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Kristen121
March 14th, 2013, 05:38 PM
This article was in my local paper today. Thought everyone here might find it interesting:
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/style/197839621.html

Allychan
March 14th, 2013, 05:59 PM
I find this kinda sad, with a couple of years of care the consumers that buy these extensions could grow their own, extensions lead to a cycle of hair breakage and the need for more extensions?

dulce
March 14th, 2013, 06:13 PM
How about growing your own hair,cheaper and healthier and you don't have to worry about where it came from and how.

HylianGirl
March 14th, 2013, 06:26 PM
It makes me sad that this generation is not patient enough to grow their own hair. I understand some people can't grow thick long hair, but it seems most are just impatient or lazy to take care of it, and so they spend a bunch of money on something like this.

Vanille_
March 14th, 2013, 06:33 PM
"Now people say to each other, ‘Where do you get your hair?’ "

Wow.

I respect the fact that some folks want longer hair now, I just wish they wouldn't sacrifice the health of their hair to do it. As so many of us know, it takes time to grow hair. Most of us have been at the stage where our hair was short and all we could think about for the first year or so was "why won't it grow faster?" Even we get impatient. But the wait is so worth it. I started around BSL in October 2011 and am now at hip. My hair is healthy and I don't mind how much I waited. It's fun seeing the progress.

In2wishin
March 14th, 2013, 06:48 PM
Is the cutting of hair as a religious sacrifice an old tradition in India? If it is, I guess I don't have a big problem with the temples selling it for wigs and extensions instead of burning it or whatever (unless the burning is supposed to be part of the sacrifice). I do have a problem with anyone who is coerced into donating or selling hair and especially if it is taken by force.

jacqueline101
March 14th, 2013, 06:50 PM
I agree it's sad people are too much of a hurry to have hair they won't grow it.

leslissocool
March 14th, 2013, 06:58 PM
Is the cutting of hair as a religious sacrifice an old tradition in India? If it is, I guess I don't have a big problem with the temples selling it for wigs and extensions instead of burning it or whatever (unless the burning is supposed to be part of the sacrifice). I do have a problem with anyone who is coerced into donating or selling hair and especially if it is taken by force.

That's how I see it too. Some people can make a lot of money selling their hair, my friend was in a bad financial situation, had knee length hair, and got a lot of money for it enough to pay rent and food for the month. I was only joking about it when I told her she could sell it if she ever got tired of it.

I honestly like long thick braids and my own hair long. I guess it makes us long hairs way more special now and really appreciate the dedication of caring for long hair :cheese: .

kidari
March 14th, 2013, 07:32 PM
I think it's sad that most people don't have a clue how to properly care for and grow their own hair. Once you get extensions, you ruin your own hair tremendously and get stuck in a cycle where you become dependent on extensions. It's so sad.

chen bao jun
March 14th, 2013, 08:39 PM
Black women have been doing this for about twenty years in large numbers. So there is a group of people that you can look at and see what happens after doing this for some time. It ain't pretty. Traction alopecia, anyone?
Went to a family event two weeks ago, my sister in law who had been getting balder and balder (literally, her hairline last time I saw it was back near her ears) was now under a wig. She used to have hair as thick as mine. This is fairly typical. So its not only the question of whose hair they are cutting off to sell to you but what you do to your own hair.
I don't think its impatience about growing their own hair, I think its people mindlessly copying celebrities, sucked into the culture where anything natural is bad and anything you buy, no matter how unnatural or ridiculous looking is prestigious.

MORE
March 15th, 2013, 01:40 AM
Is the cutting of hair as a religious sacrifice an old tradition in India? If it is, I guess I don't have a big problem with the temples selling it for wigs and extensions instead of burning it or whatever (unless the burning is supposed to be part of the sacrifice). I do have a problem with anyone who is coerced into donating or selling hair and especially if it is taken by force.

I saw something about this a while ago. They said that sure, it's great to be able to sell hair to the temple as a sacrifice - the problem is that it gotten so known that you can make money of hair, so there's a huge problem with people cutting others hair when they don't notice it.

