A deep dive into crafting the Ferrari of hair extensions. WEEKS BEFORE NEWS REPORTS AND TRAVE ADVISORIES, PAIGE STABLES FLEW TO ROME IN SEARCH OF THE BEST HAIR EXTENSIONS IN THE WORLD. SHE FOUND SO MUCH MORE. Allure - May 2020 Let’s start with the dinner. There was the handmade fettucine swirled to perfection and topped with a dainty dollop of caviar. There were no less than four separate breads that had scarcely left the oven before they were in my mouth. Food, as the world knows, is a very worthy reason to go to Rome. But it’s not why I was there. It was late January, and I was there to meet with a man named Fabio Antonino, the CEO of the hair extensions company Great Lengths. Just as I left, Rome confirmed its first case of COVID-19. Shortly thereafter, the entire country was on a lockdown of unprecedented scale. But in late January, that earlier, more innocent pre-global-pandemic era, Antonino and I sipped espresso and talked about hair. Antonino’s extensions are some of the best in the world, and at that first meeting, I had little idea how little I knew. The hair extensions found inmore than 40,000 salons in over50 countries are made in the Italian town of Nepi, in exurban Rome. They are made of human hair from India, sourced from a ritual known as tonsuring, a religious practice where hair is voluntarily sacrificed and donated. The extensions gleam in the sunlight. They are richly colored, not by box dye but by thousands of shades coming together to form a kind of genetic tapestry. These are the Ferraris of extensions—so natural, so delicate, they could have grown out of your head. (But they didn’t, and that’s why Great Lengths exists.) Inside Great Lengths headquarters, over 200 pounds of hair is processed daily. During my visit, I saw a room filled with women silently focused on handfuls of hair. Some were carefully combing strands; some were snipping the ends with the skill of a surgeon. And not a single one registered my presence. There was a long table, completely covered in blonde hair, and farther away, a set of tables covered in brown hair, resembling an assembly line where, perhaps, Instagram influencers are made from scratch. And now a few basic facts about Great Lengths extensions for the unversed: Every strand undergoes a lengthy process (it can take up to six months) to meet the “100 percent Remy” standard (meaning the strands are aligned in the natural direction of the cuticles) and the “double drawn” standard (hair is the same fullness at the top as it is at the bottom). A couple of pieces of machinery are involved, but almost every step has been done by hand since Great Lengths was founded in 1993: “Nothing can substitute the human [hand] in this kind of craft,” said Antonino. Some of the most careful handiwork comes into play during the coloring process. “We had to build a system on our own because the kind of method we use is [traditionally] only used for cashmere,” he explained. Before the hair is dyed, rather than the original dark color being bleached out, it undergoes a “depigmentation” process, where natural pigments are gently stripped away over the course of up to a few weeks by washing them in an oxidant solution. By skipping bleach, that silky virgin-hair texture is preserved. In the color room, exposed pipes line the walls and connect to massive metal vats. We watched bundles of hair get dipped into the huge tanks of violet liquid, hair that would eventually become snowy blonde. In the bright, sterile room known as the blending department, I met Daniela, a 20-year veteran of Great Lengths whose chocolate-colored hair cascaded past her shoulders. Daniela has a special power: She can envision any single hair color as a prism and replicate the shades you would find on an actual human head. She’s the one who makes these extensions look like real hair. Daniela’s team took a base color and mixed it with six or seven additional hues. The mixture of shades was then repeatedly pulled through a kind of Plinko board thingy to blend them together. Minutes went by, and then she held up a bundle next to the desired color swatch. The colors in the two bundles melded seamlessly. The extensions were perfection. She nodded her head almost imperceptibly and moved on. Of course, none of us could have known what was going to happen to Great Lengths and Italy, and so many of us, in the weeks and months to come. At press time, the company was weathering the storm. “This is a difficult time for all humanity,” Antonino told me over email. “Great Lengths is a proudly Italian global business. Throughout this time we will stay close to all of our clients, colleagues, suppliers, and partners.” And when Italy opens for business again, I know the artists at Great Lengths will be back to their posts. Their meticulous, head-turning work is not yet done.
