extra, extra; Extensions get a bad rap for good reason, but the most salon-perfect party hair is rarely possible without them.

Byline: Marina Rust

The secret is out: "Nobody wears their own hair anymore," says Lisa, an L.A.-based friend. Extra hair is pretty much assumed in Hollywood. Constant abuse for roles leaves star tresses damaged, and not all stars have great hair to begin with. "Baby-fine, thin, frizzy. . . ." Hairdressers will tell you which Oscar winner has what_-and who does her extensions or wigs. God-given talent rarely comes with goddess-like hair.

What is an occupational necessity in L.A. is party hair in New York. Valentino public-relations director and girl-about-town Annelise Peterson wanted "big, Gisele hair" for the designer's forty-fifth-anniversary celebration this past summer in Rome. "I got permanent extensions," she says. "What they call the fanning technique. I had them done at the Pashah salon in New York; they put three rows of extra hair into my own." While Peterson chose catwalk volume for the gala dinner, fellow guests Sarah Jessica Parker and Lisa Airan went with sleek, high, soigne poufs. "We wanted that Audrey Hepburn couture look-timeless," says Parker's hairdresser, Serge Normant. "Sophia Loren, Rome, 1960s," says Airan.

That sort of height is almost always guaranteed to be faux, achieved by placing a piece under the woman's own hair. Normant famously created the high sculptural look for Julia Roberts when she wore Valentino to collect her Oscar.

Lately, however, young Hollywood has been sporting extra locks 24/7. The tabloid bunch has given extensions a bad rap and blown the lid off secret hair by driving around in convertibles as paparazzi snap wind-tousled rows of exposed bonding.

"Permanent extensions run rampant," says Lisa. "I had an assistant who had some put in because she was going to Coachella and wanted to look like a hippie." Hippies don't have extensions. "Right. I made her cut them off."

I realize I'm not sure what permanent extensions are. "They make tiny braids near the scalp," explains star hairdresser Oscar Blandi. "Then they sew or glue on the extensions." Glue? "Protein glue. Exten_sions require weekly maintenance, which a lot of wearers don't do. Dirty, oily buildup forms; the bonds turn into sticky little balls. The glue weighs the hair down. Stress on the scalp damages the follicle. Body is the last thing you're going to achieve." No wonder Britney melted down.