If I don't remember wrong, now, there was a girl who shared that she woke up one morning and somebody had cut her hair in her sleep.:steam I felt for her and the others really bad, because it seems like once you find something you could make money out of - people will try to steal it...

akilina
March 15th, 2013, 02:01 AM
I agree that its a big accomplishment and awesome thing when a womans long beautiful hair is all natural. Its almost like a rare occurance lately. At the same time i could care less what other people do. -_- so i don't see the point in someone judging another if they do choose to wear extensions. Not everyone can grow a lovely head of hair believe it or not, so if extensions help them feel better why would I sit there and go as far as call these people "lazy"?? its just like..uhh really? It just seems so trivial to put much care into what makes others feel good.

However the article is interesting!

MORE--that remided me... one of my friends hair got butchered and chopped to hell in her sleep at a party :( the girl was a hair dresser and did it to my friend because she was jealous of her.

KittyBird
March 15th, 2013, 03:01 AM
MORE--that reminded me... one of my friends hair got butchered and chopped to hell in her sleep at a party :( the girl was a hair dresser and did it to my friend because she was jealous of her.

:couch: Oh no, how terrible! I'm always worried someone will do that to me! Next time I'm going to a party I'll be wearing a helmet.

As for the extensions, I suppose it's ok as long as the women cut their hair of their own, free will. I've never been a fan of extensions though, I think they do more damage than good. I also find the idea of wearing another person's hair on my head a bit nasty. Of course it's clean and all that, but just.. no.

Lilli
March 15th, 2013, 06:57 AM
I saw something about this a while ago. They said that sure, it's great to be able to sell hair to the temple as a sacrifice - the problem is that it gotten so known that you can make money of hair, so there's a huge problem with people cutting others hair when they don't notice it.

If I don't remember wrong, now, there was a girl who shared that she woke up one morning and somebody had cut her hair in her sleep.:steam I felt for her and the others really bad, because it seems like once you find something you could make money out of - people will try to steal it...

This was in the Chris Rock movie called "Good Hair" or something like that. He is black and he was upset when he heard his very young daughters talking about "good hair" so he went to investigate what good hair meant. He followed the extension business all the way to India where it indeed comes mostly from temple religious donations.

Jennifer Aniston has been open about having extensions and how those extensions have forced her to cut her hair short several times because of the damage and thinning the extensions caused. Most celebrities who get a big fashionable chop show up a few weeks later with extensions. I bet pretty soon Anne Hathaway will have them, too.

woolyleprechaun
March 15th, 2013, 08:03 AM
Its funny how natural long hair is seen as strange these days, but wearing someone elses is fine....
I got irate the other day when I read an article about Miley Cyrus saying she 'would never have long hair again' and that short hair is 'way better'. The whole thing was about EXTENSIONS, not natural long hair. How can she condemn something she's never even tried? Maybe Im just over sensitive :) On, and on the tangle teezer website it has a section on long hair. That too is exclusively regarding extensions. It made me want to send the site managers a link to LHC to show them that they do have a following amongst naturally long haired, and that they may alienate them. Again, oversensitive :)

HylianGirl
March 15th, 2013, 08:39 AM
I don't remember who gave me this link, but it may have been someone from here, anyway, I highly reccomend watching:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9rXFskeFRM


Wow, there are many people in my country who wear extensions, but it doesn't seem as common as other places. One of these days I was complaining to my sister that I don't have as much hair nowadays as I used to (it's not thin, it's normal thickness, but when I was younger I had A LOT of hair, but I ruined it by putting bleach on my scalp), and my sister told me to get extentions. If I did that my hair would thin out even more!

Zindell
March 15th, 2013, 12:09 PM
I don't remember who gave me this link, but it may have been someone from here, anyway, I highly reccomend watching:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9rXFskeFRM

Thanks. Very interesting :-)

piffyanne
March 16th, 2013, 10:29 AM
"The added hair looks healthy for an average of four months before it dries out from lack of nutrients, which are replenished when hair is growing."

Are they really saying the hair starts looking bad because it isn't getting "fed" by the scalp's bloodstream? It's DEAD once it leaves your HEAD! :headdesk:

...Am I interpreting this wrong?

chen bao jun
March 16th, 2013, 02:55 PM
Yeah, but dead hair attached to your head by the roots and dead hair that's been cut completely off behave differently.

cathair
March 16th, 2013, 03:31 PM
If your going to have fake hair, then why not have plastic hair? There is some really good looking plastic hair out there that is easier to look after than human hair, comes in more colours, is cheaper, easier to style... I don't get it.

