Cruelty Free Hair Feathers

Written by Morgan McCann, Staff Writer.

I have an honest confession: Although I consider myself decently in-the-know about cruelty-free practices in beauty and fashion, I just was not aware of the harmful effects that real feather hair extensions had upon the animal kingdom. Sure, I knew feathers used were actual bird feathers; however, until doing a bit of research, I did not know that often these feathers come from birds that are kept in cramped conditions, are bred and/or genetically altered for long, beautiful feathers, and sadly may only be bred and used for that sole purpose. Yikes!

Confession #2: Because I was, well, naive with regard to how feathers for extensions were obtained, I actually wore an extension I had attached in a local salon for several months last year made from real feathers. It held up well–although it needed to be reattached once–but the application involved I think three rescheduled appointments (stylist + bicycle accident = sad times), a good amount of money, and too many minutes of me holding my head very, very still on an awkward stool while the stylist fiddled with a chunk of my hair. Yikes again.

Based on the above knowledge and experience, then, I clearly was very excited to try a sample from Picasso Hair Feathers’ (www.picassohairfeathers.com) line of synthetic, cruelty-free feather hair extensions. Kate of Picasso Hair Feathers sent me a super-cute package with the Au Naturel 12-pack of feathers to try.

Here are the highlights of how my experience of applying two feathers went:

• Again, the feathers were adorably packed in a fun pink padded envelope with a handwritten note(!). The Au Naturel pack includes browns, grays, and light-ish pinks–which are close to “real” feather colors and blend well with my blonde hair in a subtle way that’s fun yet still suitable for the workplace.
• The only tool needed for application is a pair of pliers. A hair clip is also recommended to make parting your hair and locating the place where you want to attach the feathers easier. I did the entire application alone, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a friend around to help keep the hair parted and give advice on placement.
• I first tried figuring out how to attach them myself without watching the video, despite the recommendation to watch the video for instructions. Do yourself a favor and watch the three-minute video first. Not watching the video turns the event into one of those almost-intuitive-surely-I-can-figure-this-out-but-gosh-I-can’t-quite-figure-it-out-oh-wait-almost-no-but-just-oh-I-give-up sorts of activities.
• After the video, it was SUPER easy to attach the feathers just where I wanted them in mere minutes. My main suggestion: try to attach them to a small chunk of hair under a decent portion of the top layer of your hair (especially for girls with very fine hair like me). If not, the metal clamp may be slightly visible.
• Do be mindful of these metal clamps when combing your hair, too, to avoid combing the feather out or causing a quite painful tug/snag involving the metal clamp.
• My hair is about 14 to 15 inches long, and the feathers are just about even with the ends–the 14-inch guarantee on the website is certainly accurate–so I didn’t need to trim them at all.  If you do need to do so, though, there’s additional information and a video on how to cut and/or style your feather located on the website.
• Overnight, I slept with my hair in a loopy bun, but the feathers bounced right back, and they also seemed to hold up just fine during shampoo/conditioning in the shower and while I was drying it with a hair dryer.

I’m very, very pleased with my feathers–they’re cruelty free, a 12-pack costs about 1/3 of what I paid at the salon, and I’m very impressed by the resilience, texture, and color. Thanks again to Kate and all at Picasso Hair Feathers!

Picasso Hair Feathers are sold in a variety of colors–from bright and bold to natural and subtle–and in packs of 5, 12, and 25 (ranging from $19.95-$59.95) via their website. Picasso Hair Feathers also invites contact regarding wholesale orders.

Morgan