The long and short on hair extensions.

Until fairly recently, we did not really have much option to choose between having great looking short or long hair - it was a matter of one or the other. OK - there have been hair-pieces and wigs around for centuries but they obviously did not look like human hair. So if we decided to go for short hair, we knew that if we didn't get it right we were stuck with it until it grew out. These days though, modern technology has given us hair extensions that look as good as our own hair - and sometimes better!

Synthetic or real human hair? Strands or wefts?

It probably goes without saying that human hair extensions are regarded as the best. While there have been huge advances in the look and feel of synthetic hair accessories, it still does not compare to human hair. The problem with human hair is it's not so easily 'manufactured' and is therefore more expensive.

The other major consideration when deciding on going for hair extentions is the way in which they are going to be attached to your existing hair. There are many different ways of attaching the extension available on the market. The most commonly available are just simple clip-on extensions that match your existing hair color and are designed to be worn just for a day or an evening. However if you are looking for something more permanent there are two main ways - by strands or by wefts.

The individual strands method involves gluing, clamping or heat fusing up to 50 strands at a time of extension hair to your own hair. The big downside to this system is that

1. it involves coating your hair with a chemical substance

2. it only lasts a few months before the extensions have to be removed and done all again, and

3. it invariably damages your natural hair.

A much better way of attaching extensions is using wefts. A weft is small veil of hair extension that is stitched at the top and left to hang loose at the bottom. Before attaching the wefts, your hairdresser will braid your natural hair in horizontal 'corn-rows' across the back of your head. The wefts are then sewn to the braids and blended in with the natural hair that remains unbraided. After about 8 weeks as your natural hair has grown, its simply a matter of a visit back to the hairdressers to remove the wefts, redo the hair braids and resew the wefts back on again. No chemicals, no pulling and no damage.

When done properly, you will notice something on your head for a couple of days and then you'll forget you even have extensions - until you look in the mirror.