HAIR POINT

Happy Monday la compagnie!

I'm here to give you a hair update, a bit like a weather update, but for your hair. I've already told you my hair adventuresfrom platinum blonde (dj!) to bob Louise Brookspassing to jet blackto hair short garçonneto very layered Frejathe hair bands to make a chignon, the braids of Sean Paul etc etc....And the list goes on. I think I can tell you that I'm a hair indecisionist without blushing, coupled with a chronic impatient. I've been looking for "my head" for a long time, a bit like the grail. I often look back at photos from recent years and say to myself "that haircut wasn't so bad, anyway", and then I relapse and go back to the drawing board. But what I forget every time is that it looked good in the photo, so I should remember the day-to-day.

And that until recently, I wasn't really a fan of hairdressing tutorials. It's strange because I've always been able to do things with my own ten fingers, but braiding my hair twice is a real pain in the ass. So that's my hair landscape. A few months ago, in September to be precise, I wanted to get some length back, and a few reminiscences (and still photos) of my wedding made me take the plunge, and I walked through the doors of a hair salon in Paris that makes hair grow faster than your shadow: Extensions Vip. Here's the secret: for some time now, you've been amazed by my hair, but the truth is, it's not mine... Isn't that crazy?

I found the experience both hot and impressive. Impressive, because I went into the salon with bobbed hair in the morning and came out with chopstick-straight hair down the middle of my back in the afternoon. It took 5 hours, 180 strands, to gain 40 cm of hair on my head, applied one by one with keratin, (it makes like a little shiny and rigid rectangle at my roots) I have a lot of hair at the base so for the result to be as natural as possible I had to pull out all the stops! Some people call keratin dots "grains of rice", but for my part I think they're "jumbo" grains of rice. I prefer to call them rigid little rectangles measuring 1.5cm by 0.5cm...

And the person who took care of me, Marina, gave me lots of advice on maintenance all the way through and was super educational, she must have sensed that I was a bit lost and didn't really know what I was getting myself into.

For 48 hours after the application, it's "forbidden" to get your head wet, so since you're always fiddling with your hair, I can tell you that dry shampoo becomes your best friend.

The 2 nights following the application were hellish - I even wondered why I'd done it, but I'd been warned that it hurt like hell to sleep on those little keratin dots, so I slept on my face, which wasn't very practical.

After the first 48 hours, I washed my hair and, hallelujah, the magic happened! When I got out of the shower, I wrapped my towel around my head, put on my make-up and then moved on to the hair phase, where I had a revelation: my hair was curly (okay, it's not mine, but it's a little curly all the same). I haven't seen it like this since I was 17. You know, we have hair cycles in our lives. When I was very little and when I was a teenager, I had crazy curls. Then as an adult, not at all, and if I dry them with a diffuser and use a seawater spray, I manage to get pretty waves-thank you Cut by Fred for your many tips-because I have soft hair. But there, folks, it was back to the future, I was 17 again!

As an aside, I'd like to tell you that when you have extensions, you can't do just anything with them. First of all, you have to detangle them in the morning and in the evening. For some people, this isn't a constraint, but for me it was very new, with a pimpled brush of 2 different lengths so you don't tear your head off. I discovered this lovely brand Bachca. After that, it's easy to forget Vivel dop and all the silicone-laden junk from the supermarkets, which not only suffocate your hair, which has already been shaken up a bit by the warmth of keratin, but only ask for one thing to be loved: to be pampered. What's more, big-box products tend to make the keratin tips slip off. I left with the salon's shampoo and conditioner. Vip ExtensionsThe scent is great and the product lasts a long time... I also make homemade masks that I apply to the lengths and ends only.

I space out my shampoos with my new best friend, dry shampoo and the one from L'Oréal is great because it doesn't leave white Karl Lagarfeld-like marks on our roots. And I've discovered Bumble & Bumble a bit like hairspray but without the cardboard effect, which calmed frizz and tamed the hair.

And now, if I want a slightly more "sophisticated" look, I've discovered a magic tool... Fred actually used it on my hair at my wedding, but now I've got mine and I can tell you it's the curling iron for hair nerds. Small or large strands, there's nothing more to do than wrap your hair around it, wait a few seconds and BIM Maria Carey (90s period) is you. Granted, it looks a little like a toy for adults, but it's really a magic wand. To become the Harry Potter of hair, the accessory you need is the Ghd curler. creativ curl wand…

And to tell you the truth, I've become so confident that I also color my own hair and extensions. I'm just careful with the conditioner, which I only apply to the lengths and ends.

And then the other problem this raised was that if I had my teenage hair back, I really didn't want to go back to my teenage look, which was a bit of a trap. If I don't make an effort, wearing jeans, sneakers, a hoodie, a tote bag and a hat, my boyfriend asks me where I parked my skateboard... So it's interesting and I try to limit my regressive excesses only when I'm really lazy. But strangely enough, all this length is making me want to be more feminine. I often wear my hair down, which used to be a rare occurrence. tie it up in a bun. I hope that this crazy hair experience has taught me to take care of my hair and to embrace the femininity of "loose hair". My real hair has grown out nicely, and I think it must be tickling my shoulders right now. I wonder how I'm going to get them back, I'll give you an update post-extensions, but one thing's for sure, I've rarely had as much fun with my hair as I've had in the last few months... So the question I'm asking is, what's my next head?

Thanks to the sweet Kihou for pushing me to take the plunge, to Sardjan for his trust and Marina for her expertise and professionalism. new salon in Geneva to boot!

In practice, a strand costs between 3.50 and 7 euros, depending on its origin, quality and length. There's no set number of strands, depending on your hair mass, and it's easy to request a quote by sending a photo on social networks, by e-mail or even by MMS. Of course, this comes at a price, but the good news is that you can pay for this service in instalments. Depending on how well you look after your hair, the basic quality of the hair you choose, and the speed of re-growth, you can keep your extensions for up to 7 months with a stunning result.

In short, apart from the complicated first 48 hours, I don't regret the last 4 months at all, and I'm even thinking of waiting another month before taking them out.