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Chapter 10

Human Hair Extensions

Extensions:

Black People have been extending their hair for decades; every hair
extension on the market has derived from one black technique or another.

The first form of hair extension was when black people found that they
could add man made fibre to their plaits to make them longer and fill gaps

in corn rows. As time passed, they added a fifth strand to a box plait, and

then spiral wrapped the box plait with the fifth strand. Creating man

made Dreadlocks. Manufacturers began to produce fibre in many colours

and curl patterns. These fibres would be plaited into the client’s hair for

the first inch then tied with thread leaving the remainder loose to create

the image of a whole head of curly hair. This method was modified in the

early eighties by Simon Forbes to create his Mono Fibre hair extension

method for use on all races.

Black hairdressers had been doing partial weaves to extend hair in the

neck area for years. This area when chemically straightened gets broken

by getting caught in the client’s collar. Black hairdressers looking for a

quicker solution than braiding and sewing on hair, they tried gluing the

wefts directly along partings in the client’s own hair. This was very

successful and it was about twenty years later in the middle of the hair

extension boom that Caucasian hairdressers adapted this method and

called it Cold Bonding.

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