Headaches, balding, and allergic reactions are all possible side effects of the aesthetic craze.
A 46-year-old social worker came into my office with terrible headaches. She'd already undergone a ten-thousand-dollar work-up that included an MRI of her brain and cerebral arteries. Several significant causes of head pain were ruled out by the MRI.
She gasped in discomfort as I checked the scalp over her left temple, the area she described as most painful. My fingertips had discovered numerous rows of tightly braided 22 inch flat hair extensions that had been installed two weeks previously, around the time her symptoms had started.
It wasn't the first time I'd encountered a patient with headaches caused by their hairstyle: tightly twisted ponytails, braids, and chignons may all cause them. While those styles are easily undone to relieve strain on the scalp, my patient was hesitant to have her extensions removed. That's because she'd spent eight hours in a salon chair getting them implanted and had decided to put up with the discomfort.
Hair extensions, which add volume and length to even the thinnest head of hair, are becoming increasingly popular. They're said to be worn by a slew of celebs. Hair extensions made of human hair, synthetics, or mixed blends can be added individually, in groups (weft), or via clip-on method. Small tufts of hair are added to natural hair portions in the strand-by-strand procedure. A horizontal hair curtain is fastened in the weft method. The hair is subsequently affixed to the head by bonding, gluing, heat fusing, metal tube clamping, or sewing in both processes. A typical full-head application to lengthen short hair can entail 100 to 200 extensions, costing hundreds to thousands of dollars and many hours at the salon.
The technique can result in traction alopecia, or hair loss and baldness as a result of the pulling and additional weight. Hair loss is thought to be caused by both the loosening of the hair shaft from the follicle and persistent inflammation. Hair extensions can cause tangling, matting, and loss of luster, as well as itching and, yes, pain, as my patient discovered. Sensitization to glues, rubbers, or other chemicals used for extension application and removal can potentially induce contact dermatitis and, in extreme situations, life-threatening allergic reactions.
Randee Bank, a tiny brunette who visits the salon where I get my hair done, said she loved the look of extensions so much that she wore them every day and was prepared to put up with the problems. She finally quit when she noticed many bald areas where the extensions had ripped out portions of her hair. Her hair will never come back, according to a dermatologist, due to irreparable damage to the hair follicles.
“They're all a disaster,” Bank says of the numerous approaches she's tried over the years. “When you pull them out, you look like a rat has eaten on your hair, so it becomes addicting, and you have no choice but to put them back in to disguise the damage they've caused.”
Celebrities may be thinking twice as well. Photographs of bald spots on singer Britney Spears and model Naomi Campbell have surfaced in tabloids, while Jennifer Aniston has revealed that extensions had caused her hair to shrink.
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