Taking Root : Women Have Been Into Extensions for Years; Now, More and More Men Are Letting Their Hair Down

Jason, a 22-year-old rock ‘n’ roll drummer, was cursed with hair that wouldn’t grow past his shoulders.

“I tried everything,” says the Hollywood resident. “All the guys in the band had hair to their waist, and I looked like a misfit. It was my duty to get it done.”

Thanks to modern technology, Jason’s thick blond hair now reaches the middle of his back.

While some men are cutting their once-trendy ponytails, others are shelling out big bucks for extensions--strands of hair that attach to the roots of existing hair. Salons have been applying extensions to women for years, but stylists report that growing numbers of men--especially those in the entertainment industry--are going long.

“I do a lot of entertainers and bodybuilders,” says Evelyn Austin, a stylist at His and Her Salon in the Mid-Wilshire area. “It’s supposed to be everybody’s secret, but it’s everybody’s little toy.” Steven Seagal has come to her for extensions, although he wears his hair short in his most recent movie, “Under Siege.”

Hair extensions, or weaves, can cost from $200 to $700, depending on the method and amount of hair added. A “heat seal” bonds the extension to the roots of the hair. A less expensive method called tracking involves braiding the extensions close to the scalp. Tracking generally takes about two hours; the bonding can take four to eight hours.

Extensions are made with either real hair or fiber, and a customer generally must have his or her extensions tightened or redone every four to six weeks. (But stylists say you wash extensions as often as real hair.)

“It’s a big thing among rock stars,” says Mitchell Field, owner of Antenna salon in Burbank and of Mitchell Field of London in the San Francisco area. “Rock ‘n’ roll is synonymous with long hair.”

A typical classified ad in a rock-industry magazine reads: “Band looking for bass player. Must have long hair.” Some ads even state bluntly: “fat or bald need not apply.”

“The consensus seems to be that it doesn’t matter how well you play, if you don’t have long hair, you don’t get a second look,” says stylist Lauren Festian of Shear Perfection in Hollywood, who applies extensions to many musicians. “Once you’ve made it, you can do what you want. But long hair’s a must just to get in a band, or to get a record label to notice you.”

Peter, a 44-year-old hairstylist in North Hollywood, pursues a rock ‘n’ roll career on the side and has kept an added 10 inches to his hair for three years. “I like the long-hair look,” says Peter, whose dark blond hair is past his shoulders. “It takes ages to get long hair, and for my music it wasn’t long enough. No one can tell it’s not mine.”

Although many stylists and their customers swear by hair extensions, dermatologists say poorly done weaves can cause permanent damage to the hair and scalp.

“There can be complications when extensions are woven too tightly and too close to the scalp,” says Sheri Feldman, a Beverly Hills dermatologist. “The hair gets pulled out, causing bald spots that often don’t grow back. I’ve seen it pretty often.”

Sooper Hooper, owner of Peruke Hair Salon in Los Angeles, has worn extensions for five years and applies them regularly to customers. A number of his clients are African-American men who wear braids.

Hooper wears his hair short on the sides, with shoulder-length extensions woven on top. “Being in the salon business, you like to have hair,” says Hooper, 27. “The style speaks for itself.”

Bald men who hope extensions can give them a luxurious head of hair are often disappointed. Field says he regularly turns away balding men, directing them instead to hair-replacement centers.

“You have to have hair to hang the extensions on,” he says.

Field adds that he has one other criterion: He tries to limit extensions to those men “who will look spectacular” with long hair. His philosophy?

“You need to be good looking, or young.”