“The Magic of Majolica” is the third episode of the “The Great Italian Journey”, Great Lengths 2020 communication campaign, inspired to Goethe’s Italian travel diary. In this episode Yzan, the Asian woman, welcomes us by opening the doors of a special place. She invites us to enter and discover one of Palermo’s hidden gems, The Casa Museo Stanze al Genio, a unique museum located in a baroque palace in the very heart of the historical centre. The museum collection consists of 5000 glazed square floor tiles from Southern Italy, manufactured between the 15th and 20th century for the pleasure and enjoyment of the aristocracy, the wealthy middle class and the religious communities. Besides the outstanding beauty and modernity of the tiles’ decorations, what is unique about this museum, is that it is hosted inside a fully furnished and functional private apartment, which is still used by its owners. Such an incredible combination of private and public living is a fascinating demonstration of how much Italian creativity is woven into everyday lifestyle and personal choices. The protagonists of the story sit on the floor, a perfect graphic framework, that enhances their elegance and majesty. In particular, we would like to draw your attention to Gintare, the only blonde woman of the group. Her timeless beauty stand outs in the cozy atmosphere of the room. With her soft gaze, her warm honey blonde hair color, she is the emblem of a gentle femininity. The Rossano Ferretti team shaped what is one of the most widespread women’s aspirations: long, voluminous, naturally wavy hair. Gintare’s look is so aspirational because of her light hair color, as if she had been spending time in a Sicilian beach under the radiant sun for several days or weeks. Her roots are darker, whilst the ends and the longest locks have degraded tones. Technically speaking, Gintare’s look is achieved by using 150 GL pre-bonded hair, in a combination of colors: Rooted 68/23 where 5 cm of dark roots drastically transition into a shiny blonde and Bronde 63/23 where the darker roots smoothing transition into much lighter ones on the ends.
It’s a worrying time at the moment without the added stress of hair woes. With that said, many women will be scrutinising their locks in the mirror over the coming weeks. So, to help manage hair while salons are closed, we've put together some hair dos and don’ts during isolation. DOs Do lay off the heated tools while we are in isolation. It’s a nice break for your hair. Style your hair into buns and pony tails and put down the straightener. Do use a good hair mask. Pop it in for the whole day if you’re WFH (Working from home). Make sure you comb it through thoroughly. Do use professional shampoos, conditioners and styling products. For extension-wearers we recommend products specifically for extensions or products that are sulphate free. Do ask your salon to pop you on a waiting list for bookings when they re-open. Do plait/braid your hair whilst resting or sleeping, especially if you wear extensions. This will give you beautiful heat free waves when you wake up! Do brush your extensions daily! We recommend 2-3 times and brush row by row over the bond or tape. For Great Lengths bonded extension-wearers - Do separate your bonds daily. Separate with your fingers to prevent matting. You may need to do more regularly if your extensions are due out during this isolation period. DON’T’s Don’t ever try to cut your own hair – even your fringe. It’s never a good idea! Don’t try and dye your own hair. Box dyes and professional dyes work in different ways and you could end up creating much more work for your stylist in the long run. Don’t wash your hair every day. Leave a few days between washes and give your hair a break from styling. Don’t forget to wash your brushes. Remove the loose hair, soak them in some fairy liquid and leave them out to air dry. Most importantly for extension wearers - Don’t try and remove your hair extensions at home. This will do more harm than good. Leave it to the professionals! Practice daily maintenance and your extensions should last a few more weeks with no damage to your natural hair. Finally, don’t be afraid to contact your stylist for advice. If all else fails, drop your stylist a DM with your questions or reach out on our social pages, we would be happy to answer your queries! We'll get through this, let's keep talking and supporting our salons, together.
