Brandi Irwin is five foot eleven and a former model-turned-foot model. She has the word “Posh” tattooed on her knuckles. And she spends $47,000 a year on her hair. How? Why?!
The How is easy: Brandi gets Great Lengths, “the Rolls-Royce of hair extensions,” which cost around $10,000 — and she has them put in three times a year. Add color and blowouts and you’re up to $47K.
(Now, I buy so much Pantene conditioner I feel like I own stock in the company, but still: When I added up my expenses — $9 for each big bottle of Pantene conditioner; $6 for spray gel and $200 twice-yearly haircuts — the total came to under $600 a year.)
Chris Rock’s documentary, Good Hair, explored the expenses, politics and societal pressures behind African-American women who spend lots of money on weaves and extensions. But Brandi’s different, seeing as her situation isn’t wrapped up in racial politics:
Here’s her Why:
“Without the extensions people say, ‘Well, she’s cute,’ ” she says. “You add all this hair and it puts a ‘Who is she?’ factor on me. Without the hair, I’m this normal average person. But with it, I walk around the corner, and it’s like there’s a wind machine on me. It’s like I’ve stepped off the pages of a centerfold.”