Hair Fair '08 - Where Have All The L$ Gone? (Pt. 3)

As promised, this is the third article of four about Hair Fair 2008 and this is where you see some of the (silly number) of hairstyles I purchased. I'm leading off with Solid Wave by Find Ash in Neo Black. Not only is it a terrific short spiky style, but 50% of the sales go to Locks of Love - in fact 50% of all styles at the Find Ash booth goes to the charity, making them a very special vendor. There are three fat packs (L$840) and an all color pack of 12 (L$1680) as well as individual colors in Neo Black, Charcoal Grey, Amber Brown, Sweet Brown (Dark Color Pack), Royal Blond, Platinum Blond, Dark Silver, Strawberry Blond (Light Color Pack), Darkness Blue, Deep Red, Golden Brown and Vintage Wine (Funky Color Pack) for L$280 each.
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Possibly one of the best mid length styles at the Hair Fair, Verena by Damselfly was my first purchase - I'm a sucker for that "just fell out of bed" look and it's near impossible to find in shorter styles. Damselfly styles are available in 25 packs of 4 colors (L$200) in 5 categories of fat packs for L$500 and an all color pack for L$2000. Individual color sets are: (Blonde) Beach Beige, Sand Dollar, Blonde Dusky, Bamboo, Starfish, Sunrise; (Black) Black Pearl, Forest, Mystic, Night Shade, Onyx, Raven; (Brown) Caramel, Cocoa Harbor, Driftwood, Suntan, Dusky, Mocha Splash; (Red) Cinnamon, Tropic, Hibiscus, Russet Glow, Ginger, Ruby Twilight and (Shaded Tips) Belladonna, Atomic, Diva, Manic, Voodoo, Panic.


Finally, from Deviant Kitties, I couldn't leave without Exodus. Even though I'm showing it here without, it is a gorgeous upsweep style with a skull and flower accessory in complementary colors that make it a must for virtually any goth inspired outfit out there. DK sells their hair in packs of six colors for L$200 - Blacks, Whites, Blondes and Browns in just the color or with Rainbow or Natural Tips, Red Tips, Deviant Punks, Taffys and 2 sets of Unnaturals and an All Color Pack for L$2000.
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Since I need a teaser for my final Hair Fair post, here's a preview of one of the many stylish bandanas available - definitely one for every taste and plenty for both men and women. September 7th is Bandana Day - a Gridwide event where you can replace your hair with a bandana for the day to support the Locks of Love charity and the children for whom it supplies wigs. Be sure and stop at the Bandana booth (there is one in every sim, straight out from the landing point) and pick up one (or 30) bandanas. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of bandanas goes to Locks of Love.
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Be sure to visit each of the Hair Fair Color Sims until September 7th - individual sim landmarks are in Hair Fair '08, Pt. 1.

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Top Left:
Hair - Solid Wave (Neo Black) by Find Ash
Necklace - [Pre-Release, you'll have to wait to see the whole thing] by EarthStones
Skin - Sunkissed V1 Smokey 02 DB by [KA] Skins
Ears - Neko Ear (Black) by Acid & Mala
Tattoo - Skull Jacket by SLinked
Top - Effing Work of Art Tank by LessThan3

Middle Right:

Hair - Verena (Onyx) by Damselfly

Earrings - [Pre-Release] by EarthStones

Skin - Sunkissed V1 Smokey 02 DB by [KA] Skins

Tattoo - Eternity Awaits by iNFLiCT

Top - Feel (Jazz Blue) by ARGRACE

Bottom Left:
Hair - Exodus (Black Red) by Deviant Kitties
Earrings - [Pre-Release] by EarthStones
Skin - Sunkissed V1 Smokey 02 DB by [KA] Skins
Tattoo - Eternity Awaits by iNFLiCT
Outfit - Elven Series Drost (Crimson) by House of Rfyre

Bottom Right:

Bandana - Hair Fair Bandana (Retro Reds) by Persona
Skin - Sunkissed V1 Smokey 02 DB by [KA] Skins
Tattoo - My Summer Calls by iNFLiCT
Top - Open Shirt (Red) by E. Watkins

Hair Fair '08 - Dear Stylists... (Pt. 2)

I love you all, I really do. The time and work involved, the effort and the experimentation - not to mention the sheer creativity of creating hair out of prims - amazing. And I know that preparing for a event like Hair Fair is an additional drain on already scarce time, but as I walked (OK, slogged) through the Rezzable sims, I found myself scribbling notes. Once I got home and started sifting and sorting and swapping I have to admit that, on more than one occasion I found myself saying "What were they thinking?" or "Oooooh!" or "Yoiks!". So, the good, the bad and the downright weird, with Fair Goer Tips for navigating them and pictures of more wonderful freebies...

