Did you have a difficult time recognizing that high school yearbook picture you found of your new boss? Did her 1981 layered and permed hairstyle, which she did to add body to hair, catch you off guard? Neither you, nor your new boss are alone if it is difficult to recognize you from a picture that is over 30 years old. Likely, one of the biggest contributors to your different look is a different hair style. Typically, women have 104 different hairstyles throughout their lifetimes, and the changes are rarely made so you look the same.

Women’s hairstyles are big business. A study of 3,000 women showed that 44% changed their hair style or color merely because they were bored. Additionally, 61% say they “just wanted a change.” Style is not the only thing that women change about their hair. While making the change from long hair styles to short hair styles can make a difference, changing hair color often has even more impact. Often the change is to signal to others, or to help yourself deal with another major life change. Almost 33% of women change styles or dye their hair after a relationship breaks up or a marriage ends in a divorce. Another 17% say they change their hair color to hide gray hairs.

One very popular method or drastically changing the look, and length and fullness, of you hair is to use hair extensions and beauty products to care for these extensions. According to a Professional Beauty Association report, the number of hair salons in the U.S. offering hair extensions has increased 28.5%. Turns out, hair and makeup artists and a hair salon store can offer extension services for a variety of prices. The least expensive hair extensions can cost as low as $300 in some geographical locations, and can be priced up to $10,000 in area where the market allows.

Hair extensions and beauty services may cost more than a quick cut and style, but they also offer a more dramatic, and a quick way to change, your style. With the use of extensions, a hairdresser can make your short, thin hair transform into a thick, long mane that barely resembles the beginning hairstyle. Following the sewing or weaving process to insert the extensions, the new added length and fullness provide a new menu of styling choices.

Permanents and color may have been the hairstyles that made people unrecognizable in yearbooks from the 1980s, hair extensions and beauty products to maintain them make hair savvy women form today unrecognizable in the pictures of tomorrow.