institute and Aveda Academy Salon in Toronto. "If you've got very fine hair, sometimes your hair will only actually grow to your shoulders and the lifespan of your hair won't grow any longer than that," she said.
"If you want to have long hair tomorrow and you've got the money, you can have long hair tomorrow." The quality of extensions, how long someone wants to wear them for, and styling fees are key in determining whether the cost of a lengthier 'do will run into the hundreds or thousands of dollars. Cindy Leblanc, a stylist at Robin Barker Hair'Sociates in Toronto's upscale Yorkville neighbourhood, said it takes about four hours to put in Hairlocs, where individual extensions are added on by crotcheting a copper bead onto sections of hair.
"It's a fairly expensive service," she said. "Not a lot of 20-year-olds are trying to drop $1,400 on hair." The salon also offers clip-ons and weaves, but Leblanc said she won't do extensions for just anyone.
She has turned away individuals with overprocessed hair, and wouldn't add extensions for someone who had lost a patch of hair due to alopecia until it had grown back. Those seeking a more hands-on approach can take a stab at crafting their own extensions. Sounnie Phan, an apprentice stylist at Toronto's Hair Extensions Supplies, said the shop sells hair that ranges from $20 to $150 a pack, and customers can buy clips and glue to fashion their own extensions.
Individuals keen on learning how to apply them can take a two-day course at the salon where they take home a full do-it-yourself hair extension kit, she said. Teen girls have been flocking to the salon to get extensions for their proms, usually weaves which are stitched onto braided hair, which will set them back about $250, she said. "The youngest client that we've gotten is 13 and it ranges all the way up," she said.
"It's just a booming thing and a lot of people want it." Asprey highly recommends that people thinking of getting extensions consult a stylist. "You need to know the length of the hair you need to buy, the texture, where you're going to place it on the head, how long it has to be to fit on the head in different areas," she said.
"If they're not done professionally you can get sores on the head, you can get hair breakage, so it's really, really important if anyone's considering having hair extensions done they go to somebody that's very experienced at doing it properly, because you don't want to damage your own hair." Would you like to comment on this story? E-mail geny(at)cp.
org TORONTO (CP) - It was a milestone event in Gina Sanelli's life and she was ready to spice up her look for the occasion - so she decided to lead with her head.
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