A brutally honest Great Lengths hair extension review

When I was 24 and new to Sydney I spent my first big tax refund on hair extensions.

All I wanted was Victoria’s Secret bombshell hair to match my nuclear orange tan and fake eyelashes that dead-set hit my eye-brows when I blinked.

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I went to the very best - a Canadian hairdresser named Remington who was known around the traps as the hair extension king. I believe it cost me $1500 for the Great Lengths brand and I made him give me the longest ones possible.

Remington tried to reason with me to perhaps go a little shorter but I wanted a Ariel-from-The-Little-Mermaid-hair-past-my-boobs scenario.

All I wanted to do was flick my weave like Beyonce at *insert King's Cross hot spot of the time here*.

I walked out of that salon five hours later thinking I was Doutzen Kroes and my love affair with long locks was underway.

I went to every festival, swam in rivers, and left them in for about four months past their expiry date and they still looked bangin’.

But it was an expense I simply couldn’t keep up and after making Remington put the same original hair extensions back in several time (yes, that’s a thing) I said goodbye to my rats tails and went natural for five years.

I tried fake clip-ins but it just wasn’t the same – and kind of risky. I once left them at a guy’s house in a plastic bag after, um, hanging out. Then I asked him to send them to me! TMI? So embarrassing! “Here’s your bag of hair you left on my bedside table.”

Mortifying.

Fast forward to my 30th year and I’m going back for more.

I can’t possibly go to anyone else but Remington and this time he gives me a more demure look.

Hair extensions at 24 versus hair extensions at 30 is a very different story. I had 110 extensions put in and it took less than two hours – times have changed in the beauty world.

Thickness is the goal here – not length. Although I can still whip my hair back and forth Willow Smith style! It’s long. But it’s just not ridiculous. I’m grown up now.

So who’s hair am I walking around with? Someone once told me some hair extensions are made with dead peoples’ hair but this is not the case with Great Lengths.

Every strand is ethically sourced from India. On a daily basis, devout pilgrims travel to temples across India to pay homage to their gods by making an offering to the temple – usually in the form of their luscious tresses.

This ritual of shaving of one’s hair is known as tonsuring, a precious sacrifice, and sign of gratitude and faith.

Hindus know full well their hair is being sold to the highest bidder out the back of the temple but the profits are pooled back into the community and used to aid the poor.

Nothing sneaky is going on here.

All Great Lengths hair is 100 per cent traceable and sourced directly from these temples.

Some bits and bobs to know:

• It’s pricey – but worth it.

• It WILL cost you between $800-$1500

• You must brush your hair from the roots twice a day with a special Great Lengths brush to avoid epic knots (that stink!)

• Moisturise the ends of the hair regularly especially if you're at the beach a lot.

• Keep that GHD away from the keratin bonds, girl. They’re very solid but don’t like severe heat.

• You may lose four or five strands during your stint with a bombshell mane – let’s just hope it's not in an important meeting or on the dance floor!

• Great Lengths is the only company that does not use any toxic chemicals (i.e. ammonia and/or bleach derivatives) in the de-pigmentation and pigmentation process of our hair.

• The hair is placed in osmosis baths where the black pigments are gently lifted from deep inside the cortex of the hair – all done in Rome which makes it sounds extra chic and Euro.

• Many celebs use Great Lengths - what’s not to love?

Just remember, whatever you do, don't go near any fans.

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