Ahh, the things New York women will justify spending money on. The latest trend: $10,000 hair extensions from Gemini 14, the upscale downtown salon beautifully coiffed celebrities like Miley Cyrus frequent. But Park Slope resident Brandi Irwin takes the cake for extravagance, estimating she spends over $47,000 a year for extensions and coloring. She told the Post, "Without the hair, I’m this normal average person. But with it, I walk around the corner, and it’s like there’s a wind machine on me. It’s like I’ve stepped off the pages of a centerfold."
Irwin, a former model, gets extensions put in three times a year for $10,000 each time, a $300 hair color session every six weeks and $65 blowouts twice a week. But Gemini 14 clients say that the quality is worth every penny. "If you want to look like a million dollars, you have to spend 10 grand," client Kate Bazazian told Stylelist. "If you spend 50 bucks, you're going to look like you spent that." So why so much for the extensions? Apparently they're made from "virgin" hair that Indian women donate as part of a Hindu beauty sacrifice ritual (stating they must give their hair to rich American women?). The strands are then de-pigmented via a special "osmosis" process. “It’s the Rolls-Royce of hair extensions," says owner Kristina Barricelli.
Client AJ, who wouldn't reveal her full name for fear she would be labeled "high maintenance," (too late) said she has made sacrifices for the treatment. “Don’t get me wrong—I have to budget. But I think it’s a plausible investment that I don’t mind making." The extensions seem to be working for Irwin. The Post mentions that, while walking down the street with her new hair, one man turned to another and asked “Is that Paris Hilton?” Because all women should aspire to look like a debutante with a sex tape, no matter what the cost.
