Monday, March 31, 2014

Wigs

As beautiful and lovely and perfect as I think my mare is.  (perfection being directly relative to how many ribbons I have in my hand, how many glasses of wine I've had, or how many compliments she's received in the previous 45 minutes..) - Her tail is.... lacking.
So pretty... but a full tail would just... help balance her out.

It's long... and it grows (which is more than I can say for her forelock... eesh), but it is wispy and puny and would make Beyonce's styling team sad.

I think of Beyonce because during one particularly entertaining visit to my (then 86 year old) grandmother, I was informed that she had "discovered" a haircut that would look "dazzling" on me.

(my grandmother was notorious for clipping out magazine photos, or NYT articles and then politely passing them on as "suggestions" (not suggestions) as to how to better oneself.  Sometimes this had to do with education or career choices, other times fashion or style - but in nearly every situation, the "suggested" outcome was not so attainable. Exhibit A... Beyonce's hair)

My immediate thought was "jesus christ, this woman is (literally) in front of a wind machine, with no fewer than 6 stylists standing just outside the frame, probably 3lbs of someone else's hair fluffing up her own mane and... oh yeah.  Photoshop."

What I actually said was something more like "thanks grandma, it's really pretty."

Knowing full well that my (extremely) straight, (extremely) flat, (extremely) white-girl hair will never look like this (well, maybe with a team of stylists, wind machines, extensions and photoshop we could get close), I ditched the pic and ignored the commentary.

But, I couldn't help but notice the deja vu while reviewing Thermal pics and thinking to myself "gee dear, wouldn't everything look a little better with a bit more tail?"

So I went wig shopping (for Prair, not me - I'm a lost cause) and since I figure a nice Hunter canter is the equivalent of a wind machine, that means the mare will only be 6 stylists and one photoshop team shy of Beyonce-ness.

For anyone who's shopped for a false tail, they are hideously expensive.  Thank god I'm not on the AQHA circuit where they needs serious wigs, but the medium-full wigs for most Hunters are still a pretty penny.

They are also totally disturbing to me.  There's something inherently creepy about holding a pound of tail in your hand that's not immediately attached to a horse.

Prair's wig came from an online source that I've heard a few people use - Kathy's Tails.  She has a good sized ebay store and is super responsive to any questions you have (should you be a novice wig buyer like me).

Her tails start at a very reasonable $79, and for the longer, fuller version I ended up with for Prair, it was still $170 (for a 1.25lb tail).  They come in their own bag and with really nice, clear instructions on how to braid them in.

I'll be sure to snap a pic at the show next week of Prair in all her glory!


12 comments:

  1. Your Beyoncé example cracks me up. I honestly never looked at the pics and thought "she needs more tail" but it certainly won't hurt! :)

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  2. LOL @ the beyonce stuff!! Hilarious. I owned an AQHA style tail extension for Elvis and paid about $100 for a 1lb tail. They've gone up a bit in price, but I'd say you still got a pretty good deal.

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  3. A good friend of mine showed the national AQHA circuit, and those tails are NO JOKE. You basically needed a doctorate to be worthy of braiding them into a horse's tail.

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  4. My horse has a crap tail. I did order one in jet black (shoulda got natural black) but also it was stick straight. My horse has 'nappy boy' hair. And not in a 'look it must have been braided' sort of wave. So to make it work, I'd have to like... straighten his tail o0. Needless to say, I only do local show at this point so it doesn't really matter and I sent it back. :/

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    1. I would be *seriously* temped to crimp the fake tail. :) The one time I've worn extensions, I remember my hair guy was curling/styling them before they went in, and while hysterical... it worked pretty well....

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  5. I was just commenting to my trainer how at the show last weekend- there were so many horses with really obvious fake tails! Like their real tale and fake tale would separate and the real tail was 15 + inches shorter.

    All that said, I want a tail for Henry!

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    1. There is no doubt that a bad wig is way worse than no wig (in my opinion). Not unlike people... if you can tell it's fake (boobs, hair.. your Fendi...) the desired effect sort of evaporates... I'm hoping this one blends well! The length and color seem correct, so here's hoping!!

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  6. Interesting... I definitely want to see pictures! I hope it blends well. :D

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  7. As being experienced in the "pleasure horse" showing part of the world, I can't help but enjoy when a tail falls off during a class...braid that sucker in tight!

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  8. I love Kathy! I know her personally, and I think she does fantastic work!

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  9. Haha. I have never been in a part of the horse world where this was a thing. Yeah for Courage working on growing a decent tail.

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  10. So glad that Sydney inherited at least some of the draft horse hair. Fake tails are starting to spill over into the dressage ring too, which I really don't like. Unless you are really good at putting a tail in it can be pretty obvious to tell and to me just looks tacky.

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