Anna Taylor
Assistant Features Editor
Itching for a new look? Whether it’s time for a haircut, new style or different hair color, local beauty salons, drugstores and even gas stations are selling the new hair trend – feathers.
Hair feathers or feather extensions are attached or clipped into hair. The types of feathers trending at Murray State are bright colors and naturals. Some local salons also offer tye-dyed feathers and even peacock feathers.
A stylist at Reflections Hair Salon said they sell natural, crazy and peacock feathers.
“We currently have two ladies that do feathers,” she said. “They range anywhere from $8 to $12.”
This fee covers both the feather and having it put in the customer’s hair.
Molly Barton, sophomore from O’Fallon, Ill., got her feather extension from the Wild Rose Salon in Murray.
“I totally just wanted to fit in with the rest of the world,” Barton said with a laugh. “But my friends pressured me into it and mine turned out cooler than theirs,” Barton has had her feathers in for almost two weeks. She said the service cost $10. Barton likes that the feather piece now gives her look some uniqueness.
“My hair is kind of boring,” Barton said. “I’ve never had any major cuts or anything done. (Hair feathers are) an easy way to add pizazz without the commitment.”
Feathers not only add color and a different texture to hair, but they are also easy to take care of and can even be DIY.
“We don’t sell them but you can buy them at CVS, Walgreens and Pockets Gas Station,” a stylist at Attitudes Hair Design said. “They are the kind that you clip in so you can take them out when you feel like it.”
Instead of putting the feathers in and taking them out at the end of the day, the extensions can be washed and styled with your hair, depending on where they are purchased.
“(Mine) stay in the whole time,” Barton said. “You wash them with your hair and I style them with my hair. When I curl my hair, my feather curls, too.”
Laura Porter, junior from St. Louis, received her feathers for free from a friend.
“I actually didn’t get them done at a salon,” Porter said. “A friend back home works at a salon and they discontinued them so she brought them over and put two in for free.”
Though Porter liked the feathers and said she would probably get them done again, she did have one problem with them.
“The only problem that I had was brushing my hair because it got caught in the brush at the place where the feathers were connected,” Porter said.
Murray is not the only place where hair feathers are trending. In New York City the feathers cost $45 a pop, according to Glamour.com.
Hair We Go Products Blog says hair feathers are more than just a trend. They originated from Native Americans who used them for different messages. For example, for some tribes a black and white feather with a slit at the top generally meant the Native American killed an enemy. Other feathers represented bravery during a hunt.
The blog also names Ke$ha and Steven Tyler as inspirations for the current trend.
Some local salons offering hair feathers are Reflections, Crew Hair and Nail Salon and Cutting Edge. Cosmo Prof and Sally Beauty Supply are not selling feathers.
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