Tatiana Hair Extensions – bridal looks

 CHERYL Cole, Jamelia, half of Hollyoaks and pretty much every WAG going. What do all these women have in common aside from their love of the limelight? A fondness for foreign follicles.

After working her way around Helen’s head in carefully divided sections, it was virtually impossible to detect the clip-in hair. As well as being down to the way the extensions were placed around the head, the realistic look was also largely down to the high quality hair that was used.

Hair extensions are big, not just on Cheryl's head but in business terms. The hair extensions industry is worth more than £65m a year in the UK alone and this figure continues to rise. If your hair doesn’t grow fast enough, long enough, thick enough or straight enough you can now say enough’s enough and buy your way out of a bad hair day.

Tatiana Karelina - owner of Tatiana Hair Extensions on Port Street, Manchester and Holland Street, London - is from Russia, home to the hair industries most sought after virgin Russian hair. Tatiana personally travelled with singer Jamelia to Russia for a BBC3 documentary called ‘Whose hair is it anyway?’ back in 2008. The programme looked into the sourcing and pricing of hair and more importantly, how this western obsession affects those who supply each precious strand. The outcome was a fair and properly sourced process from Tatiana and her team in an industry where unfortunately this isn’t always the case. It’s because of her great reputation that a trip to Tatiana's salon for extensions is a cut above the rest...

Thanks to a recent high profile wedding you will have heard of (unless you were on Mars that day), long, naturally flowing, softly curled tresses are now the look for brides to be. Problem is, we don’t all have a mane like Middleton. This is where Tatiana and the team come in, as we were shown in the Manchester salon by the lasy herself....

From short and straight, to long and tonged

Helen had an asymmetrical sharp, sophisticated bob - a style you’d expect to be hard to transform into Rapunzel-esque curls . Tatiana explained how even the most severe and choppy hair styles can be manipulated with the clever use of clip-in extensions; great for a dramatic change for a special occasion.

First, Tatiana needed to match the colour correctly as this would be the difference between a naturally enhanced look and very obvious hair piece additions looking like a mullet. She picked out the different highlights and low lights in Helen’s hair and laid out the extensions accordingly. Each clip had already been sewn onto the weft of hair in advance to save time. The width of each weft varies depending on which part of the head it’s being used on and customers can have the wefts measured to fit their heads exactly.

“We do a bit of back combing and add some spray so that the clip-in stays close to the root” said Tatiana.

After working her way around Helen’s head in carefully divided sections, it was virtually impossible to detect the clip-in hair. As well as being down to the way the extensions were placed around the head, the realistic look was enhanced by quality of hair used.

Many hair extensions sold in shops and salons are processed cheaply and quickly using hair that is past its best. Tatiana sources virgin hair - free from processing – with correct cuticle alignment which means the hair will remain silky and smooth. To integrate Helen’s own hair into her new extension hair, Tatiana finished up by trimming the extension hair and using a Corioliss curling tong to give a tousled natural wave to the hair – perfect for bridal styles. Once the hair was perfect, it was then easy to create various bridal-inspired up-dos which Helen would not have been able to achieve with her original hair cut.

Long and blonde, to thick and multi-tonal

Bride-to-be Katy, was also after a similar look to Helen’s romantic bridal waves. Her hair was already long so her main aim was to create more thickness. Using the extensions would also help to hold the curl in place advised Tatiana. Curls in Katy's own hair would normally fall out within the hour.

Tatiana also suggested that a hint of a contrasting colour would create a subtle difference and help to define the curls further. Several wefts of hair were added with flashes of a deep brown. Tatiana was able to leave bigger sections of Katy’s own hair between wefts as she didn’t need to worry about blending as much as with Helen’s. Corioliss tongs were used once again before Tatiana demonstrated a range of up-do styles including use of the very en-trend fish tail plaiting, a soft, pinned up creation and a Grecian side braid.

The extensions helped to create volume and thickness and as you can see from Katy’s finished styles, they’d be perfect for styling around a tiara or adorned with intricate hair accessories on the big day.

The price of clip-in extensions is dependent on the amount of hair used. Here’s a price guide based on a minimum of half a head of extensions using the best virgin Russian hair:

Half head: 16-18 inches: £360, 18-20 inches: £390, 20-22 inches: £420

3/4 head: 16-18 inches: £440, 18-20 inches: £480, 20-22 inches: £520

Full head: 16-18 Inches: £575, 18-20 Inches: £625, 20-22 Inches: £675

Tatiana Hair Extensions can be found at:

56 Port Street

Manchester

M1 2EQ

www.manchester.tatianahairextensions.co.uk

27 Holland Street

Kensington

London

W8 4NA

www.tatianahairextensions.co.uk