Hi, I am a stylist in Ky, and was wanting to get involved in hair extensions, but there are so many kinds, and so many systems.  I have no idea where to start, I would really love to tackle the whole hair loss industry.  Could one of you veterans lead me down the right path,  and tell me also how to build business? 

Thanks a million,  lilly bug

In the hair extension world, there's 'strand' applications and 'weft' applications.  By far the most popular, are the strand applications.

Of the strand applications there are:

• fusion (hot glue method)
• shrink tubes
• microrings (metal crimping tubes)
• pinchbraiding

I've done all the above methods and like the shrink tubes and microrings the best.  I also like pinchbraiding, but  it takes me a very long time to do a full head, so I don't use that method often.

You should get yourself one of those doll heads and start practicing.  You can buy your supplies at shrinkies.net.

Look at tutorials on this site and also at shrinkies.net and yourhairshop.com.  Also hairpiece.com has come good ones too.

Read all the info you can about proper extension placement and removal.  After you practiced a lot of the doll head, it's time to recruit a good friend as your first human guinea pig.

Good luck!

Metalgirl,

Thanks alot for responding, have you ever worked with Hairlocs?   I was also wondering if I should spend $1000.  on a workshop?  Or just practice.  Plus I have no idea what to charge?  Did you learn on your own?

Thanks again,  lillybug

Hi,

I have not taken the Hairlocs course, but I have taken the Eurolocs course and that is quite similar. 

I like Hairlocs except the fact that they used to tell you  (I don't know if they still do tell their students this) that for mantenence, all you have to do is just 'push up' the loc that has grown out, instead of the correct way, which is to remove completely and than reinstall.

I have probably spent close to $10,000 on classes if you include traveling to classes and all the associated expenses.  I have gone to several, and they were well worth it, even if I didn't end up using that method, I still learned something.

Not trying to be a 'know it all', but because I have such passion for doing extensions and have studied ,researched , and have been doing them for 15 years, I pretty much know about all the methods out there, and of course I picked my favorites to use in my business.

Hi,

I'm torn now should I go to Ultratress,  Great Lengths, or Hairlocs, or do you recommend something else? I really appreciate your time.

  There is someone else called connectionsforhair.com that is selling a marketing plan.  I'll e-mail it to your site.  I am so gullible at this stage, will you tell me what you think?

  And personally I need to know someone that knows it all.

  Thanks again, Lillybug

Hi,

I did get that flyer that you sent from the Connections people, and they sure do a good job at hyping up their seminar.  It sounds intriguing, but I wouldn't spend the $1577 that they want for the seminar.  First off, I think they just offer fusion (hot glue) for their method. 

 Secondly, I have a bachelor's degree in marketing, so I am very familiar with how to market a business.  It would be more cost effective and you can find all you need to know about how to market your business by going to your local bookstore and buying a few books on marketing a small business.  There are many good titles.  I like the book called "Guerilla Marketing".  That guy wrote a whole series on clever and inexpensive ways to market your business.

Now since you asked....

I don't like Great Lengths at all.  I don't like fusion extensions because they can shed a lot and sometimes are hard to get out of the hair.  I really don't like Great Lengths because they try to dictate what their stylists should (over) charge the client.  I'm self employed, and I want to set my own prices, thank you...

Also, because GL makes you charge so much (they will suspend your account if they find you are charging less than what they tell you to charge) they unfortunately instruct their extensionists to tell their clients that they can safely keep the extensions in for 6 months or more, in order to get the client to spend the $2K on the extensions.  In reality, no extension should stay in the hair longer than 12 weeks.  It is just not safe and healthy for the natural hair. 

Ultratress is produced by the hair piece company called  Gemtress.  I went their training in Florida a few years ago.  I liked it a lot.  I learned the Ultratress extensions ( the skin weft and the strands) and also women's hair replacement.

I don''t think their hair is top quality, but I just received a memo from them indicating that they will soon be offering European hair.

