Woman Spends $47,000 Per Year on Her Hair
by Deborah Dunham
We recently reported that the average woman spends roughly $50,000 on her hair over the course of her lifetime. And on Kate Gosselin's $7,000 hair extensions.
Brandi Irwin has both of these jaw-dropping stats beat.
The 28-year-old New Yorker reportedly spends $47,000 in a year on her long locks -- an expense that could amount to $1.4 million over the next 30 years, all for an extra 24 inches of hair.
Every time the former model steps into the Gemini 14 salon in New York City, she forks over $10,000 for hair extensions, which she gets done three times a year. Add to that her color sessions every six weeks at roughly $300 a pop, twice a week blow-outs at $65 each, plus tips and cha-ching! This woman spends as much in one year as most women spend in a lifetime.
"It's my biggest expense," Irwin told the New York Post. "But it makes me feel beautiful. And I've worked hard for what I have." It seems her family has also worked hard to support her tumbling tresses that cascade down to her hips. Irwin stated that her parents made some very good investments when she was younger.
What makes these extensions so expensive?
Apparently, they're made from "virgin" or unprocessed hair that Indian women donate as part of a traditional Hindu practice where they sacrifice their beauty. The locks are then sold (by the temple for a pretty price), carefully de-pigmented without the use of chemicals and bonded with a keratin protein polymer, which helps them to last longer and look more natural than other brands.
A process that Irwin says is well worth the price.
"Without the extensions people say, 'Well, she's cute,'" Irwin remarked. "You add all this hair and it puts a 'Who is she?' factor on me. 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."
Other Gemini 14 clients agree. "If you want to look like a million dollars, you have to spend 10 grand," stated 27-year-old makeup artist, Kate Bazazian. "If you spend 50 bucks, you're going to look like you spent that."
But hair extensions are not just for the rich and unfamous.
Nearly every Hollywood star has faked it at some point according celebrity stylist, Patrick Melville, in an earlier interview. "If they don't have them right now, they have used them at one point in time -- celebs like Britney Spears and Fergie, for example." And let's not forget Miley Cyrus, who, it just so happens, frequents the same big-ticket salon for her mountainous mane. See who else wears hair extensions.
What do you think of women who spend so much on their hair? Are they crazy, or is looking good worth the cash? How much you spend on your hair per year?
