Turning three shades of pink for a cause

Pat Gulick walked into the Eden Salon & Spa recently, looking for a little adventure.

The resource room teacher at Moran Prairie Elementary School had heard that the salon’s extension specialist was offering pink hair extensions to benefit a breast-cancer charity.

“What a cool thing for the three of us to come do,” Gulick said. She brought her daughter, Liz, 19, and her son’s fiancée, Jessica Loomis, 20, for an afternoon at the salon, 2719 E. 31st Ave.

While Gulick had only three strands put in her hair, the younger women received three on each side.

“Nobody believes I’m actually going to do it,” Loomis said.

Gulick, who sports a nose piercing, says she is expecting her Moran Prairie students to ask about the streaks of pink in her hair.

“I like doing off-the-wall things,” she said.

Daniel Swarts, a hair designer at the studio who also travels the country to teach others to apply hair extensions, is offering the extensions for $10 a strand.

He said 100 percent of the proceeds will benefit Pink Hair for Hope, a charity run by the company that makes the strands, So Cap USA, for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

“I just think it’s a good thing when we can use our talent to help people,” Swarts said. “I’m sure there are many people we know suffering from breast cancer.”

Swarts said each strand contains 40 to 50 real human hairs. The strands are dyed and attached to each other with a tip made of keratin.

It doesn’t take Swarts long to apply the strands. He separates a tiny lock of hair and makes sure there are no strays getting in his way. He also places a small paper shield around the lock to protect the scalp.

The keratin tip is applied to the hair at the scalp with an applicator heated to 136 degrees. Swarts touches the tip for only a couple of seconds.

After the extension has been applied to the hair, Swarts clamps everything together with a vicelike tool to blend the keratin with the natural hair.

Swarts said the extensions should feel natural. If they hurt at all, they haven’t been applied correctly.

The extensions come in three shades of pink – bubble gum, hot pink and fuchsia. They will fade over time.

Customers can mix and match the strands or get a chunk of just one color. The extensions come in lengths of 12 inches or 20 inches, but Swarts will cut the extensions to match the length of the customer’s hair.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month isn’t until October, but Swarts started offering the strands a month early. He’ll continue to offer them until Oct. 31.

So far, he has around 20 appointments for customers who want the pink streaks.

Swarts said that taking care of the extensions is easy. They can be brushed, blow-dried, shampooed, conditioned and curled. But the wearer should not put a hot iron directly on the keratin tips or run a brush through the tips.

Swarts also suggests customers come back to have the extensions checked in eight weeks. Because natural hair keeps growing, the roots the extensions are attached to will grow.

Swarts said the extensions can stay in the hair for about four months. Then they must be removed professionally. The extensions also can be reused. Swarts said he just removes the strands and applies a new tip.

Hair extensions come in more than 80 colors – not only fantasy colors such as electric blue and violet but natural hair tones as well.

Ordinarily, they cost $7 a strand, but since the pink ones are being applied for charity, they cost $10 each.

“We’re getting to really help people who are suffering and whose families are suffering from breast cancer,” Swarts said.