Unicorn
March 16th, 2013, 04:45 PM
"The added hair looks healthy for an average of four months before it dries out from lack of nutrients, which are replenished when hair is growing."

Are they really saying the hair starts looking bad because it isn't getting "fed" by the scalp's bloodstream? It's DEAD once it leaves your HEAD! :headdesk:

...Am I interpreting this wrong?

I think this is much along the line of "must trim the hair every 6-8 weeks". It keeps customers going back to the salon for regular maintenance.

I guess like all hair if natural hair extensions are heat styled, not conditioned and generally abused, the hair will be damaged. If it is given more TLC and not heat styled, it will no doubt last longer. For one thing it means the hair won't be reused, new hair will have to be purchased each time.

My sister once had a natural hair wig that she wore regularly (maybe 4 days a week) She used this wig for around 2 years, she also washed it with a gentle shampoo, conditioned it after washing and used rollers to set rather than heat tools. During that time she had it trimmed, just a little, twice as the ends became a little frayed. It was still wearable (and looked very natural) when she'd got over the novelty of wearing a wig. The 4 month limit is just a money spinner, no more no less.

Unicorn

Vanille_
March 16th, 2013, 04:55 PM
I don't remember who gave me this link, but it may have been someone from here, anyway, I highly reccomend watching:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9rXFskeFRM


Wow, there are many people in my country who wear extensions, but it doesn't seem as common as other places. One of these days I was complaining to my sister that I don't have as much hair nowadays as I used to (it's not thin, it's normal thickness, but when I was younger I had A LOT of hair, but I ruined it by putting bleach on my scalp), and my sister told me to get extentions. If I did that my hair would thin out even more!

Interesting. I only watched a couple of parts of the series but it was still very interesting. The scene in the night club caught my attention. All the zooming in on hair and the assumption being they are ALL extensions? Maybe that's true. I don't know. I just think it's sad, especially the girl who said she wouldn't leave her house without the extensions. It would only take a couple of years to have long hair naturally!

DarkCurls
March 16th, 2013, 05:12 PM
I also wanted to thank you for the link, HylianGirl. I'm currently watching Part 5, will watch the last part when I'm done. Very interesting.

chen bao jun
March 16th, 2013, 06:10 PM
I think this is much along the line of "must trim the hair every 6-8 weeks". It keeps customers going back to the salon for regular maintenance.

I guess like all hair if natural hair extensions are heat styled, not conditioned and generally abused, the hair will be damaged. If it is given more TLC and not heat styled, it will no doubt last longer. For one thing it means the hair won't be reused, new hair will have to be purchased each time.

My sister once had a natural hair wig that she wore regularly (maybe 4 days a week) She used this wig for around 2 years, she also washed it with a gentle shampoo, conditioned it after washing and used rollers to set rather than heat tools. During that time she had it trimmed, just a little, twice as the ends became a little frayed. It was still wearable (and looked very natural) when she'd got over the novelty of wearing a wig. The 4 month limit is just a money spinner, no more no less.

Unicorn
I stand corrected. I never had extensions and only have 'plastic' wigs that I wear for costume parties. Those wigs stay looking good a long time--but I wear them maybe twice a year? When I say they look good, I don't mean that they look natural LOL
Does it make a difference to the health of your hair whether you put in human hair or plastic hair or is it all just as damaging? I don't know what the people I know who have worn extensions have in, but they all have extremely messed up hair--my SIL is the worst case but none of them have any edges anymore, and all of them have some balding issues. These are all people who have done this for about 20 years. But one thing about extensions seems to be that once people start wearing them, they don't seem to stop. I don't know why this is, but I have never known anybody to have extensions done just once--they show up one day with hair that 'grew' a foot and a half overnight and that's their hair forever after. Which is their business of course, but I keep wondering why they don't care about the edges peeling visibly off. Even if it was true that their hair cannot grow to the length they would like (which I don't think it usually is), I'd think the inevitable baldness would put people off them (unless they were in Hollywood and couldn't get a job without them).
Of course I'm generalizing..going only off the people I've known personally...