“A Magnificent View” is the second episode of the Great Lengths 2020 communication campaign, inspired to Goethe’s Italian travel diary. This episode is the metaphoric sunrise of the protagonists’ journey, a beginning full of desire to be open to new experiences, in a new place. A woman opens the book and suddenly it’s a fresh autumn morning, with a weak sunlight seeping in through the shutters. So the story begins in an intimate mood, as the protagonists wake up in a peculiar place, which is not so obviously connected to the sicilian tradition: it is actually a Chinese Palace, a gorgeous building located inside a park just outside Palermo, and former royal residence of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies designed in the style of Chinoiserie. Today it is a museum and a rare example of eclectic architecture. The atmosphere of the location, full of contrasts, suggests the shape of the mind, where everything co-exists at the same time: past and future, memory and imagination. Different places appear and the physical journey becomes a dreamy one. Contrast is the leit-motiv of the female aestethic look&feel: outfits range from bright or pastel solid colours to black&white, while all hairstyles are contemporary, minimalistic pull-ups, of different shapes, ranging from chignons to braids to ‘60s volumes. Romana, the main protagonist of the story (she’s the woman who kicks off the day by opening the windows on an enchanting Italian garden), wears a mix of GL TAPES and GL TAPES+, both in 04 and 06 shades, applied skillfully by the international Great Lengths hairdressers’ team.
“Wandering the City” is the first episode of the multi-faceted storytelling created by Great Lengths for its 2020 communication and entitled “The Great Italian Journey”, as a tribute to Goethe’s travel literature masterpiece “Italian Journey”. Why Sicily and why Palermo? Sicily, first of all, offers a rich point of departure to reimagine a new Italian identity, where made-in-Italy coexists with innovation. Palermo, actually, is not a random choice: the Sicilian County Seat is a treasure of historical beauty, one of the liveliest European cities and finally, an urban labyrinth, where colourful folklore is still alive whilst at the same time, an artistic rebirth is taking place. This rebirth stems primarily from the recent private initiative to undertake the renovation of Palazzo Butera, an extraordinary 18th century estate, located right on the seafront in the historical city centre, and to transform it into a library, a set of galleries for temporary exhibitions and the display of private art collections. Wandering the Palermo streets is a taste of Dolce Vita, that tranquil lifestyle that tourists coming to Southern Italy have been looking for, since the end of the 18th century, when artists from Northern European countries ventured to Italy for its warm light, bright colours and ancient heritage. Inspired by this kind of cultural experience of 19th century, five women, coming from every corner of the world, travel to Sicily to discover the sweet magic atmosphere of the lemon-trees land. Their elegant, minimalistic beauty stands out in the pop setting of the food-markets, in the baroque one of Quattro Canti or in the Renaissance one of the Pretoria Fountain. How could the artistic team create such hair styles, that are discreet protagonists, with their tiny fullness? On the Chinese woman, whose name is Y-Zan, GL Tapes and GL Tapes Plus (shades 1B and 02 in 18”) were applied. Her hair has been cut with the Ferretti’s invisible cut, to make the extensions completely imperceptible. On Laurel, coming from NYC, GL pre-bonded were applied in shades 01 and 01b in 28”. The enhancing of everyday, natural, personal beauty goes on. And it’s still “hair like you“!
Inspired by the cultural experience of the 19th century, the new Great Lengths campaign recalls the time artists from Northern European countries ventured to Italy for its warm light, bright colours and most of all, its ancient heritage and tranquil lifestyle. The campaign title is a tribute to the German Goethe’s masterpiece, “Italian Journey”, a best-selling travel literature classic, telling the beautiful elements of the landscape and the culture. Inspired by the cultural experience of 19th century, five women, coming from every corner of the world, travel to Sicily and discover the sweet magic atmosphere of the lemon-trees land. Stay tuned to discover the full campaign starting from March 2nd 2020. The enhancing of everyday, natural, personal beauty goes on. And it’s still “Hair Like You”.
For the second consecutive year, Great Lengths has been awarded winner in the Best Hair Extensions category at the prestigious Marie Claire Hair Award Included in the Tools and Accessories category, the winners are picked through a high caliber panel of judges who have reputation and status within the hairdressing industry. 50 experts were hand-picked by Marie Claire UK to sit on the judging panel which included the likes of Sam McKnight, Luke Hersheson, Katie Piper and Millie Kendell. GL Minis Strands were launched in October 2019 and have been well-received, not only by legendary titles such as Marie Claire but by the certified Great Lengths salons and stylists who have embraced the new additions for their clientele. Small and discreet, the GL Mini Strands allow for precise and tailored application and are great to fill in gaps at the sides, around the face and to add dimension to fringes. Great Lengths also launched mini versions of their GL Tapes (GL Tapes won the award for Best Hair Extensions with the Marie Claire Hair Awards 2019) and are constantly looking for ways to develop their application techniques and offering so that Great Lengths can continue to be used to embrace your natural look. Joscelin McCourt - CEO for Great Lengths UK and Ireland comments, “We are thrilled to have been awarded by Marie Claire again this year. Marie Claire is a title that taps directly into our core audience and the judging panel responsible for crowning our win only reiterates our beliefs in Great Lengths and the GL Mini Strands as the finest quality product that truly does make a difference for people. Expert opinion on this relatively new product for us is so important and very much appreciated, a big thank you to Marie Claire and to the panel of judges”.
