On Trial: Hair extensions

Features writer Natalie Pool was recently given the opportunity to flaunt long hair for the first time in her life, thanks to extensions from Great Lengths®. www.greatlengths.co.za

To read find out more about the process and Natalie’s hair-raising story, look out for the On Trial section in our April issue, on sale now.

Like the honeymoon phase of a new relationship, the first three months with my new imported hair has flown by. My love for my locks is so that I don’t know where my own hair begins and where the extensions begin. So you can imagine my horror when, one night, while spraying in some leave-in conditioner that smells like cupcakes, two blonde strands fall out in my hands. After hyperventilating into a paper bag for five minutes, I come to my senses and realise that I’m not actually going bald. But I’m not quite ready to let go and keep the strands in a tin next to my bed until I realise how disgusting that is, and throw them away. A week later another strand falls out in the middle of a particularly gruelling detangling session, and I briefly think about tying it back in.

This would be the point where I schedule an appointment with Delia from Great Lengths ® South Africa, who warned me this would happen any time from three to five months into the process and that all it takes is a bit of maintenance to replace the lost locks.

It has however become apparent to me that I am not a high- maintenance kind of gal and that it might just be easier to break up with my imported Indian tresses than to let our relationship drag on until we hate each other.

And so with a heavy heart I drop a line to Delia announcing that it’s time to let go…