QuoteReplyTopic: Awesome Great Lengths rec in Chicago Posted: April 13 2005 at 9:24pm
"If you had to fall in love with your hair
stylist, you’d want him to be James Adams. He’s got it all...clients have nearly bribed
the front desk to get in and said they would pay anything he wanted...."
Thanks for your response. Hey if you want to show me how to apply the shrinkies, I'd pay you for your time. Possibly show me microlinks also to see if I might prefer that method. When I got my hair done with Great Lengths, that was the first time for me for extensions. I still have the hair system on my head until my hair starts growing out. I want to make sure that it works for me and my hair on top starts growing. I previously had bought my hair wefts/wigs at Dorothy's Boutique in Boston. I'll get more HH but not sure if I should get it already preglued or not. Just trying to learn the lingo and see what would work. This site is great!
mochachip
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I use a combo of things on my own. i don't personally do much in
the way of natural looking extensions (I use blue and yellow and purple
hair al the time) so sometimes I use braids oor sometimes i use tie ins
(pinchbraids with all the hair incorporated so that you can see the
knots.)
However I have used microlinks and currently have a full head of
shrinkies in. This is my first expereince with shrinkies and they
aren't all bad. And I have the heat wand whichis the most
expensive part beyond the hair so...
I have done highlights on friends and my sister with microrings but in
general have not done others hair. But I'd certainly be willing
to spend a day helping out with an install, sharing advice and
equipment so you could see if shrinkies would work for you.
What kind of hair do you use? jusst great lengths? Are you
planning on getting HH again? What kind? I have zero human
hair experience but again would love to coop one day.
How are they slipping? I'm not a fusion kinda gal so I really only skim the info on that as it circulates.
:)al
updowngirl
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Hi, ya, I just noticed that it said I was from the UK so I changed it. Thanks! I'm on the south shore also. I just spoke with my hairdresser that places my hair systems for me and told her I wanted to wean off the systems slowly. (It's a pain going every single month to get it reglued and they also slip, and they never match my real hair!)
Which method do you use, Mochachip? I was thinking of trying Shrinkies, because from what I have been reading, they are the least detectable and they work good for thin,baby fine hair. What's your opinion? Do you do other people's hair? What do you use on your own?
mochachip
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updowngirl: I'm just a DIYer but I'm about 45 minutes to an hour south of Boston.
All the methods, Great Lengths (other fusion), Shrinkies,
Microrings/Extendtubes, Pinchbraids, Heatseals, in that they are strand
by strand. For each method there is at least one person here who
does them DIY.
For the flyaway issue that's picking the right hair. I don't know HH so I can't help on that.
Umm but your profile says you're in the UK...
updowngirl
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This is a great source of information, wish I had found it sooner! This is my first posting and I just wanted to thank you all for your experiences! I have thin fine baby hair and started wearing wigs when I had a modeling job eons ago in my early 20's. I loved the way having hair felt! So then I progressed to the Hairclub for Men method. Can't think of the name at the moment. They glue on the top and you have to go every month and get it reattached and keep buying hair. Well now the top of my head has a bald ring around it from the hair pulling out! So about a month ago, I went and had Great Lengths put in on the sides and back of my hair (still wearing the other thingamajig on the top) WAY too expensive. Paid about $800. They feel good and natural but they don't match the other hair texture. The Great Lengths hair is also very fly-away! I wanted to see if the extensions could be a permanent solution eventually when the top hair grows back. My question is, is the Great Lengths method similar to the shrinkies method? Will I be able to put my own in? Does anyone out there live in the Boston area that knows how to do this? I am sick of shelling out so much dough for my hair when I'm not even that happy about it!
If, after trying GLs this time, you're interested in other installment
options, there are many other places in Chicago that do extensions.
There's Milio's of course, a girl at Orbitz, and me (at Stone Garden
Studio). All three of us offer pinchbraids, a non-glue-based
installment method that is usually less than half as expensive as GLs.
Six months? Yikes!! Were the bonds like 3 inches away from your roots at that point?
So it does sound like you're having breakage on removal, correct?
Well, again, it's really your decision, but I had GLs, which I paid
$2300 for, and I have to tell you, I feel it was a total waste of money
and really compromised my hair a lot. But everyone's different, so this
may not be the case for you.
Regardless of the extension method used, you should not leave extensions in the hair more than 12 weeks! If they told you anything different, (like GL people are quite infamous for saying it can be in for 6 months) than they obviously don't care about your hair!
That's the problem with GL, you pay an arm and a leg for them, so naturally you want to wear them as long as possible.
You need to try another method, there are so many methods where the hair is RESUABLE, so you don't have to buy new hair each time, which is what drives up the cost so much. I offer Shrink Links to my clients, and we only puchase hair for them 1 time a year! So the initial cost may be $1000 with the hair purchase, but than every 3 months they are only paying me $250-$400 to remove and reinstall the hair.
Do more research or recruit a mom, sister, girlfried, boyfriend, husband, or just grab a homeless person off the street and learn how to DIY! (just kidding about the homeless person...)
Shrinkies or Extentube are easy to learn with a little practice and will be much more gentle on your fine hair.
Also, clip in wefts are great, give a nice look, and after you buy them, there's no further cost.
We are happy you are happy with your hair, but we've been there, done that, and most likely you will see more and more damage in your hair upon each removal, and if your hair is fine and thin, you can't afford to mess it up!
sesame617
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Ok so I AM happy with my GL's right now. But if this changes or I decide I really am crazy for spending this kind of money I will make a change.
How long do you think it will be before I would see major damage to my hair? I have very thin, baby fine hair that is curly. The first time I had the ext. out there was a very noticeable difference in my hair and I was mortified. The woman had a girl who had never removed ext. before and she ended up pulling out my own hair at times.
This time out there was breakage but my hair had grown a ton. Plus Spyro took his time and my own hair actually felt good afterwards. I left my ext. in way too long, 6 months, and there were a couple of places it had tangled above the bond terribly.
Do you see the damage after years of use or quickly or does it just really depend?
One of my concerns is that I get a lot of wear out of the GL's and I am afraid, if unreasonably so, that I would not be able to wear another method as long. And while I could buy 3 or more sets of others for the price of one GL's, the time sitting is what drives me nuts!!
I would love not to spend 1000.00 plus on hair!!
But I am also not talented enough to do any of it myself and I
don't know anyone personally that would be able to either.
Well, basically any method you'd get would be significantly cheaper
than GLs, even if you got them done in a salon: pinchbraids,
heat-seals, Shrink links, wefts, extendtubes, other kinds of fusion,
and so forth. But again, as long as you're happy with it, that's what
counts.
I will say that the GLs hair is very good, but there's lots of other
hair that's comprable to it for a lot less money. I also think that the
GLs process--melting Keratin glue into the hair and removing it with
Isopropyl alchohol/acetone--compromises the hair, if not immediately,
then over time.
Well, I have to tell you--I think you can get comprable hair with a
gentler process for a lot less money. But if you're happy with it,
that's what counts. :)
sesame617
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I am here! And have been for quite a while before posting but I had never registered to do so.
And I work full time and go to school part time so sorry I didn't check back immediately!
I did tons of research before getting the GL's a year ago for the first time. I met with several people that did ext. and saw samples of the hair and I didn't find anything in this area like it.
I did switch "installers" since the last one was charged 2200.00 for 2 bundles of hair, removal of the first round--which were almost gone anyway--and a single process root only color.
I would love not to spend 1000.00 plus on hair!! But I am also not talented enough to do any of it myself and I don't know anyone personally that would be able to either.
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