QuoteReplyTopic: I have GL extensions and need advice Posted: June 14 2006 at 6:56pm
I am new to extensions and this is my second set of gl ones..I was reading this forum and have seen where you shouldnt keep any extensions in longer than 3months...ok this makes sense to me and now I am getting freaked out...my first set was in 5 months and very painful getting removed..now this set was put in april6 that means they should be taken out..it makes me so angry that they tell you they last 5-6 months and they wont damage your hair ..I thought my hair was shorter and it was.I have fine hair and i got this system because i was told your hair will grow and its safe.is there anything safe...should i get gl again? should i just say forget it and try to fix my fine hair?I love the fact of having fuller long hair but i dont want my hair damaged...my hair will only grow naturally to my shoulders but its not thick its pathetic lol..I am going to the hairdresser tomorrow because 4 have matted she was going to replace them now i need advice on what to do so I can tell her because she will tell me they are fine..I live in a small town and all of the salons that do extensions do gl..so if someone could give me suggestions i would really appreciate it thankyou
Blondie1972
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I understand where you are coming from. It's frustrating to have someone tell you that your extensions can last 5 to 6 months and that they won't damage your hair... only to find out that this isn't true at all. Especially with the cost of Great Lengths.
If you got this set of GL on April 06, you can leave them in until about July 06... so you have 2-3 weeks left with them.
It's true, you aren't supposed to leave them in longer than three months MAXIMUM. Anything longer and you are probably going to cause damage to your hair due to natural shedding which can cause little dreads/tangles AND the natural shedding will cause extra weight on the extension with less hair now holding the extension onto your head.
I wish I could help you more, but I am pretty new to extensions as well. I have done a lot of research on them in an effort to find something that suits me best. I don't really have anything that I can suggest for you regarding the Great Lengths~ other than letting you know that I do think you should seriously consider what the girls on here are saying about the three months max simply because they all consistently say this and they all have YEARS and YEARS of combined experience with extensions.
Having said that~ everyone is very helpful and friendly on here and can likely help you to at least find another extension method that will be less costly~ which is of course better than paying high Great Lengths prices only to have them last three short months.
I wish you well!
1kathyann
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Heather I had GL extensions twice also and was also told the same thing..one it would help my fine hair grow out and also to leave them in 5 months at least. Well needless to say they did not help my hair, it is worse and I do not know the exact answer as to what will work but I am now a DIY'er and use wefts and Protac, to me I think this will be much better on my hair because the individual strand method would break off and leave me with hairs that were very short (many). I have only had this install in with the protac a couple weeks so can not report on if it helping or not.
You may want to try the sewin weave method but first get a consult to see if you can do this method with your hair. This method is done by your hair being braided and then wefts of hair sewn on the braid. This method is a lot cheaper and you buy your own hair online to bring to the weaver. I think that if done properly this method is one of the most natural looking and least damaging since you do not use any glues or chemicals on your hair. I have personally seen people wear this method and grow there own hair long in the process. A lot of your natural hair is braided so it is being protected from styling while you are wearing the weave,
http://public.fotki.com/prncezzral/
MaginOC
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Regarding the sew in weave method. As a professional extensionist, I've seen many girls come through the salon with little bald patches from serial sew in weaves. Those braids are very tight, and put a lot of tension on the hair. It's not a system I would recomend to someone with very fine hair. Also, there are limitations with being able to wear your hair up or in a high pony tail.
thats true magin oc the sewins can be done improperly and you can have hair loss if the hair is braided too tight. You have to make sure the stylist does not braid too tight, but if they dont braid it too tight and do it properly then I think this can really help your hair grow. The girls I have seen with this method had no breakage from it and they had fine hair to begin with and their own natural hair grew over 8 inches while wearing a sew in. If you do not get the tracks too low on your nape then you can wear a ponytail. I wear one that is in the middle of my head.
http://public.fotki.com/prncezzral/
Kalika
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The way GL attaches the hair is fusion. It's a keratin based glue they use to bond the extension hair to your own. They say you can wear the hair for 6 months because it helps you to justify the price, although wearing it that long is not recommended because of the matting issues previously discussed. If you like the method itself, you can get fusion done by another extensionest, or you can learn to do it yourself, for a fraction of the cost of Great Lengths.
We have a couple of extensionest's here in California who do it for $500 including the price of the hair. If you don't wish to travel or learn how to do it yourself, call around and ask for a ball park price quote from local extensionests in your area. Don't ask for Great Lengths, instead just ask if they do fusion.
Edit - another strand by strand method of application is the shrinkie method. It has the benifits of fusion in that its strand by strand, but the shrinkie method overall has less sheding, and is extremely do-it-yourself friendly. You take pretipped hair, and attach it to your own head, anchoring it on with adhesive lined heat shrink tubing. If you buy the hair pretipped it's a bit more expensive then tipping yourself, but its also less hassle. Buying 8oz of pretipped hair and the shrinkies should run you about $250 - $300. You can also reuse the hair, you just need to buy more shrinkies. All you need to invest is the heat clamp, which is about $50.
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