hair braiding recon

this morning's run took me on a tour of west philly african hair braiding salons. stopped by 3. gina, from "miracle hands by gina" (where i stopped last week) said she'd charge me $100, using just my own hair. said it would probably stay in for 2 weeks. today, i heard prices of $100 for my own hair or $120 for extensions. some places say extensions will make it last a month, and my own hair would only last a week or two, and others say just the opposite. urg. the last salon today said it would be about $80, with extensions. i have *no idea* what to think. plus, i wonder if they have synthetic hair in stock that would match my own hair--at all of these places, they looked at me like i was the first white girl to walk in, ever. of course, black women bleach their hair, so i suppose they might have extensions of all kinds of colors in stock...

so early next week (probably tuesday), i'm going to get my hair braided. updates are sure to follow.