It started with Ke$sha. Or Steven Tyler. Or an indigenous people. Who knows. But feather hair extensions have been everywhere from the streets of SoHo to this year’s South by Southwest. The trend—clipping feathers that can be curled or washed in your hair—has a dark side that’s causing some stylists who specialize in funky extensions to refuse including them in their services. Why? Tomahawk Salon’s Kristin Jackson, who we previously chatted with about her hair crafts and the wigs she makes for Katy Perry, explains…

ReadyMade: Feather hair extensions are totally rampant! But you tell customers you don’t want to do them. Why? 
Kristin Jackson: I’ve made the conscious decision to not do feather hair extensions because of the practices used to obtain the feathers.  As a strict vegetarian (for about 19 years) I’ve always been passionate about animal rights and welfare. I don’t think that any animal should have to suffer in order for a person to feel cool or follow a trend. The birds that are farmed to make these accessories are usually kept in small cages and treated horribly. Even worse: most of these birds are simply raised for their feathers, and once they are ready to be plucked, they’re killed, their feathers are removed, and then they are simply thrown away. It’s horrible to think about.

So were you aware of the practices used to obtain the feathers before this trend started? 
I wasn’t fully aware how these particular feathers were obtained until the trend started emerging and I started doing more research. As a longtime vegetarian and ex-vegan, I already had very strong opinions about chicken farms. Right when I saw this trend, I knew that the feather farms couldn’t be much different.