Hair extensions left me with a hole in the head, but I still wear them

Aug 22, 2023

WARNING: Graphic content

Everyone wants luxurious locks like Kim Kardashian and Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, but what if you could get them at a fraction of the cost?

That was the proposition when I met up with a friend who suddenly had the most amazing, long, flowing blonde hair.

‘It's a weave, I got it done at an African hair shop,’ she winked.

‘But isn't that intended for Afro hair?’ I asked puzzled.

‘No, no, it's fine,’ she insisted. ‘They put your hair into cornrows and then sew the extensions in.’

I couldn't believe it when she told me the cheap price – it was £45 for a full head, while some salons charge hundreds, or even thousands.

Having struggled to grow my own hair and often experimenting with clip-ins, I soon found myself getting it done too.

Being able to go to bed with ‘perfect’ hair and wake up with it was a revelation, especially working as a showbiz reporter. People would always comment on how nice it looked. I was hooked.

After they’d gone their course, instead of going back to the same place that I’d had them done before, I decided to ‘save time’ and go somewhere closer to home.

The stylist at the salon in Welling, South East London, did not fill me with confidence.

She was vague when discussing the price, and simply waved me to sit down so she could start there and then. I could see the needles sitting on the side in blue antiseptic liquid.

I didn't have a great feeling about the place – not only because it also doubled up as an international money transfer service (don't judge me!) – but I wanted them done for an event that night so I bit the bullet.

They ended up charging me £100 – way more than last time.

A few weeks after having them put in, my scalp started to itch unbearably and I started to notice small lumps forming.

Concerned, I took them out, but the lumps – one on top of my head and a cluster lower down towards my neck – seemed to grow and harden.

The doctor said they were boils, which I’d never had before, and said to bathe them.

Days later, pus began oozing from the one on top and while disgusting, it seemed to ease it.

Not so for the others though, which were fusing together and causing the area to swell. The pain was excruciating and I’d stay up with my head in my hands, willing it to stop.

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Then, the night before my birthday, the lumps burst and thick red, lumpy liquid seeped out that burned as it touched the raw skin.

Less than 24 hours later, I was laying on a hospital bed having a section of my head shaved.

Fully awake and shaking with fear, I gritted my teeth as a doctor cut a hole into my skull to drain the infection.

Despite having had nine needles injected into my head to try and numb the area, I could still feel it and the sound of scalpel on bone was like something from a horror movie.

‘Shave it all off!’ I tearfully cried, but thankfully it didn't come to that.

I had to wear the bandage on my head for three weeks afterwards, making out-patient visits to have the hole in my head filled and the dressing replaced.

The medical opinion was that the cause had been a dirty needle used to sew the extensions in. My doctor said that it could have nicked my scalp as the hair was attached to the cornrows.

However, the salon owner was adamant it was the hair itself that was the cause, which I had provided and was therefore not her doing.

Shortly afterwards, the salon changed its name and has since closed down.

Since then, I’ve sporadically had similar abscesses develop on other parts of my body, including one which had to be cut out of my lower spine. It's horrid as aside from painful, they leave scars.

Doctors as yet are unable to find a cause and keep advising me get tested for diabetes every few months.

Research online shows that my case is not an isolated incident.

While one pointed the finger at extensions made from real human hair, I disagree as mine were synthetic.

Dr Ellie Cannon of DrEllie.co.uk said that this sort of reaction is all too common. ‘Any beauty or hair treatments can have side effects but this is more likely with invasive treatments,’ she said.

‘Our skin is very vulnerable to infection even in healthy individuals and the introduction of bacteria with a hair extension needle can easily have the disastrous consequences described.

‘This is obviously going to be more likely in a setting where hygiene standards are less than scrupulous.’

Call me crazy, but after leaving it a while, I gradually began to experiment with extensions again.

It's a confidence thing I guess, especially when on a red carpet waiting to interview people who constantly have their hair coiffed to perfection.

I’ve worn wigs in the past, but prefer extensions which give you so much more freedom.

Ultimately, I think that the key is to just know who is doing your hair and if you get a bad feeling, no matter what the ‘bargain’, don't take the risk.

It's not worth it – trust me.

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