1. Hidden and obscured gifts - Hunts are a lot of fun (sometimes), but a massively overcrowded sim just isn't the right place to give folks a challenge. Trust me, just getting to your booth is a challenge - do you really need a lagging gaggle of bald, near naked avatars crowded in your booth digging under the shrubs only to fall into gridlock when Barbie Lagalicious blings past?

Fair Goer Tip - if you don't see a gift, take your time and keep your eyes open, walk all the way into the booths and read the signs. Not all booths have freebies, but it's worth your while to check and it gives you more time to browse while everything shows up. Make a note on your designers card when you pick up something and check back at the booths where you didn't.

2. Stuff that didn't sell - While the main point is to raise money for Locks of Love, the Hair Fair is a huge opportunity to draw new customers. Trust me, it's better to not put out a freebie than to put out one that isn't representative of your current line. I would far rather have one unusual color of a great style or a full set of style demos than 45098735 "normal" colors of something that didn't quite work out. First impressions and all that, yanno?

Fair Goer Tip - Take some spare change and buy at least one demo from shops you haven't seen before. Oh and delete anything you don't love - my inventory expanded by close to 3K just from freebies and demos. Eeep!

3. Textures, labels and landmarks - One day, Hair Fair will end and you will go back to your home sims and wonder why we aren't coming to see you. If you didn't include a LM in your freebies, named your folder something like "Neat Junk Goodie Box" or require that a megapack of four billion colors be rezzed just to see what the style looks like - that may be the reason.

Fair Goer Tip - Take notes and buy demos. Use that designer list for each sim so that when you start digging through objects named "Putrid Green Snickerdoodle 24DL3" you have some reference point. Rename folders. Also, create 4 new folders named "Orange", "Purple", "Red" and "Pink", put your sim map and designer lists into them and sort as you go.

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Finally, I'd like to thank each and every one of the stylists participating in the fair for their time, effort and generosity. I am incredibly grateful for all your work and for the fun I've had trying on the incredible range of hairstyles at Hair Fair 2008. So much so that Part 3 is going to be all about what I went back and bought and the stores I discovered...

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Individual Sim Landmarks are in Hair Fair '08 (Pt. 1)

Hair is all Hair Fair 2008 Freebies

(Jewelry by EarthStones, Top by Persona)

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Top left - Puety by Eat Rice!

Center right (clockwise from upper left)
Miya by Dernier Cri

Shay by Exile
Mandi by Curl Up and Dye
Flow II by Magika

Lower left - Monique by Sinsation

Hair Fair '08 - A Perfect SLag Guide (Pt. 1)

I knew I was going to have to go to Hair Fair 2008 and I knew I was going to get scooped by every blogger on the planet who was insane enough to brave the early lag. I tried, I really did. But there's just nothing fun to me about standing and waiting for stuff to rez and then still not being sure it's all there before slingshotting through molasses to the next booth. So, I waited. For those of you that did the same, welcome to my guide to the Hair Fair, including sim specific SLURLs, pictures, must have freebies, tips and tricks.

I started at the Pink Sim since that was the only sim-specific LM I had at the outset - when you first teleport in, step aside (to avoid other folks landing on your head) and wait - I swear there is a sim there. Don't head off yet - there are things you *need* here - like the designer list and map of the sim. These will be on the board nearby, which also allows you to TP within that sim to points near each of the stall sections. If you are just coming for specific designers or to buy something you didn't earlier, by all means, use the TP links - otherwise, I found them more trouble than they were worth. Just open your sim map texture and designer list and fly. For the more methodical and curious, pick a starting point and surf the whole sim from the air and please, remove your various attachments and ultra primmy accessories. No one is ever gonna see you as more than a grey blob anyway. ;)

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Many of the booths have freebies and, if you are like me, you will wind up grabbing a ton of demos as well. For purchasing, look closely at the styles marked with the 50% (or higher) signs as those are the ones where a portion of your purchase goes to Locks of Love - the charity benefiting from the event. Please don't try on your demos at the fair - buy 'em, go somewhere quiet and lag free later, try 'em and go back with a purpose. Remember, you have your designer list and sim maps, so easy enough to do - just make your notes on your designer list notecard, which is conveniently listed both alphabetically and by booth number within the sim. I was lucky enough to go at a (relatively) low volume period, so I did all four sims in a row - otherwise, I'd recommend one per day for your sanity. You do have until September 7th, after all.

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Next installments - more pictures, more credits, more tips and more rambling plus an assortment of bandanas. Today's taxis are to the individual color sims, all the photos are of freebies available at Hair Fair 2008.

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Sim Specific Landmarks:

Pink Sim - Rezzable Explore

Purple Sim - Rezzable Design

Red Sim - Rezzable Create

Orange Sim - Rezzable Discover

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Top left - Roflcopter by LaynieWear

Center right (clockwise from upper left)

Eve GenII by by Tekeli-li

Emoh by Bryce Designs

Twin Tail by BP

Sandy by Kiss

Lower left - Tree Hair by Curious Kitties