I received the new link from hairpiece.com today, the are calling them Protubes.

They look almost exactly like my eurolocs link, but they are not made out of copper.  I think they are alluminum.  I ordered the 'small' size, and I think that will work well in most shoelace tipped hair.

I tried applying a few of them on a mannequin head with my eurolocs tool (which double crimps the loc) and it seemed like they  crimped nicely, with no sharp edges.

I really think that it's the euroloc's sharp edges that cause all the breakage in hair, so maybe these little guys will be more gentle on the hair. I hope so, because I have found that link applied with the double crimp Euroloc method  stays in the hair much better and anything I've used, including shrink links.

I've got a euroloc client coming in on Thursday for a removal and reinstallation, and I'll use the new links and let you know what I think after I have done a full head of them.

hi ya lisa

i received some too-

i like the regular size- the small one seemed to wide when i closed it.

i actually have one in my hair with a pink strand! - it went in very nicley and is tighter then the locs i currently use!

i also just installed a full head with extensions plus soft wear hair. So far so good! nice to have other options available!

i like the name- pro tubes.

Hi there!

Good to see you here!

I'm hoping these will work better than copper links.  Overall, I like the idea behind installing with links, even better than shrinkies, as long as no damage results, of course.

When I put a few on my mannequin today, it does seem like these things crimp down tightly.  But then again , I double crimped with my euroloc tool .

I wonder if any other company makes the tool that will double crimp links?  I know I paid $750 for my tool from Eurolocs!

Hey Mocha,

Tomorrow I'll bring the eurolocs tool home and photograph it.

I'll start a new thread and post the pic.

If you want to do links, double crimping is the only way to go , as they stay in like 10 times better.

I'm still not sure where unlicensed people can get such a tool, though.

Ouch!  $700... !!  Marie, I can't believe yours broke!  I would be so pissed. 

Metalgirl, did you post a pic in another thread?  I'm gonna go search....  I'm very curious to see the double crimper too!

I don't think hairpiece has put the protubes on the site yet, but they do have them.  You will have to call them and ask for them.  They sell 250 for $40.

Sorry, I forgot the eurolocs tool!  I'll get a photo of it up soon, as it is interesting and very different than any other link tool I have ever seen.

The eurolocs tool is a all in one tool.

It has has a 'gulley' area to fold the link like a taco, a flat area to compress that taco into a 'book' and on the end are 2 pinchers that are used to reopen the link.

To reopen, you insert the pinchers in the link (top and bottom) and just kind of jiggle it around, and it reopens the link.

Some Euroloc stylists think that the sharp points on the pinchers could cause breakage.  I'm not sure, maybe.  Some of my client's hair was destroyed by Eurolocs and some do quite well with it, so it's hard to say what's really going on.

Hi Lisa and everybody!;

It's me Charlene!  Thanks for telling me about this GREAT forum!  Yeah, I paid $1600 for the Easy Hair "EuroLocs" kit back in 1996.  Then I broke my tool and had to pay $500  They sent me a new one with a 'stopper' in between the clamp so if you were to press really hard, your clamp won't break in 2.

So I discovered these less expensive tubes at the hair show in NYC and use a home depot clamp for about $2 and it works better than that costly clamp.  Mine are still in my hair!  Thank God!

If you add more pretip hair inside the metal, you won't need to fold it like a book.  Back when I did Easy Hair "EuroLocs" in 1996, the hair was very thin, like 1/2 the size of what today's pretips look like, so we were taught to fold it like a book.

But folding it like a book, I had to insert the pointy ends to remove them, which acts like 'sharp teeth' and unfortunately, I cut off my client's hair- darn.

I am very happy with this new same but less expensive metal.  It's nice and thin.  They told me it is made of aluminum.  I use my $2 clamp and fold it nice and tight and flat.  Feels flat not pointy too.  So far, so good; for now.....

Charlene

Hi Jenny,

I can't comment on HairLocs cause I don't offer that.  I do know that the guy who invented HairLocs used to be a EuroLocs distributor.  He just made the 'Locs' technique better.  I was at the show in NYC and boy did he have a huge booth- stage and everything!  Whoa!  He had a huge variety of metals in lots of different sizes, different colors too!  Whereas the EuroLocs and the Short to Long had a booth the size of my bathroom with not a lot of variety.  But if I were to go back in time and choose between the the 2 'Locs' for classes, I would have used my money for HairLocs. 

EuroLocs charged me $1600 for a 5 minute class and bounced me from distributors all over the world from MN, to Canada, to FL.  And the hair, I ordered, forget it, I would receive it in like 3 months.  I also bought bad hair from them at one point.  Honestly speaking, this company was very, very disorganized.  Which is why HairLocs was born :b {I'm so jealous of all you hairlocs girls, darn I wish I would of had the oppty. to be part of the west coast team when 'Euro' was renamed 'Hair'}

However, all what it is- is metal, a clamp, pretip hair, and the threader.  I bought the hairpiece long threader too.  It's the same as what HairLocs uses.  Paid $20 at the show!

I do like to turn the flatten shell on its edges to open it up as oppose to inserting those pointy things.  I want to keep my clients' hair safe from breakage or else they'll never make an appt. with me again!

Charlene

Thanks Marie,

But I'm talking about that very long one, the one that holds like 50 metals.  It is a long stick about 18 in. long.

Back then Euro did not gived certificates.  Short to Long inventor was a Euro distributor.  So I am not going to order from the same company.  I like her very much, but hair I ordered in the past was no good.  I cannot afford to have my clients complain.  Maybe her hair changed but I'm not going through the 'testing' business again and again.

Once a company sends me bad hair and my clients will complain; they better believe that I will cross their name off my list- for good.  I don't care if they changed their business name or whatnot.

I really like this hp metal, their threader, their hair- so, so.  And my $2 clamp works- forget about those easy to break expensive ones.  However, I will use my 100% virgin hair to pretip- know of any company that can pretip hair with a machine?

Charlene

Marie, They do have the wider ones for $15.

Hey, you know you can extend the life of your long shells just by cutting it in half!  So if you ordered 250, you can get 500!  My friend does that.  She uses a metal cutter.

Good Luck, Charlene

cutting the tubs in half- now that is interesting- what kind of  metal cutter does she use so it doesnt squeeze the ends together and does it make the ends sharp>?

 thanks

CyberMane wrote:   I do like to turn the flatten shell on its edges to open it up as oppose to inserting those pointy things.  I want to keep my clients' hair safe from breakage or else they'll never make an appt. with me again! Charlene

that works great, there is always room on the side edge to open it up without causing damage to the hair.

the threading needle that you are talking about is very fragile on the top, i have gone thru two already!

She says a wire cutter or something, I'll try it one of these days, but I always have tons of metals in stock.

Charlene

Metalgirl,

I went to the hairpiece.com website and could not find the pro-tubes. Did you have to call them directly to order them? What type of tool did you use to install them? I don't have a Eurolock tool.

Sky,

I did call hairpiece to order the protubes, and I did use my euroloc threader.

Any wire will work for a threader though.

Metalgirl,

Do you think I can use my flatnose plier to close the protube?

Marie 87,

Do you have the contact information for Short 2 Long?

Hi everybody,

Sherrie- I don't know about that part.  But I do use the short metals and had no problem- so far...  The shorter ones costs $15.  I'm thinking probably some jewelry cutter or something.  Can someone who makes jewerly care to post?

Skyeam- I use my cheap $2 plier from Home Depot.  It's the cheapest and the best.

All my best, Charlene

Oka, Thanks Charlene. Off to Home Depot I go!