The Ultratress skin wefts are good, I use them on some people, but most clients want strands, not wefts.  The Ultrastrands are ok, but again, they are only fusion.

I think Hairlocs is ok, as long as you don't buy into their way of doing maintenance.  (I mentioned that in the previous post).  I have heard that they have recently had problems getting quality hair, meaning you may get a 'good' batch from them, and then a bad one on the next order.  I also heard that since they are having supply problems, it is taking them a long time to fufill orders.  Most extension clients want the hair like 'yesterday', they don't want to wait 2-3 weeks.

I do the shrink links: http://www.markbarrington.com - www.markbarrington.com

I have also been doing a lot of the new silicone lined microrings.

Good luck!

Lillybug - I can empathize with your situation as many months ago I was in your spot.  I chose not to go around and take a bunch of formal courses, instead, I spent countless hours, days, and months as an observer on this board.  I contacted the members I felt were the most knowledgeable and even flew down to California to do some one-on -one training with one of the best.

I am in NO WAY knocking taking "classes" but I can only share with you my personal experience.  I did a lot of homework, asked a lot of questions ( remember... no question is a stupid question! ), and practiced a lot on family and friends.  I am of course still learning but already have been able to expand my existing business to include a very busy extension business.  I have not taken one formal class. 

Bottom line, you can take a gazillion classes and still be a complete idiot when it comes to extensions....they don't even teach you much in cosmetology school about it...certainly not the latest methods... 

Becoming proficient in this field takes natural talent, desire, hard work,a willingness to learn, a support group ( like here), and practice, practice, practice!   Best of luck to you!  Let me know if there is anything I can do to help!!

Thanks so much for all your help, both of you.

I am like a sponge right now, I am very eager to do this.

And metalgirl, you are a God send, thank-you for taking your time with me, and giving your honest opinion saving me thousands of $$$.

Your word has almost become gospel to me.  I have contacted the site you told me about.  And I've heard of that book before.

I looked at Dr (whatever) site he has some starter kits too, on shrinkies,  thought I might purchase and start practicing,  what do you all think? 

Thank. lillybug

As a liscensed professional, i totally reccommend taking classes, as many as you can. There are alot of things they can teach you besides reading how to master a tenique and method.

I have been doing hairlocs for over three years now and from that i have also developed my own safer way to install, and remove and do maintance, i am also in the end stages of deveoping my own method for installing wefts, major thickness, and easy to install and they stay in like no ones business. As soon as i have all the details ironed out, i will be offering a class to liscensed pros, as well as developing curriculm for the cosmotology schools.(yes they are now going to offer extension training in beauty school.)

my advice is you can never take too many classes. As metal said, you learn something every class you take. It is also good to show your clients that you are certified, it makes for a more professional appearance and they know for sure you have been properly trained. Just my opinion thats all.

It works for me, i am booked solid 4 days a week 10 hrs a day!

Good Luck to you- great to have you on our board.

Thanks Tangles, I guess I will be running off to hairlocs or Ultratress.

I was wanting to help men and women both with real thin crowns.  What do you do for that?  Maybe Ultratress would be more beneficial.

what do you think you are clearing an hour?  I'm clearing about $30 an right now. 

For thin crown areas, that's definitely a hair piece issue.  Contact Gemtress (also known as Onrite- that's their men's division).  I did their 3 day women's hair replacement academy and it was excellent.  I want to go back and do the men's academy soon.

A while back when I took the Invisible Extension course ( I would not recommend that method) the instructor said that a hair extension artist should be making between $80-$100 per hour.  Most extensionists, including myself, price our services as such.  I do know some extensionists who are charging and getting up to $200 per hour.

Hello Lillybug, I am to like you and just starting to offer extensions in my salon. I have been certified as an extensionist through Marcella Ellis in Dallas. Extension (strand by strand method) is not widely recognized in this area. Maybe in Houston, Austin and Dallas, but the surrounding areas have to go to those big towns and have extensions performed. I did my first fusion after I returned from my class. It was easier said than done. The flyer on the stylist (hairconnections) is true in one since, we have to market our business in order to succeed. I have just began marketing and I have also become quite intrigued by this board. They have been so knowledgeable. I hate the fact that I found out about this board after I spent $1000 on that class in Dallas. I learned four methods, and all were in Hair Extensions FAQ 101.

