One of the major reasons to not get hair extensions is the damage they can cause. Extensions can cause serious damage to your hair. It may break off, and even worse, leave you with bald patches. This is due to the weight of the extensions pulling at your own hair. Is it worth the risk?

When every other woman has hair extensions, they all start to look the same. Take a look at some of the many celebrities who wear extensions. There's very little to tell between them. The problem with extensions is that they give you lovely long hair, but that's very limiting. You just have a long-hair look.

There's a lot of maintenance involved once you get extensions. You've got to look after them properly, and could be back at the salon once a month. If you decide to stick with your new look, you'll be getting the extensions replaced perhaps every few months. That's a lot of time in the salon …

You'll also spend a lot of money to maintain your extensions. If you want good quality ones that last, you'll pay an appropriately high price. Cheap extensions may be more affordable, but they won't last as long or be as good quality. With extensions, you definitely get what you pay for.

Long hair doesn't suit everyone, and so extensions may be an expensive mistake. The best thing is to try on a wig to see how long hair looks on you. You may find that as much as you'd like long hair, it doesn't like you. If that's the case, it's better to pass on having extensions.

It's usually pretty obvious that someone is wearing extensions. Often you can see the ends of the real hair over the extensions. They also have an unnaturally straight look. Okay, people are going to know you've had extensions when your hair apparently grows overnight, but do you want it to be obvious to everyone?

Extensions may drop out. Finding your lovely extensions all over the house would be bad enough, but if it happened when you were out that would be really embarrassing! And if you had them done for a special occasion, it would be truly mortifying if they dropped out.

Using human hair may look more natural, but it may have a dark side. Your expensive extensions could be made from hair that a woman in India or Russia was paid a pittance for. Women who sell their hair do so because they are desperately poor - do you really want to benefit from their desperation?

You may opt for extensions because you are too impatient for your own hair to grow. But this quick fix may backfire. Long hair may look nice, but it requires maintenance - especially if you've got this look with extensions. What do you think of extensions - have they been problem-free for you, or have you had a disastrous experience?