Who's wearing Great Lengths hair extensions? Long, flowing hair – an ideal of beauty exemplified by numerous female stars from the movie and music industry. Yes, hair extensions are pretty ubiquitous in Hollywood these days. But who, exactly, is wearing them? Quite surprising and exciting, is how real and candid stars have gotten about their decision to wear hair extensions. Notably, Gwyneth Paltrow, Amal Clooney and Natalia Dyer - just to name a few - have publicly stated their preference for Great Lengths extensions. Being on the rise since almost 30 years and having embraced almost as many real-life roles as she's had on-screen ones, Gwyneth Paltrow is a veritable chameleon, maybe the celeb that better represents all different possibilities given by hair extensions, as hair changes have always played a main role in her beauty transformations, if we think of her to carry off everything from sun-kissed waist-length hair extensions to a pixie cut. But talking about other stars wearing hair extension, it's worthwhile mentioning also Céline Dion, who has chosen monochromatic Great Lengths hair extensions for the bun worn during the 2019 Met Gala in Los Angeles; or Jennifer Lopez who always chooses Great Lengths hair extensions for her extra-long pony tails. Even though hair extensions can be used to add more volume, or to give a bit more length, these women are more into changing up their look completely for special occasions, by using our extensions for pull-ups or for mermaid-length hair. But Great Lengths is popular also among men. No wonder if one of our clients is the American idol Steven Tyler, the lead singer and front man of Aerosmith, whose funky strands are branded Great Lengths. He is so affectionate to us, that he has also been the judge of the hair extension contest organized by Great Lengths USA.
A new definition of the classical before/after We aspire to enhance every woman’s unique personality through bespoke looks expressing different individual souls. This is the reason why we think that the traditional way to express the concept of radical change through the so-called before&after images is too limited to convey the whole potential of our message. It goes without saying, that the classical before&after images are an effective communication technique, which has become very familiar to the end consumer, who immediately understands the meaning of the message. On the other hand, given one and only before, our hair extensions allow for so many different after! As we perceived the simple before&after communication technique as limited, we chose to no longer use the “before and after” definition but, instead, the “beauty tech” name, meaning a technically effective look change demonstration, which still has an aesthetic appeal and a broader meaning, by showing the middle stages of the transformations as well as, most important, different final results that can be achieved, thanks to different hair styles. That's why, in our technical materials, you will find not only two images (before and after), but a whole sequence of pictures for each of our models. This means a flow of images, a dynamic storytelling empowering what extensions can do, in terms of not only length, but also volume. The sequence displays all the different steps of the transformation and gives value to the whole personality of the woman, by showing her face, her full body, by telling her thoughts, feelings and emotions about the transformation itself.
A partnership to make children's dreams come true. Hair loss can be a painful experience for adults and even more for young children, who live with particularly fragility, that is why we partner with The Little Princess Trust. The Little Princess Trust provides free real hair wigs to children and young people, up to 24 years, who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment or other conditions. Introduced by James Henderson, salon owner of M Hair, Nottingham, our partnership was forged from our mission to provide 100% ethically sourced, traceable, premium quality human hair extensions. From this, the Little Princess Trust has exclusively agreed to accept donations of Great Lengths hair to create wigs for children and young adults in need. We have been cooperating with the Little Princess Trust for years, in England and Ireland, contributing to the production of wigs of natural hair. Doing so, we promote the recycling of removed extensions which, instead of being disposed, are turned into brand new products, ready to be used again. Removed extensions are collected in our distribution point in London and then sent to the charity. Our donation scheme is available in over 1,500 Great Lengths salons across the UK & Ireland and we are expanding our partnership worldwide. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has donated their Great Lengths extensions. You can play a vital role in helping to restore the identity of children suffering from cancer and alopecia. Photo by Caroline Hernandez @ unsplash.com
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