By Kelvin Tshuma 
Every style conscious lady out there wants long flowing hair that turns heads everywhere they go. We look to the A-list celebs of the moment for inspiration and envy their fantastic styled hair when they appear on these fashionable hair care ads, with not a wisp of hair out of place. Flicking their shiny tresses making us sick with jealousy.
Many of us of course are born with thin, brittle and weak manes that wouldn’t impress the cat never mind anyone else. We don’t have expensive stylists on hand every minute of the day to correct every hair or makeup disaster.
We normal folk would probably spend a small fortune at an expensive salon to get the same look as these hyped up celebs.
Why to go for Hair Extensions?
Hair Extensions
By Bridget Christian under CC BY-SA 2.0
Our modern day lives have a lot to answer for: constantly rushing here and there, cheating our way to better styled hair by using products containing harsh chemicals that tend do more harm than good in the long run. We look for products to use when it’s windy, wet, sunny and even to protect our hair when we are blow-drying and straightening, but all this preening takes it’s toll; making our locks brittle, dry, dull, lifeless and lank. Not only is it the products we use but also the surroundings that we are living in that has a harsh effect on our hair. Fumes from cars and chemicals in the place we live and work cause immense damage too.
So what do the celebs do? Do they grow their hair long, treat it with love and respect? Give it every treatment it needs to be healthy? No of course they don’t! They style and coiff their tresses into many different styles and shapes, reinventing themselves with each and every different style. Damaging their hair frequently and sometimes beyond repair.
And so how do they do it? Answer is they cheat! They get hair extensions. They are available in many different colours and styles, whether you want to stand out in a crowd with loud, bright colours or match your present hair colour for a more natural look, adding volume and maybe hi-lights or low lights.
Hair Extensions trend in the past
The rising trend for hair extensions isn’t a modern day phenomenon but goes back thousands of years. The Ancient Egyptians were sporting ultra modern weaves in around 3400BC. Pharaohs and the well-to-do in society were using hair extensions made from human hair that were woven or tied into the hair with complex knots while the poorer Egyptians made their hair extensions from plant fibres.
The Victorians just a hundred and fifty years ago wore expensive, powdered human hair wigs imported from France which showed others how wealthy they were. Both men and women wore these fantastic wigs, women taking it one stage further by weaving their hair pieces into ornate knots and braids, creating opulent hairstyles.
In the early 1900s hair extensions called switches were made from human hair, in natural colours, which were worn clipped into the hair. They were an expensive luxury that many couldn’t afford. Costing from around ￡1 for a small switch to ￡20 for a customized style, they would probably bankrupt most of us in modern times, as this would be equivalent to around ￡1500!
So hair extensions aren’t purely a modern day trend, but have been around for many years just fading in and out of popularity, just as we find with most fashion trends over the years.