chen bao jun
March 16th, 2013, 06:19 PM
I enjoyed the series. I found Jamelia to be a very pretty girl. (I'd never heard of her). Someone should tell her about LHC adn then she wouldn't have to pick between wearing extensions and the 'glamorous' look she likes.
It was interesting all the places she went to and how she reacted with the people. the part with the people in India picking for hair through the garbage in order to live was so sad. I wasn't sure how to react to the people who did the temple hair thing. Of course it was their choice but it seems sad to believe that shaving off your hair will pay your rent or get your child healthy. I kept thinking that if those women had a way of getting directly to the customers with their hair (the ones who pay thousands of $$$ for the weaves), they'd raise enough cash to pay a lot of rent and give their children a lot of medical care. The middlemen are the ones making out.
It's hard to know what exploitation is, sometimes. I talked before on this forum about my Ukrainian friend who had her hair cut off without her will in the orphanage--I suspect it was sold, I really do. She says the orphanage director just said, your hair is too long, gave no reason and just gave her the chop against her will. She is 16 now, she has hair which is very similar (in fact, just about exactly the same) as the 13 year old Russian girl whose hair the harvester was raving about. I know this because it has grown back to her waist now. I think that was horrible, but if the young girl in the video wishes to sell hers, knows what she's doing (and can probably grow it back as fast as my friend did) is that exploitation? The only thing is, that she is not getting anything like a fair price...
There are a lot of interesting questions raised by it all.

Unicorn
March 16th, 2013, 06:40 PM
Sorry, I didn't mean to sound as if I were correcting you Chen Bao Jun, It was meant more "in addition to". The fact that one cannot brush extensions from the root, as natural hair can be brushed, does mean that there's no distribution of sebum, which will impact the condition the hair. It's one of the reasons that conditioner really is needed, so not being attached in it's natural way does make a difference, but not the difference the article implies and there is a solution. To claim the external hair is in some way picking up "nutrients" when attached to the scalp is just false and they don't indicate that one can address the dryness of extensions. My own natural hair would be wrecked if I never used conditioner or oils to help maintain it's moisture. The amount of heat I see used by those wearing extensions would also destroy my hair pretty quickly. The combination? shudder:

I also worked in the beauty industry some years ago so I heard first hand the tales they told and treatments they pushed, to keep clients coming back. Withholding simple DIY solutions was pretty high up that list.

Unicorn

Unicorn
March 16th, 2013, 07:11 PM
I stand corrected. I never had extensions and only have 'plastic' wigs that I wear for costume parties. Those wigs stay looking good a long time--but I wear them maybe twice a year? When I say they look good, I don't mean that they look natural LOL
Does it make a difference to the health of your hair whether you put in human hair or plastic hair or is it all just as damaging? I don't know what the people I know who have worn extensions have in, but they all have extremely messed up hair--my SIL is the worst case but none of them have any edges anymore, and all of them have some balding issues. These are all people who have done this for about 20 years. But one thing about extensions seems to be that once people start wearing them, they don't seem to stop. I don't know why this is, but I have never known anybody to have extensions done just once--they show up one day with hair that 'grew' a foot and a half overnight and that's their hair forever after. Which is their business of course, but I keep wondering why they don't care about the edges peeling visibly off. Even if it was true that their hair cannot grow to the length they would like (which I don't think it usually is), I'd think the inevitable baldness would put people off them (unless they were in Hollywood and couldn't get a job without them).
Of course I'm generalizing..going only off the people I've known personally...

Regarding extensions, most of the damage is mechanical damage from the hair being held under pressure for that length of time. Also from the constant traction, if the hair is styled too tightly. The third issue is very often the lack of moisture through the hair making it more brittle. So yes that combination is a perfect route to damage. I hear differing opinions on the natural/artificial extensions, causing dryness, most people I know who have used both, say that the plastic extensions are more drying.

I've used plastic extensions (Classic length, tiny braids :) ) I wore them for around 18 months. However they were spritzed daily with an oil/water mix and re-braided individually as they grew out. I would do maybe half a dozen at the weekend. Each time I re-braided one, I slathered olive oil through that portion of hair before adding the extension, so that braid would be oiled until the next shampoo. The condition wasn't perfect when I finally took them all out, but was pretty good, considering there were no trims during that period.

It amazes me that people aren't more concerned about the loss of hair that extensions can cause. Mine were DIY, so I ensured they weren't too tight. I also allowed about 1" - 1 1/2" of regrowth before I re-braiding, so there were no traction issues.