“The Kids’ Theatre” is the fifth episode of the “The Great Italian Journey”, Great Lengths 2020 communication campaign, dedicated to Goethe’s Italian travel diary. This story celebrates the cheerful, playful side of Dolce Vita, that the two female foreign visitors discover by approaching a unique artistic expression, very peculiar of Palermo: the kids’ theatre, recognized by UNESCO as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity. The puppet show has always been a fun way to deliver education to both children and adults, way before the diffusion of the public school. It starts in the mid nineteenth century, with stories of bandits and saints, Shakespearean dramas and above all the very popular events of the paladins of France told by Ludovico Ariosto in his epic poem “Orlando Furioso”. Mixing realism and fantasy, tragedy and comedy, the kids’ theatre, known in Italian as “Opera dei Pupi” convey the values of Sicilian people, such as chivalry, sense of honor, the defense of the weak and the priority of boundless love. Besides their literary aspects, this theatre means a precious, rare, endangered and extremely skilled craftsmanship. Puppets are actually still made manually: forging their metal armor requires a month of work for each puppet. Every puppet, or pupo, is a wooden unique piece, different from any other, that can also be made on commission for a value of over 1000€ each. In Palermo the work of the puppets is linked to the names of various families. The theatre that hosted Great Length’s production is Franco Cuticchio’s one, now a the third generation of puppeteers (Franco is also displayed in the video working at a new pupo). The protagonist of this story is Agatha, a model and actress with an outstanding personality, who enters the micro stage herself to start making jokes with the puppet and playing the accordion, the music instrument that is still used for the shows’ live soundtrack. Her casual, fresh short curly look with a bang is easy, fun and practical. It perfectly shows a less obvious use of extensions: not applied to give length to hair but to build a full but still natural volume, boosted especially on the top of the head. Naturalness is also key to Agatha’s hair color choice, a warm chocolate shade, deep and intense, made possible with the application of GL Pre-Bonded in color 03, length 12”.
“The Enchanted Tree” is the fourth episode of the “The Great Italian Journey”, Great Lengths 2020 communication campaign, inspired to Goethe’s Italian travel diary. This story focuses on the celebration of the female beauty in its very essence, without any addition, and - instead - with a soft and natural feel. The episode starts with the group of foreign women visiting Palermo standing in a very special setting, a sort of mysterious place, that only good connoisseurs of the city can recognize as a real garden, whereas the majority of people may think it to be an artificial set. The protagonists of the story slowly move in the shadow of a giant tree, a venerable 25m-high, 150-year old giant Ficus Benjamin, whose huge size and peculiar shape create a sort of protected, secluded and arcane wooden dome. Actually, the magic of this incredible Ficus are its thick aerial roots, as big as trunks, who hang in the air before they reach the ground again, looking like an elegant ancient colonnade or like outstanding hairs’ enlargement under the microscope. This wonderful and oldest tree in Palermo, is placed right in the city center of the city, in a small park in a very quiet square surrounded on all sides by elegant palazzi. This extraordinary setting makes of this story the most symbolic of the series: the explorers’ experience is not only a physical journey, but also an internal one, holding the power of imagination and the bliss of a youthful dream. In particular, we would like to draw your attention to Agatha, the woman in a dark pants suit with mid-length curly hair. Intense chocolate-shaded extensions are used on her not to build length, but to give a feminine volume to a full head of hair, that could be worn by any woman looking for a warm and sophisticated look. The Great Lengths international stylists’ team shaped for Agatha what is one of the most widespread women’s aspirations: voluminous, naturally wavy hair. In particular the Great Lengths’ US-stylist and trainer Nanci Lee used GL Tapes on the interior to give fullness and GL Pre-Bonded on the perimeter to create a seamless blend. She achieved the curl pattern by using a diffuser on the loose wave pattern of Great Lengths’ hair. This has made of Agatha, an incredible model and actress who has been mastering the set scene, a contemporary woman who likes to play with contrasts: a minimalistic professional clothes’ choice combined with a loose, sensual hair look.
“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.
“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 colors 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 colorful 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 colors 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 colors 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”.
All of Great Lengths hair come from religious donations. Broadly speaking, where does hair used for extensions come from? Let's be clear about it: it depends. Some virgin hair comes from Brazil or Peru, some from Mongolia, some from Europe, but most of them from China (even though very rarely advertised), as China is the biggest exporter and importer of human hair and harvests huge amounts from its own population. But one thing is sure: the finest virgin Remy hair comes from India. It is not so easy for a consumer to check the exact origin of the hair they are buying so as a result, few truly know where the hair comes from and the journey it takes across the globe. But at Great Lengths we can boast a virtuous sourcing process, as all of the hair comes from Hindu temples in India where voluntary donations deriving from religious practices occur. The pilgrims are guided by an ancient Hindu myth based on the figure of Vishnu, who lost a part of his hair after being hit on the head by an axe. Thus, the angel Nila Devi offered a lock of her own hair to the God. Such a gesture was so appreciated by Vishnu that he decided to grant the wishes of anyone who would donate their hair to him, as a way to show his gratitude. This is an age-old tradition and in earlier years shaved hair was just left to float down the river and go to waste. Nowadays, there's a big buzz in the tonsure halls where the ritual takes place, as some temples are filled with as many as 650 barbers and pilgrims sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of them. The barbers work quickly and the hair is promptly gathered and sold every few months by the temple authorities via e-auction. We usually buy our hair at these auctions, guaranteeing the Temple a fair remuneration. All of the hair we buy is virgin, meaning that it is hair that has never been chemically treated, it is single drawn sourced, which shows that it has been cut or shaved directly from a single donor and it is Remy, indicating that all of the natural hair qualities are preserved by undergoing a specialist process at our production facility in Rome. All of these features make our hair the ultimate quality material, while at the opposite end of the scale is standard hair - often used as a more marketable term for hair extensions.
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. 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.
