Pixie to shoulder-length in 5 months! PIX

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   Woo Hoo!  Here's my Pro-Tac success story: 

In August I had an ultrashort black pixie cut.  I had worn very short hair 

most of my adult life, believing that my fine, straight hair couldn't be 

worn any other way.  I believed that extensions were expensive, time-

consuming, bad for your hair, and that they always looked cheesy.  My 

hair was always a heartbreaker for me.  I'm 50 years old, six feet tall, and 

not a petite woman.  My hair was always so thin and scraggly looking, no 

matter what I did.  I dress well and am skillful with makeup but always 

felt that I looked less than great because of my stupid hair.  Asthetically, I 

felt out of balance with a big head, a long muscular body and tiny little 

hair, but I really believed I had no other option than short hair.

(Picture 1 at bottom)

I found HairBoutique.com early last year when I was trying to figure out 

how to do my hair coloring myself.  With my first successful home color 

application I became instantly hooked as a DIYer!  I wandered into the 

Extensions Forum one day and couldn't believe that women like myself 

were having longer gorgeous hair and doing the extensions themselves!  I 

became an Extensions Forum addict, reading every post and pouring over 

the before-and-after pictures.  I realized that maybe I too could have 

great hair.

So, in September I started to grow out my hair.  I am a very grumpy 

person during the grow-out process, so I decided to buy a wig to get me 

through the rough times.  What a great decision that turned out to be!  I 

found a nice synthetic wig with long layers to the shoulder.  When I was 

trying them on I realized how harsh black hair looked on me.  (My 

natural color is a Level 5 light ash brown, but I'd been black for years.)  

The wig I purchased was a dark auburn brown that exactly matches Elite 

Remy #2.  I found when I was wearing my new hair that I felt more 

confident, looked more balanced, and certainly got a lot more 

compliments and attention.  The softer warmer color allowed me to wear 

less makeup and look more natural. I was in love with my new look. In 

early September I underwent color correction to match my own hair to the 

deep auburn of my wig.  

After five months of enduring awkward growing-out hair, my top hair has 

grown to about 4 1/2" and the sides and lower back to 3 1/2".  Here is 

my "before" picture (I can't believe I'm putting this on the 

Internet.)

(Picture 2 at bottom)

My hair and products arrived last week.  I was thrilled to see that the #2 

hair was a decent match.  So, this Thursday, I did my color, darkening the 

reddish highlights on the top a bit to match my extension hair.  Then, 

Friday was the big day!  I was so nervous to be gluing stuff into my hair.  I 

stood there with the first weft all ready to go in for about two minutes 

wondering if I really wanted to do this.  I am SO glad I did!

Here's what I put in my hair:  I bought 4 oz. of Amm's Elite Remy natural 

body wave microwefts in color #2 and a bunch of Pro-Tac tapes.  I put 

three single wefts in a horseshoe shape around my head.  I have a big 

head so these pieces were about 14" long.  I put them a little on the lower 

side because I have a funky cowlick in the back of my hair that causes it 

to separate and I wanted the first weft just below the separation so it 

wouldn't be visible.  I glued the top weft with only 1/2 a Pro-tac tape on 

the underside of the weft.  The other two, I sandwiched.  I put two shorter 

pieces on the sides closer to the part and also only taped the underside of 

these.  I sandwiched one shorter piece across the lower part of the back 

near the nape.The installation was easy.  I took about two hours because I 

was nervous and overly careful.  I know it will take less than an hour the 

next time I do it.

When I was done my hair looked ridiculous!  I had this short stuff on the 

top and then about 16" of long thin hair hanging down.  My partner called 

me "mullet-head" all night long!  I knew until I could get it styled it was 

going to look pretty weird.  Finally, yesterday I went to my stylist for a 

haircut.  She freaked because I walked in with a long ponytail!  She 

razored the heck out of it to blend my short layers.  

Final outcome:  Although I have to work at getting some volume in below 

my layers to fill in the sides, I've got about 95% of what I dreamed of!  I 

know that as those short layers grow out I'll have more fullness where I 

need it.  We went out to celebrate last night and I kept touching my hair. I 

had to remind myself I wasn't wearing a wig.  I LOVED waking up this 

morning, looking touseled.  I've been playing with it all day!  

My hair isn't very oily so I will probably not wash it the first time for a day 

or two more, but these Pro-tac tapes feel like they're really stuck in there.  

I'm a little nervous about the first wash, but am prepared with a new 

shower filter and the right shampoo.  If they stay put after the first wash 

I'll be a happy woman indeed.

I'm a perfectionist so am planning a few changes for my next install.  I'm 

going to double the two top long wefts and am planning to sew them 

together to help keep them in.  I ordered more hair this morning, and 

also ordered some Elite individual strands and the stuff to put in 

shrinkies.  I'm planning to leave off the two little side pieces with my next 

installation and experiment with shrinkies around the crown.  I think this 

will give me less flatness in that area where I really need more hair.

(Picture 3 at bottom)

I don't think I'll ever want long, down-to-my-butt hair.  I am SO happy 

with this pretty shoulder-length do.  It is truly astounding to me that I 

could have gone from almost no hair in September to this in early 

February.  Every time I look in the mirror today I want to cry.  I've read 

posts from other women with very short hair wondering if it is possible, 

and how long it might take to have seriously longer hair with extensions.  

I hope my experience shows that with a little patience and only a few 

months, miracles can happen!

Edited by kristie m