As if the possibilities for styling our hair by means of cuts, curls, perms, dyes, highlights, lowlights, braids, beads, tails, sprays, goos, and other products were not boundless enough, we’ve added one more option to the gamut: feather extensions.
Chances are that by now you’ve noticed someone around town sporting this newest trend in hair fashion. At first glance you might assume the plumage is attached to a headband or clip, but these feathers are secured a little more permanently.
Little Rock native Sarah Sturdivant, 27, has been putting in feather extensions since November of 2010. Like regular hair extensions, feathers are applied near the roots and attached so that they blend with the rest of the hair.
Sarah fastens her extensions with a small, metal bracket which opens and closes easily with a pair of jewelry pliers. Each extension can hold more than one feather. “Depending on the size of the quill, I can fit up to six feathers in one extension.”
Since the feathers are natural, they require upkeep no different than that of your hair. “You can wash, blow dry, curl, or straighten your hair as usual. The feathers will just go with whatever your hair is doing,” Sarah explains. “And they can stay in for four to six weeks, depending on how often you wash your hair.”
Part of the appeal of feather extensions is that they are so versatile to any style. Options range from natural brown and golden tones for a subtle, earthy look, to feathers so loud and vibrant they might have been plucked from a hot pink Muppet.
So where do these feathers come from? The ones that Sarah uses are chicken and rooster feathers, dyed and intended for fly-fishing.
“I started out walking into fishing supply stores. It was funny. The men working there would be looking at me like, ‘What is that little girl doing walking in here?’”
Sarah’s not the only Little Rock citizen cashing in on feather mania. As the extensions rise in popularity, so have the number of people learning to do them on their own. You can also find specialty feather stylists at professional salons including Salon 2121 and Shags Salon, though prices might be steeper, and selection might be slimmer.
But this isn’t something that Sarah saw developing into such a booming part-time business. She learned to do the extensions while living in Austin, Texas, where she says feathers have been “huge” for months. “I moved back to Little Rock over Christmas and saw that no one was really doing it here, so I started doing some appointments for friends.”
Word traveled through the grapevine that Sarah was the “Feather Girl” and she received an increasing number of text messages from anonymous numbers asking when she would be free for an appointment. Now, she’s in such high demand that she sends out a weekly mass text telling her clients where and when they can find her.
For example, in the first week of April, Sarah announced that she would be available at River City Coffee during Hillcrest’s monthly First Thursday event and then two days later at Kristin Todd.
Victoria DuBose, a high school student at Little Rock Christian Academy, acquired her feathers on Thursday in Hillcrest. She admitted that while the school has a considerably strict dress code, the administration has been surprisingly receptive to the extensions. “We’re not allowed to dye our hair crazy colors or anything, but they’ve been really cool about it. The teachers seem to like them.”
Business was thriving on Thursday evening, with at least 30 girls getting the extensions between 5:30 and 10:30 p.m.
But Sarah admits that she enjoys a slower pace for her appointments, allowing her to get to know clients while helping them pick out their feathers. Most clients spend more time choosing feathers than the actual process takes; one extension can be done in less than ten minutes.
Hannah Loyd of Van Buren was impressed by Sarah’s wide selection of feathers at Kristin Todd on Saturday. “I got mine at a salon in Van Buren, but they didn’t have anywhere near as many to choose from,” Hannah said as she picked out feathers for a second extension. “It’s really popular where I’m from.”
While admiring the dozens of dazzling feathers in Sarah’s waves you might forget that this isn’t her full time gig. She is a technical editor at FTN Associates, an environmental water engineering firm. She says that when she showed up at the office with the extensions she wasn’t quite sure how they would be received. But her co-workers don’t seem to mind a few feathers, and yours probably won’t, either.