By Holly Peterson
It''s long hair the easy way.
One of the biggest fashion crazes in Hollywood is influencing others to follow the lead.
The latest fad, hair extensions, provides a quick fix to getting longer, thicker hair.
Lengthy lock extensions have been seen on such celebrities as Courtney Cox-Arquette, Faith Hill and Jennifer Aniston.
Elyce Homolik, 20, a sophomore from Provo, Utah, with an undeclared major, has had hair extensions for about 6 months.
'I got hair extensions because I wanted my hair long and was sick of waiting for it to grow,' she said.
It was the easy way, Homolik said. Her hair, which went to her chin, now extends to the middle of her back.
Hiding the extensions was difficult in the beginning, she said, but got used to them, now she can style your hair any way she wants.
Emily Thresher, a hairstylist at Aspen Salon in Provo, does at least one hair extension daily. Most of the girls extend their hair from shoulder-length to mid-back.
The hair is real human hair, she said, and color and texture can be matched perfectly.
There are two types of extensions, Thresher said. Sew-in extensions are better for thicker hair because it''s strong enough to hold the extensions. For finer, thinner hair, Thresher recommends gluing the extensions in.
Sew-in extensions are braided into the crown of the head and then sewn into the hair. They have to be retightened every 6-8 weeks just like with hair coloring, she said.
While Rupunzel might have created a desire for long, lengthy locks, not everyone gets extensions for the length. Lots of people get them to add thickness to their hair and keep the extensions short, Thresher said.
Arlene Bancroft, 20, junior from Provo, Utah, majoring in English at UVSC, said she got extensions mostly because her hair was thin and she wanted it thicker.
Bancroft said she heard about the popularity of extensions and thought she''d give them a try.
However, though she said it''s been fun, she doesn''t plan to do them again. She said the extensions are high maintenance and require twice as much time for her to do her hair now.
Plus, they''re expensive, she said. Costs for extensions vary, but can cost up to $500. They take around 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours to put in.
A matter of hours isn''t too bad compared with the time it would take to grow the hair naturally. Patience might be a virtue, but it isn''t necessary to have longer, thicker hair. However, the easy way doesn''t always come without a cost.