Hair, often described as the picture frame of ones face, is a huge industry and has grown immensely in the last decade with profits soaring past the multi billion dollar mark.

Advertisements seen in magazines and on commercials are quoted as saying “get a whole new you, take advantage of our sale and come in for a new cut and style.” This made me question, how important is our hair? Well the answer is very important.

Beautiful locks are sought after in our society. And people will go to any lengths to achieve that perfect look! In New York City, the going rate for a haircut at any major salon is around $200.00, and can climb all the way up to the very expensive price of $400.00. So it is apparent to me that hair is a very important accessory to one’s look.

Hair can evoke confidence and pride and is different to everyone. (Myself being one who cares a great deal about my hair and how it looks.) A different style on me can indeed change my whole look, and that is precisely the reason why I don’t let just anyone touch my locks.

All through college and high school I wore my hair the same way, it was easy to do and I was happy with how it made me look. Every now and then I would go a little “crazy” and get some highlights, but never strayed far from my original style.

After college I moved to Las Vegas Nevada. It seemed like everyone there had “perfect” healthy long hair. One of my friends while living there was a hair stylist at an upscale salon which we will keep anonymous. I soon found out from her that a lot of women I pointed out as having beautiful hair actually had some help and wore extensions, giving them length and volume.

So when my friend suggested I let her do extensions on me, I jumped at the chance to have the long pretty hair at a discounted rate that I had always longed for. The extensions took about four hours, and by the time I walked out of that chair I did look like a completely different person. I loved it.

It wasn’t until four months later did I hate it. The extensions used on me were not appropriate for my hair type, leaving me with no other option than to cut them out. The end result was devastating.

My hair on the whole back of my head was approximately 1 inch in length and very thin from all the hair that was pulled out by a botched extension job. Looking in the mirror was a nightmare, I hated what I saw, and besides, the top and front of my hair was down to my shoulders, so you can imagine how odd I looked.

I panicked and called my mom, crying,  in Colorado Springs, she assured me everything would be alright, and she new of someone who could fix my awful hair disaster.

My mom ever since retiring to the Springs with my father, was a customer at Viva Salon, and she new that the owner Antonio Viloria was an “expert” when it came to fixing horrendous hair situations.

Antonio indeed was 1 of the 7 national educators of Great Lengths Hair Extensions at that time. So I felt a little relief knowing I was walking into a Salon and stylist’s chair that had perfected his skills so well in hair extensions that he was hired by a world wide company to actually train and certify other Stylists around the world.

He was genius. In four hours after sitting in his chair I looked amazing! My hair was a little bit longer and very full, there were no visible signs that I had just butchered the back of my hair. It looked completely natural, it was awesome. In that first glance in the mirror my confidence came streaming back. I was like a new person ready to take on the world again.

Antonio was not only a stylists but an artist, with each client being his new masterpiece. He had a way of seeing what would look best and then go to work achieving that look. I eventually moved here to the Springs and I will never again let anyone touch my hair.

Antonio is the only one I trust and has proven what he can do, I went from looking like I had “frog fur” to long beautiful wavy locks.

Antonio has now moved on and up from Great Lengths Hair Extensions to being 1 of only 2 national educators for an extension line called Dream Catchers by Paris Hilton.

But before Antonio became one of the top representatives for this product line he had the ultimate test to perform, a test on someone that was probably even pickier than me about her appearance and hair. He had to put in extensions on the heiress herself, Ms. Paris Hilton.

She loved his work and helped to choose Antonio as 1 of 2 national educators for Dream Catchers Hair Extensions by Paris Hilton. I now have had the honor to wear these wonderful extensions and they look so natural and like my own hair.

I am in still in the process of growing out my own hair from a mistake I made over a year and half ago. I learned my lesson the hard way, don’t let just anyone touch your hair.

First have a consultation and decide if that person is going to best achieve the look you want. My best advice would be, to get your hair done by Antonio Viloria “hair stylists to the stars.”

Not only does his salon, Viva, offer a full line of Redken products, but four different lines of extensions and many trained qualified staff to serve your every hair need. Why not have your hair done by the best of the best?