seven thirty three - - - a creative blog: FFF: Faux-Feather Hair Extensions

After my daughter had her feather hair extensions put in last month, I researched buying them myself (because they are SO easy to put in), and came to realize just how cruel the process of getting the feathers really was. And the worst part, once the roosters are killed for their feathers, they are just disposed off. I eat meat, but I still care about the treatment of animals and I do find it cruel and wasteful to kill them just for feathers. But then I came across The Button Smith, a great little Etsy shop offering cruelty free synthetic hair extensions. These are NOT feathers, but they give the same look when in place, and are even available in a grizzly pattern.

The extensions were shipped quickly and I was very happy when I saw that I was given an extra microbead (part that actually attached the extension to the hair). I'm not sure if this was on purpose or not, but it was nice to have that extra one. According to the seller the extensions can be blow dried, curled, and straightened on low temperature, but for the best curls they recommend you pin-curl it while it drys. I'm not sure about the curling or straigthening, but they have held up perfectly with blow drying my daughters hair every morning. They've also gone into pools numerous times without detrimental effects.

There are 12 colors to choose from and 3 different colored microbeads, so there is plenty of choices. I purchased the 15-16" ones which were WAY to long for my daughters chin length hair, but I just trimmed them up and no one was the wiser.

My only complaint is that the very top of the extension (looks like the aglet* of a shoelace) where the pieces are held together is bit long, so I had to trim some off or it stuck into my daughters scalp, and if I only placed the bead at the top of it, it didn't sit properly. Cutting it allowed it to fit perfectly. One other thing to note is that you can not place two extensions into one bead like you can with the feathers. These are too thick, so if you want them next to each other, you would have to use two beads. My daughter's hair is to thin and fine for that, so I put them on either side of her head.
I did not use any special tools. The extensions came with the beads and a threader and I just grabbed my husbands plain old pliers to give the bead a little squeeze. If you're looking for a good tutorial, check this one out.
I definitely recommend going to The Button Smith for your extensions. They were inexpensive ($8.50 for 5!), and have held up well the first week that they have been in and seem to be going strong. The Button Smith also offers the microbeads for sale separately, and I definitely recommend getting some because the extensions tend to last longer than the beads. Once they come out (or you decide to take them out) you just grab a new bead and put them back in again! *An aglet for those non Phineas and Ferb watchers is the plastic tip of a shoelace.