QuoteReplyTopic: For those of you with really long extensions Posted: March 08 2005 at 5:33pm
Hi Ladies. For those of you who have really long extensions, how did people you know react to seeing your new hair? What I mean to ask is do you just admit to having extensions or did you transition over very gradually so that nobody would notice?
kristinc
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Miamigirl, I don't know if anyone else has had this experience, but the three times i've taken someone's hair dramatically long, people have been shocked and haven't liked it for a couple days and then really really loved the hair. So, sadly your suspicions are confirmed in that. Huge dramatic changes are usually greeted with skepticism....at first. You have to have self-esteem to wear extensions. People are weird about changes like that. It's not expediant for me to have someone come in two or three times.... it would be too expensive and time consuming. I suggest people wear the hair in a braid the first day if it's making them self-conscious.
sherrie215
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Whats funny is nobody even noticed mine! Im serious... nobody ever knew until 2 years later when I finally started telling them. I didnt do a drastic change at once, but Id say I went from 10-12 inch (natural) to 16 inch hair all at once, then I went to 18-20 after that. I wore add on ponytails and my hair up in a clip alot before so I guess they just 'didnt remember'.
Oh and another experience. A friend of mine, who's hair I did for a few years was worried about people 'noticing'. She had 'top of shoulder' length hair. I told her for about a month prior to getting her extensions, to wear it up and in pontytails. She did that....then we put in 16 inch extensions the first time. She wore her extensions in a ponytail at first a for a about a week, then just started wearing them loose and SAME THING...no one knew! They knew something was different, but just couldnt quite figure out what it was! People are not that observant or forget really quickly or something! Needless to say she ended up not having a problem and told everybody whenever they asked her what she done different to herself!
Scotchyroo: What I was trying to ask is how other people react to seeing your hair much longer then it was the previous day. I have hair loss issues and am a frequent poster on other hair sites. A lot of women that I come across are desperate for a viable cosmetic option, but are really scared about how people will react when they see them with barely any hair one day and then a ton the next. Having made the transition myself, I can safely say that most people are oblivious. I guess that hair loss and hair pieces have a different stigma attached to them then extensions do. I was just wondering if women on this site are open with others about the fact that they have extensions or do they try to disguise it with clips, headbands, ponytails and little white lies about what caused the change. It's probably easier to admit to using cosmetic enhancements just because you want to versus actually needing to.
Bridget
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The first time I had extensions, I went from neck length hair to 18" and people were asking me if I usually wore my hair in a bun...lol...they didnt know it was extensions and I love telling people they are just to see the expression on their faces.
Now people are so used to me wearing a different style that they just ask "New hair?"
I wore the fakest-looking (at least to me) 28-inch synthetic falls for six months and when I told people they were fake, they were like, "That's not your real hair!" LOL! It's amazing how many people really don't pay attention.
Now, I come in one day with butt-length, the next bra-strap-length, the next with black streaks, the next all blonde and butt-length again--from human to synth and so on. I'm sure it's pretty obvious, but I'm just way beyond caring what people think at this point. If they have a problem with the fact that someone has a topper or extensions or a wig or whatever, they're way too uptight, judgmental, and not worth knowing, as far as I'm concerned.
I love it when I see someone who's done something dramatic or unconventional with their looks. I think it takes balls, and I actually find it a lot more intriguing than "natural beauty"--whatever that is, lol.
I do think when your like me--with platinum extensions down to your butt and lots of makeup--people think it's cheap and trashy-looking. In fact, I've even overheard people saying that I look trashy. More often though, its people saying, "Oh, you'd look so pretty if you just toned it down a bit...." But life's way too short to worry about "fitting in." As long as it makes you happy and isn't hurting anyone else, it's worthwhile, imo.
"Trashy"...also known as "sexy", is in the eye of the beholder...and usually the beholder bestows that title because they are feelin' a little threatened and have insecurity issues. I loved this quote from a movie...."All women are beautiful...some just care more". I think the time and money we've all spent on extensions qualifies us as caring, so we must have a really beautiful group here! My extensions have been a gradual lengthening process...mainly because I looked like Billy Ray Cyrus with anything past my shoulders. Now that the top is growing I'm able to go longer. As far as people noticing...someone told me they liked me because I'm "real"...bear in mind I'm sitting there with extensions, fake eyelashes, and a wonderbra. They didn't have a clue
Psssh, hopefully they meant your personality! "Real" is such a stupid descriptor for outward appearances anyway.
As far as transitioning- very short to very long can be hard to hide, but I had a client who went from thin shoulder-length hair to 18" thick hair, and her co-workers would say things like, "Oh, you're finally wearing your hair down! It's so long when it's not in a ponytail"...and she hadn't even worn it in a ponytail much! :)
And then let's not forget the classmate of mine who said, "So, your hair right now...THAT's your real hair, right?" referring to my clown-head of short red and black dreads, which had previously been a sleek head of black/pink/purple braids, and was a full head of long black dreads before that (in the same semester- so he had seen all three hairstyles). Yeah, kid, I've been hiding these dreads under all those hairstyles this entire time. People are so oblivious about hair!
It seems that the majority of the population is oblivious when it comes to hair extensions/falls/etc. If it doesn't look like a cheap Halloween wig, it must be real. =)
Occasionally, I used to wear a very inexpensive super-curly synthetic clip-on fall, but the only person who ever even suspected was my dance teacher (who I'm sure has seen many a hairpiece in her time). And for Halloween '03, I wore waist-length black and red pigtail falls (my hair was at the time bleached light brown and midway between bra-length and waist-length) and my boyfriend didn't realize they weren't my real hair until I took them out (too many bobby pins jabbing into my skull!). Admittedly, boys are extra-oblivious.
People only see what they want to see, and if they don't understand it, they ignore it. (Which is why, as Jenny has said before, many black women can spot a weave at 50 yards! Because they tend to be more aware of extensions than people of other backgrounds.)
Liviray
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I went from shoulder length to full 22 inch extentions in a day...I live in SUPER CONSERTIVE midwestern town and my two daughters go to a private Parish school...and the day I showed up with my new hair everyone went nuts! They loved it, wanted to feel it, see how it was put in, know how much it cost...and some immediatly asked for the card of the gal who did it. I was excited with it and I guess since I didnt make a big deal about the 20 or so other moms didnt either.
Im not sure what they said behind my back...but I also really dont care cause I love my hair...real or not. The way I look at it is if your having fun with it everyone esle does too...everyone knows I have extentions~its not an issue.
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