Hi, I'm KM and I used to be a hair extension junkie. This started about a month before my 20th birthday. I didn't realize this at the time, but now looking back I realize that I was very insecure about my appearance. I felt I was pretty, but I didn't feel like my hair was long enough (although it was a nice shoulder-length hairstyle). I decided to go to a consultation with a "Master Hair Weaver." She gave me quite the sales pitch. She convinced me to go with the most expensive hair weave she offered. She then asked me when did I want to come back to have the weave done. I told her I was ready now. So after a few hours, I had long hair close to the small of my back. I was excited--overjoyed. Even though I was over $300 poorer and my phone was cut off, I was happy because I had the long hair I always wanted. Before I left the salon, I was concerned about the condition of my natural hair. I felt like "The Master Weaver" didn't care much about it, but I didn't say anything because I was too overjoyed with my long, beautiful hair. I got so many compliments about it. No one could tell it was a weave! That made me even happier! I became hooked on the high I experienced because of the weave. I went to the salon every two weeks to make sure that my weave still looked good so I could maintain my high. I wore the weaves long. I wore them not so long. I did roller sets with it. Spiral curls. Straight styles. After about a year and a half, I started to get bored with all the different weave styles I did. I missed the initial high I felt when I went for the first time. I saw a picture of Tyra Banks, and she inspired me. I went to my hairdreser and told her I wanted reddish brown hair. She removed my natural dark brown hair color and deposited a reddish shade into it (she forgot the brown part). She also relaxed my new growth (big mistake, but I'll get to that part later). She put in the long reddish hair weave. I left the salon happy, even though my hair wasn't the color I wanted it to be. I had a new look--a new high. More compliments ensued. I was a DIVA! Then I started experiencing problems with my hair. I didn't know at the time, but later I found out that relaxing and coloring hair at the same time do not mix! Lucky for me I didn't lose ALL of my hair. I did experience some breakage due to the fact that my real hair had the consistency of a brillo pad! I expressed my concern to the "Master Hair Weaver." We came to the conclusion that we would give my new growth a few months to grow in, cut off the damaged hair and do another weave that matched my natural hair color. So that's what we did. I'm high again! My hair not only looks good, but it feels good too. Nice and soft! More compliments. Yeah! More trips to the salon to maintain my weave. Then my hairdresser tells me some wonderful news. She just learned this new glorious hair weave technique. She asked me if I wanted to try it out. She must have known that I was so hooked on my weaves that I would be willing to shed out some extra cash in order to once again experience that glorious high. My 22nd birthday present to myself was a $800 hair weave. This time I wore a silky-smooth, SLEEK hair weave. It was as smoooooooooth as chocolate mousse. I felt like such a sexpot. So decadent. So powerful. So broke! LOL I kept my maintainence salon appointments, realizing that the $800 hair weave was a BIG mistake. I expressed my concern to my hairdresser also adding that I wanted wavy hair that was coarse. Silky smooth wasn't my thing anymore. She recommended another new technique she learned that was less expensive. This time it would only be $500. I was excited because it was $300 cheaper than last time (forgetting that the first time I got a weave from this woman it was $300). I think you all get the point to how good I felt. Now I will tell you how I hit rock bottom. My very last hair weave was June of this year. After spending nearly $600 and missing a night of work because she always overbooks, I realized that I was in great financial trouble. Because of my addiction, I ran up credit card bills and was very close to not paying my rent the following month. This was when I realized I had a problem. I realized how insecure I was. I learned that I was beautiful whether my hair was long or not. I had a friend of mine take out my hair weave. My hair was very damaged. I gave it an aphogee treatment and did my best to restore it. I still had to cut it short because the weaves did tremendous damage to my hair. The aphogee helped, but the last 4-5 inches of my hair were damaged beyond belief. I bravely cut off the damaged hair and made an appointment with my hairdresser. She was very surprised to see me without my weave. I showed her a picture of how I wanted my hair cut. She gave me a relaxer touch-up that she over-processed and a haircut I didn't want. She even saturated it with hairspray! She never put hairspray on the hair weaves. When I got home, I thought about it and I came to the conclusion that she purposely did all those bad things to my hair. Why? Because she did not want one of her best customers to give up her addiction. Maybe she thought her other customers would follow suit. She probably figured that I would go back to her next week proclaiming that I needed my hair weave again! She was wrong. I do not need to wear a hair weave ever again. Thanks to Cathy Howse (she was beautiful with short hair and she's beautiful now) and this website, I am confident that I will in 2-3 years have long, beautiful hair that will be better than all the weaves I've worn put together. And it will be ALL MINE!
As soon as I attain my goal, I will make a hair journal so you can see my journey. I'm guessing in that 4 and a half year period, I must have spent $5000
on my addiction. Probably more--I'm not quite certain. I hope that my story helps all the women on this site. Remember you are beautiful no matter what. Don't let your insecurities bring you down. Be happy and do the best you can with what you got. Now that we as women of color have the proper information on how to take care of our hair, we can do more constructive things with our money (i.e. saving, buying a home, investing, fabulous vacations--anything that will free us, not oppress us). God bless all the beautiful women of color on this website!
