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IN A TANGLE OVER LONG LOCKS

It's all Jessica Simpson’s fault. There's just no way the pretty pop start would be where she is today if it weren't for her hair extensions. Every faux inche of those long blonde locks screams superstar. Without them extensions, she’s just the shopaholic next door.

But secretly I envy Simpson's extensions amd the super wattage attention they garner, so when I got the chance to try Rodolfo Valentin's trademarked Fusion Hair extension techniqur I didn't hesitate.

The process for a new head of hair began pleasantly enough. At Rodolfo Valentin’s mauve-marble-and-gilded-mirror Atelier for Hair on Madison, Valentin himself assessed the color and texture of my hair and walked me through his trademarked Fusion Hair process. In 45 minutes—versus the eight hours that extensions usually take—he would glue more than two dozen strips of real hair to the roots of my own hair. By the end of the process, which costs about $3,000, I would have a head of hair even Victoria Beckham would be happy to toss around for a while. Unlike other hair extensions, mine would be ‘recyclable’ meaning that I could remove them and have them reattached at the (comparative) bargain price of $500. “You’re going to love them,” Valentin enthused.

He was right. A couple of weeks later, walking back down Madison, I swung my new supermodel tresses over my shoulders with pride and noticed many admiring glances.

At a dinner party with some friends my husband and I hadn't seen in quite a while no one could put their finger on what was different about me “You look sexier than ever,” one friend gushed. “You look thinner,” said another. The hair was a hit; I determined never to be parted from it.

Fast forward one day--I finally had to wash and style my hair. While dry my hair felt a little heavier than normal, but not uncomfortably so; wet, it felt like cinder blocks were hanging off the ends. Styling was also different. It used to take me at most twenty minutes to pull off a passable blow dry, now it took more than an hour. My head felt hot and itchy.

The following week I went back to the salon to have the extensions taken out, but the stylists convinced me to keep three of the seven rows of extra hair.

But the saga was far from over. After a month and a half some of the extensions started falling out. I should have gone back to the salon to have them removed and re-attached then, but I didn’t have time that week. When I finally did go to the salon it took two stylists an hour to untangle the extensions that had basically disintegrated in my hair.

The result--my hair now feels thinner and more lifeless than before.

So am I through with hair extensions? Not a chance. They made me feel more glamorous and confident. But next time perhaps I'll try out a different technique.