by Platos Girl

Created on: November 06, 2007   Last Updated: December 27, 2007

I'm going to give you the nickel version of hair extensions and hair weaving, I want a point originality and creativity. Wigs and hairpieces have been worn since the 18 century, mostly by nobility and their class of people.

It was not until the 1980's that hair weaving became an acceptable beauty regimen for our society who suddenly found themselves fixated on what some advertisers informed us was the acceptable standards of beauty. Suddenly mostly African-American celebrities were showcasing their hair in styles and especially in lengths that were reserved for their Caucasian peers and colleagues in the entertainment and fashion field. When no one made any noticeable protests, except a few college students who attended mostly minority schools, and since there was no loud furor from other well connected activists about blacks sporting the length of hair that was generally seen only on their white counterparts, some African-Americans decided that they would quietly adopt and showcase this beauty and fashion attribute into their mainstream.

There was just one problem. The cost for African-Americans to have this procedure done to their hair was astronomical. The average black women, no matter how fashionable she thought herself to be just couldn't afford to shell out the $500 minimum price for a simple weave extension, the prices even went upward to as much as thousands of dollars depending on the quality of hair that was used for your hair weaving and the popularity of the expert who was widely sought out in the industry.

One of these more costly methods of weaving was having your hair intertwined with the human hair extensions in what was called micro braiding or the fusion method. The cost of this fusion method was obscene and it took anywhere from eight to 16 hours to complete
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Thus again, blacks became very creative in aspiring to achieve a look that they knew they couldn't afford. Once it was acceptable that synthetic and most importantly human hair could be purchased at specialty stores for a fraction of what an expert would charge, these stores sprung up all over the American retail landscape. This art of weaving was also included in the curriculum of vocational schools where students attended to be licensed as cosmetologists. So too the well-known "kitchen" hair styles thrived again. Kitchen hair stylists are those individuals who are not legally licensed to perform cosmetology procedures such as cutting, curling, coloring, but do so in the privacy of their

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