I absolutely loved having classic length hair, this was the style that persuaded me to have locs. *dreaming of classic length locs* :meditate:


Unicorn

chen bao jun
March 16th, 2013, 08:11 PM
Sounds like you were very careful with your hair, Unicorn. It looks great now, I admire the improvement visible in the photos in your siggy. I am sure you will get classic length locs one day. How long is your hair now? I notice your last photo is from 2008. I am not allowed to get into albums yet.
I have never experienced any kind of classic length hair, but it is a length that looks lovely. My paternal grandmother had classic length hair. She never ever wore it loose though (which is probably why it grew to classic). I doubt I will get to that length but I am seeing what moisturizing and updoes will result in, with some patience--it's hard sometimes, as you undoubtedly know. Being 56 years old, I don't feel my most attractive with hair up all the time--

chen bao jun
March 16th, 2013, 08:13 PM
Maybe because people love how the length feels and don't think they can grow that length--maybe that explains why so many keep extensions in even after it is very clear that they are losing their hair.

Unicorn
March 16th, 2013, 08:25 PM
Thank you Chen Bao Jun. :) My hair is now BSL. I'm rather lazy about taking pictures I'm afraid, :( With my laziness and the LHC albums also being down for a while I haven't updated my sig pictures for some time :oops: ...

The albums are working now, so I going to update them soon.

Unicorn

melusine963
March 17th, 2013, 01:06 AM
I don't remember who gave me this link, but it may have been someone from here, anyway, I highly reccomend watching:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9rXFskeFRM

Thank you for this link! It made for some very interesting watching. There's nothing in there that I didn't know already, but it was still eye-opening to actually see it all taking place. It makes me very, very glad I've never worn extensions myself.

Unofficial_Rose
March 19th, 2013, 02:26 PM
I had bonded-in extensions done once, they were quite heavy. My hair wasn't that thick to start with but once I realised they were pulling my hair out by the root I took them out by slathering the bonds in olive oil and waiting for the bonds to soften. The thing was, I woke up one morning, looked in the mirror and saw little root bulbs around each bond - you could actually see the weight of them was pulling my hair out. This was after 3 weeks, seriously.

It took about a year for my hair to return to normal. God knows what the damage would have been if I'd left them in for months. :soapbox:

There was a girl at a hairdressers I visited once or twice after it had grown back a bit. Although she was only in her early twenties she had noticeably thin hair. I was discussing my extension damage with my stylist, who pointed out the other girl and said that that was what extensions had done to her hair.

Although there are people on here who have had them and are fine with them - depends on the individual. Apologies to those who have read this story on here from me before - I just don't want anyone else to take the risk of losing a load of hair.

Coolcombination
March 28th, 2013, 12:32 PM
I saw an article a few weeks back where a women with waist length hair was knocked unconscious, when she woke up she was bald, they mugged her for her hair. Now many women in India wear hats when they are out late at night.

WilfredAllen
March 28th, 2013, 08:32 PM
I don't remember who gave me this link, but it may have been someone from here, anyway, I highly reccomend watching:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9rXFskeFRM


I love this documentary! The source of the hair doesn't make me at all uncomfortable, although hearing about people cutting of girls' and women's hair and selling it worries me. To me, that is a sign that demand is beginning to far exceed supply.

I used extensions when I was grow out a bad haircut for about 8 months. I am glad I used them - i was able to grow my hair out faster (and less painfully) by wearing them, but I was relieved the day I could finally put my hair up in a ponytail by itself. Since then I have sworn a solemn oath to never, ever cut my hair so short that I can't put it in a ponytail. I think it was actually having extensions that made me realize that long hair feels more "right" for me, even though I had not had it since I was 6.

I think extensions are really cool and fun, but kind of overused. I roll my eyes a little every time I see 'the extension curl' style, or when I go out and see every girl with the exact same hair in 1 of 5 colours

WilfredAllen
March 28th, 2013, 08:33 PM
I saw an article a few weeks back where a women with waist length hair was knocked unconscious, when she woke up she was bald, they mugged her for her hair. Now many women in India wear hats when they are out late at night.

After hearing that, I could never by extensions again. There's something really sick about that

Micayla47
March 28th, 2013, 11:06 PM
the original article didn't make it clear whether or not the Indian women are a) getting paid for their hair and/or b) even know that it's being sold. that's the only issue that bothers me in the hair extension business. another member said that the "middlemen" are the ones profiting. it seems that way and that's what is disconcerting. if i knew that the women whose hair is being sold were the ones really profiting i'd feel a lot better about it.