I am still undecided as to whether I want to offer just cold fusion or both, but the more you know the more marketable you are. Good luck in your studies and continue to research.

Shiry

Well Metalgirl,

 I have decided to go to Gemtress,  they offer  a 4 day class, Hands on training on strand by strand, weft, and hair pieces, for $1800.  My goal is to help men and with thinning hair problems, and I don't think I can do that without getting hair piece knowledge.

  Maybe some day I'll have some knowledge to help out others on the chat line.

  Oh by the way, have anyone heard of Invisible Hair they are in San
Diego?  They do hair pieces.

  Lillybug

Don't waste your money on Invisible hair!!!!

I took that class about 3 years ago.  What they did, was basically take the concept of hair piece grafts (that full head bonding of hair pieces) and try to apply it to extensions.

So, what you get is basically a very thick and heavy 'skin' type weft that you take hair piece adhesive (they recommended Max Grafting adhesive) and you glue that big ole,thick piece down onto the client's scalp.  So much glue is involved, it is a nightmare to get out.  I had to cut some of it out of my client's hair.  That is hair piece glue and is not meant for extensions.

I might also mention I wore these things myself for about 3 weeks until I had to rip them off my head they were so horrible.  I had installed them on 3 clients, and all of us experienced the same problems.  The biggest problem was that you are supposed to 'graft' this thing on the scalp and form a water tight bond.  Easier said than done, taking trying to get extension strips (about 1" wide) to wrap around a curved head and be water tight.

So the big problem was that since I found it impossible to get a water tight bond, when water got underneath the extension, bacteria was formed and made me and my clients itch like crazy.  I swear, I was obessively itching 24/7.  So were my clients and they begged me to get them out of their hair too.

I called Dawn Harrison, the company's founder, and she admitted that the itching was a common problem, and to use vinegar to help relieve it.  Well, the vinegar helped a little bit,  but I really couldn't concentrate on anything because my head itched so bad all the time.  I literally ripped them out of my hair, and that rock hard glue took a lot of my hair with it.

When I went to remove it from my client's hair, we ended up ripping out some of her hair too.   I was freaking out because so much of her natural hair was coming out, I was trying to hide it in my pockets so she wouldn't see it and freak out too.  Fortunately she was already a long standing client, and loves me to pieces, and she didn't get mad.  She just said that was the most horrible method ever and she doesn't want that again.

Anyway, you will be very happy with the Onrite/Gemtress course.  If I were you I'd take that one, and still experiment with the shrinkies or the microrings too.

Good luck!

Metalgirl,

You're too good,  I did order on of the starter kits of shrinkies off one of the sites you told me about.   Thanks for the heads up about invisible hair.

You're a money saver,  Thanks a million, lillybug

Hello everyone, I rattled on and probably was not very clear. I am not discouraging anyone from taking training. I am still researching myslelf. As a stylist I think a person should use what they are comfortable with. I have used the hot fusion and it was okay; but I didn't like the type of adhesive. It looked like pellets at the point of the extension and the hair. So, I am not happy with the hot fusion because I have not found the adhesive that looks natural looking. So I have turned to the shrinkies and microrings. The only other conflict is the type of hair to use and where to order for ethnic hair.

The last thing is turning my salon into a hair replacement center. I have visited http://www.cindycut.com - www.cindycut.com . Does anyone know are use their products

Shiry

I've been on the cindycut website and have received their brochure.  They are simply a reseller, not a manufacturer, so they do not have the best prices on things.

For hair pieces, go to the manufacturer- http://www.onrite.com - www.onrite.com or http://www.newconceptshairgoods.com - www.newconceptshairgoods.com   or http://www.internationalhairgoods.com - www.internationalhairgoods.com